Chris Witty "We're at the limits of the contact we can allow"

[confusedandold]

I've been watching the Press conference and I always find Chris Witty the voice of reason. He is saying that we are at the limit of what we can open without the virus spreading further and we may even have to take a step back. So where does this leave the opening of schools in a few weeks time?

Already with lockdown nearly 50,000 have died. It will be ten times that if we don't control this, significantly worse than the 1958 flu

@Stellakent

I don't think pubs and restaurants are the issue. Every one I have been to has followed guidelines and social distancing is possible. I've visited museums and art galleries and it was the same. I went swimming this week and it was well organised and socially distanced. We need to support these activities - it is people's livelihoods.

It's barbecues, parties and gatherings in private homes which are a problem. People feel safe as they're in a place they know with people they know. Almost no social distancing happening in many cases.

I think that's exactly that reading between the lines do what monsters say and MSM reports being told.

I want schools to go back, but it doesn’t feel safe now. In 4 weeks time and going into Winter it will be worse. That’s obvious now to everyone surely.

How can people not worry about their children’s health and lives?

Schools will replace care homes as infection hotspots. Again that is so clear. It’s blindingly obvious.

Schools will replace care homes as infection hotspots. Again that is so clear. It’s blindingly obvious.
How is it clear?
Where is the evidence?

The physiology of children and of care home residents is very very different

@Annierose293

Where do parents of children with underlying health conditions stand as regards school in September? Assuming the cases keep going up over the next few weeks. Are they still fining in those circumstances? The thought terrifies me. I've shielded him since March and literally only left the house a handful of times.

You and me both. I don’t want to send my DS back until we see how Schools operate in September. He has ended up hospital with a virus previously which was terrifying. But equally he doesn’t want to lose his school place. His health comes first.

...and all the while it was always about slowing down the spread of Corona Virus, not eradicating it. In that sense, we are still on track.

Schools MUST take priority this time around. It’s already done so much damage. And without the childcare function they fulfil it’s going to be very difficult to have economic recovery anyway.

If people kept their distance and wore a mask lives would have been saved and we'd be closer to a safe reopening of everything but no, more important that you hug your friend and don't wear a mask for 10 minutes because YOU'RE not worried than someone else's gran gets to leave their house with confidence.

Quite!

Chris Whitty has been the voice of caution and if his initial advice and that of SAGE in mid-March had been heeded instead of waiting a week, then fewer people would have died.

I expect most people would accept pubs closing if it meant children could go back to school, to give an example.

How can people not worry about their children’s health and lives?

How can people not worry about their children’s health and lives? I do; which is why I understand that 6 months of school closures has done more damage to children than Covid. How long does this go on for? Another 6 months? Another year?

I care deeply about childrens' welfare and education.
Prioritising Wetherspoons over schools was just wrong.

@mornington222

Chris Whitty has been the voice of caution and if his initial advice and that of SAGE in mid-March had been heeded instead of waiting a week, then fewer people would have died.

I expect most people would accept pubs closing if it meant children could go back to school, to give an example.

Sage did not call for a lockdown earlier, unfortunately. That is not correct. I wish it were.

@AccountAntsy

How can people not worry about their children’s health and lives?

How can people not worry about their children’s health and lives? I do; which is why I understand that 6 months of school closures has done more damage to children than Covid. How long does this go on for? Another 6 months? Another year?

I don’t think missed education (if parents didn’t home school) or lack of seeing friends can be compared to ill health. Education can be caught up on and they have been able to see friends albeit at a 2m distance.

It’s better they have their health and their teachers and family members aren’t affected by it. Losing someone close to them will have fa more impact than a few weeks off school.

I too recon that within a month of schools opening, or maybe 6 weeks, by 1/2 term, there will be another decision/closure.

I've said this all along. Schools need to be a priority.
Shut the bloody pubs and restaurants - it's given everyone a false sense of security that things are fine.
Sack off all the extra curricular activities with children from numerous school mixing.

Appreciate there are families with children at different schools (we are one of them) and you can't comlletely prevent mixing but education needs to a priority above EVERYTHING else

I don’t think missed education (if parents didn’t home school) or lack of seeing friends can be compared to ill health. Education can be caught up on and they have been able to see friends albeit at a 2m distance.
That is not what the evidence from history and around the world shows
Continuity of education is one of the most important things that refugee camps try to provide ....

Schools will start closing almost as soon as they open. They need teachers in order to open and teachers will be isolating with coughs and colds. Lots of them about in September but who's to know if it's a cold or Covid?

So they will have to stay home.

How are (state) schools funded? How do we pay for them in the long term with a trashed economy?

And pubs, gyms, salons, whatever - they will have staff whose livelihoods depend on them being open. Furlough is coming to an end so then what?

Pretty much everyone can only see this pandemic through their own eyes and what freedoms will benefit them / their families.

@DomDoesWotHeWants they can take a test?

[quote tocancel]@DomDoesWotHeWants they can take a test?[/quote]
The tests will have to speed up a bit to make a difference.

And, as my GP said, you didn't have Covid yesterday when you took the test but you sneezed this morning and could have it now.

*Shut the bloody pubs and restaurants - it's given everyone a false sense of security that things are fine.
*
The "bloody" pubs and restaurants aren't just open for a laugh you know, we can't survive things being shut down anymore, the affect of lockdown on the economy is already catastrophic.

*I don’t think missed education (if parents didn’t home school) or lack of seeing friends can be compared to ill health. Education can be caught up on and they have been able to see friends albeit at a 2m distance.

It’s better they have their health and their teachers and family members aren’t affected by it. Losing someone close to them will have fa more impact than a few weeks off school.*

If it was a few weeks I might agree. It’s already been a few months. If we wait for the conditions some people think are acceptable it’ll be a year or more. And the evidence all points to this having potential serious long term consequences for children and young people, particularly but not limited to, those from deprived or vulnerable backgrounds.

Mental health is health. Before coronavirus people seemed to be getting that message but now it’s been almost completely reversed and anyone remotely struggling is told to get a grip because at least they haven’t got Covid.

I didn’t mention education because mental health and social development was my main concern, but yes there will be educational consequences for many older children too. Ones that could be life-long in terms of reduced prospects. As well as the short term financial and economic fall out resulting from parents who can’t work because they now have to home school.

The tests will have to speed up a bit to make a difference.

Most results now coming back in 24-48 hours, so it’s hardly the 2 weeks isolation to deal with that it was back in March when no one could get tested.