Lockdowns will not work now.

[OnionString]

The longer this goes on, the less people are going to abide by the "rules". Our lives and freedom have been taken away from us. Now we are getting back some, only for them to be snatched away. Our children education is ruined. Lockdowns only delay the inevitable. Instead of furlough, bike schemes etc, the government should have been ploughing all that money into recruiting nurses, doctors, carers, building even more temp hospitals to deal with the pandemic. Until the vaccine is ready (assuming the trials are successful) the virus is going nowhere no matter how many ridiculous rules we are told to abide by. Life has to go on for the majority, and yes this means sadly more deaths.

@hamstersarse

i It is not deadly in any way to people who have a good immune system.

callous and ignorant

Itis not deadly in any way to people who have a good immune system.

Fab so dh who is immuno suppressed due to illness is dispensable. Clearly was to the young guy yesterday who brushed past him whilst he was attempting to walk to you know improve lung function.

Wait till covid strikes you or a loved one who's deemed fit and healthy and then you might understand why these precautions are in place.

@glitterelf

Wait till covid strikes you or a loved one who's deemed fit and healthy and then you might understand why these precautions are in place.

Many, many things can strike people and their loved ones. That's part of living. In my case, it happened to one of my children. I didn't need for her to die to learn to think critically, to make decisions for myself and my kids whilst they're still young and own them, to have gain in perspective and wisdom and live in a world that is not safe and is precarious and accept this is part and parcel and dwell in the positive rather than the other way.

@OnionString

My son was really ill (reactive arthritis) and missed a 10 days in one term a couple of years ago. I automatically got a letter saying that his attendance had fallen below the 90 % (or whatever it was) and how studies have shown even missing 2 or 3 days a term can have an adverse effect on their education. But hey, months and months is just fine. Great. Fab!

This letter is in the context of the vast majority of other children being in school as normal. Obviously the teaching and assessments carry on as normal so for the minority who miss days, they struggle to catch up.

Lockdown created a very very different scenario, where everyone has missed work. That is very different. The education machine will have to stop / slow down and allow as many children as possible to catch up. It is not the same thing at all as an individual child missing lessons. I am not saying it isn't a very very difficult situation but it is definitely not comparable to your example.

uniglowwooljumper

Your a teacher then

Hope you aren't as you can't spell.

I can see a few sides of this. On the one hand, I think it’s correct that most people who die from the virus would probably have done so anyway within a short period of time from other causes, either old age or whatever serious illness they had at the time. However, it is also sadly true that any of us could become vulnerable to the virus at any time - for example, if we became very ill with an otherwise treatable illness or injury, and some of us will become vulnerable because of preexisting conditions that are not life threatening but affect the immune system, or because of viral load or a weakened immune system from poor diet and exhaustion. Others will be vulnerable because they are overweight and unfit. There is a mass hysteria about the virus though because very healthy people are terrified they’ll catch it when the risk to them is low. If anything I would have thought they’d be better off getting it while they’re fit and healthy and building some sort of immunity now.

That said I don’t agree with the government’s strategy to deal with the virus. Until there is a vaccine we have to live with this. Even without a vaccine it will probably be years before it is rolled out worldwide. In the meantime the only way out is regular mass testing. And that’s not happening here at the right levels. What we should have is optional regular testing for everyone irrespective of whether they feel ill. They should also have done far more months ago to encourage people to lose weight and get healthy. And finally I do think that they probably should have allowed healthy people to get the virus and build up a natural immunity while protecting the vulnerable. Rather than mass furlough, they could have targets their resources on protecting those who are vulnerable over a period of 6 - 12 months.

OP - you are being slightly hysterical regarding GCSEs .M y children are all home educated and the gcse courses are actually fairly low on content - most home ed children cover the whole lot in a matter of a few months. I know my teenager only took 4 months to cover the GCSE maths . Seriously - relax.

As for mental health of children being at home if they didn’t have mental health issues before I don’t think that being at home with family for a few months is going to cause any major problems unless there is a serious issue there already.

I do agree schools should open as soon as they can I understand that homeschooling isn’t for everyone but in reality it is (and always has been) parents responsibility to educate their children at school or “otherwise”.

I do agree schools should open as soon as they can I understand that homeschooling isn’t for everyone but in reality it is (and always has been) parents responsibility to educate their children at school or “otherwise”.

And if those DPs have FT jobs themselves - particularly those with FT jobs that cannot be done from home and no childcare due to a pandemic? Your post assumes that every family has the time, space and capability to home educate. As a HE'er yourself, you clearly do, but the vast majority of families don't and many working DPs feel they've been thrown under a bus. These sort of smug and out of touch assumptions are really unhelpful.

I think it’s correct that most people who die from the virus would probably have done so anyway within a short period of time from other causes, either old age or whatever serious illness they had at the time

This is just not true. Average life lost is 10-13 years.

On average there are over 200 million cases of malaria EVERY YEAR, with approx 300,000 deaths EVERY YEAR.

Does anyone care in the West about this?

Lots of sources to show most people who die from the virus would not probably have done so anyway within a short period of time

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000kdr6

www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/05/02/would-most-covid-19-victims-have-died-soon-without-the-virus

statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2020/05/13/years-of-life-lost-due-to-coronavirus/

wellcomeopenresearch.org/articles/5-75

Totallyhadenough now - no one cares, only covid deaths matter.

One long term effect of this pandemic that I hope sticks around is a proper appreciation of the risks posed by all types of illnesses in countries that are less able to vaccinate/treat them.

150,000 people die from measles every year, most of them babies and children under 5. Given that a vaccine has been available in the U.K. since 1968 there really is no excuse for that. It shouldn't be happening.

One impact of Covid is that vaccination programmes in lots of places have been paused or stoped. The impact of that may well be more significant than the impact of Covid.

I know my teenager only took 4 months to cover the GCSE maths . Seriously - relax

Sorry but when you throw in disruptive children, teacher absences, child absences, lack of funding, kids without technology or WiFi, kids who aren’t fed who can’t concentrate, kids who come from disruptive homes, it’s isnt that easy.

The government is wholly lacking in helping these children.

On the one hand, I think it’s correct that most people who die from the virus would probably have done so anyway within a short period of time from other causes, either old age or whatever serious illness they had at the time.

incorrect

@hamstersarse how stupid are you?

Posters like you should be banned. Honestly. Spouting utter drivel as if it's fact.

@Rosewhite12

I think it’s correct that most people who die from the virus would probably have done so anyway within a short period of time from other causes, either old age or whatever serious illness they had at the time.

I don’t believe this is correct. This may be true for some deaths, especially in care homes, but significant numbers of those who died had many years left... perhaps not as many as if the average age of death was 20, but most were not at death’s door.

15 million adults were classed as vulnerable enough for a flu jab last year due to age or underlying conditions. The majority of those live normal lives with near normal life expectancy.

Funny how my nephew could do 10 months of chemo and a bit of homework instead of attending class and still got reasonable grades the next year. But somehow your kids education is fucked with a whole world doing hours of daily online schooling especially tailored for them.

Funny how life, economy and schooling is going nicely in New Zealand who did a strict lockdown but for some reason you don't want to change your life for a few short months.

I’m looking forward to a summer of riots and the army on the streets.

*@Rosewhite12

I think it’s correct that most people who die from the virus would probably have done so anyway within a short period of time from other causes, either old age or whatever serious illness they had at the time.*

Hi, type 1 diabetic here (amongst other things), so I am vulnerable and have a higher chance of dying of Covid. I'm 41, my granddad who was also type 1 lived till 90, my type 1 aunt till 81, another type 1 uncle is still alive at age 80 or 81, so on what basis do you decide that I will die anyway within a short period of time? Because according to my specialist, who fucking studied for this, I have a good chance to live another 40 years. Do you realise that by spouting this nonsense people will believe you and stop distancing, which could be detrimental to me? Why do you get to decide that I will die anyway so no point in protecting me?

@Isthisfinallyit

Because idiots in the internet clearly now decide lots of things for us. Sadly these complete fucking twats don't understand the sheer number of people with underlying conditions and the years and decades they will happily live a perfectly normal life.

It's arrogance and selfishness pure and simple

Actually some children's education has been ruined. My year 10 DD who has SEN.
We have worked really hard, engaged with all the school recommendations and virtual lessons, provided our own work to try and help her. Even with the best will in the world I can't re create all the specialist help she gets in school because I'm not a qualified SEN teacher, the education she has missed already shows.

We know it will cost her those low level GCSE grades she needed to get into her chosen college course. That course was the only viable option for her.

I really hope those people who feel parents should just educate their children at home, never have to understand the difficulties of having a SEN child.