I think it’s just me then...

[sunseekin]

....I read stuff like this and know it can’t be. Some days it feels like everyone is carrying on as normal and I wonder if I’m worrying too much, then I read stuff like this and realise that the risk is still very much there.

www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/warning-not-hug-kiss-children-4483869?fbclid=IwAR2el28HIDg5tt77Fqp2apf3Jh595STYnudng4qJzFgxoXPJzmptLiI6STU

I wish there was more (any?!) support for people that want to be careful for just those few months longer.

Great to read such common sense. I am still struggling with the whole thing. really, it feels like The Powers That Be don't give a fuck about the potential carnage of vulnerable children, vulnerable teachers and potential orphans this will leave in its wake. Can they not see the case numbers rising? Then when it is too late they will say, oh, someone else should have thought of that, lets sack a civil servant here or there.

Yes, we need to get on with it, but also protect the vulnerable surely.

The problem is that it is quite hard to do this. Society is interconnected. Very vulnerable people without family carers need paid carers. We can't prohibit those carers from going out like everyone else.

Children in schools (where there's no social distancing) may have vulnerable parents.

In the US, as cases rose for the second time everyone was saying 'ah but it's young people, deaths aren't rising' and then of course it spread to older people and deaths went up.

Seems to me the best way to protect the vulnerable is to keep infection rates low and have lots of social distancing / masks etc (yes, even in schools - since vulnerable people are parents and there are vulnerable children too)

I have an elderly father living alone (in sheltered accommodation, Scotland) and there can be ways - for example his meals group was stopped but someone brings them instead to the doorway, and checks on his at the time and the warden rings him

The care agency contacted me and him and was stopped for this time but he has a cleaner who goes in while he goes out for a walk.

But this would be more difficult for someone with extra care needs.

But for those a bit vulnerable and older might be an option

What happened to all those thousands of volunteers signed up in lockdown. Wonder why they are not being used now for phone befriending and errands etc, could be helpful perhaps?

@ChanceEncounter I think you have it there. I think it’s called cognitive dissonance- the more uncomfortable you feel about a decision you’ve made the more you are tempted to cling to it and to put down opposing views. Not very helpful I know.

In our family we have a vulnerable home Ed teen and one at school. The home Ed teen is freaking out a fair bit about the school kid who is also very sociable. To be honest, even if we had the choice we’d probably send the school teen to school. But it’d be good to have some options. We do as much as we can to distance one from the other.

I agree with everyone else - what support do you need? Is there a reason you’re particularly worried? I think there’s a definite balance to be struck between getting back to normal and being overly worried and to me it looks like sticking to all the rules, washing hands, wearing masks, keeping 2m apart, that’s all.

Now the kids are back in school we are only seeing GP outside at 2m, seems sensible and not something anyone would need “support” with surely

Isn't furlough just having your cake and eating it though? You want to stay at home but get your wages?

Most people I knew on furlough incl myself and my husband didn’t want to stay at home. We are proud people and want to earn our wage. When my job was placed under redundancy notice and my husband’s work was closed by the government we didn’t actually have much choice.

In terms of schools I think for vulnerable and shielded children and wider families there should be the option of withdrawing kids and not losing a place. Not just for parents who are paranoid for no particular reason. They’ll get a place somewhere else when they decide to send them back. What this group of parents usually want is to be able to keep a space open in an oversubscribed good school which means no one else can get the place. No I don’t agree with that.

@MadameBlobby

Isn't furlough just having your cake and eating it though? You want to stay at home but get your wages?

Most people I knew on furlough incl myself and my husband didn’t want to stay at home. We are proud people and want to earn our wage. When my job was placed under redundancy notice and my husband’s work was closed by the government we didn’t actually have much choice.

In terms of schools I think for vulnerable and shielded children and wider families there should be the option of withdrawing kids and not losing a place. Not just for parents who are paranoid for no particular reason. They’ll get a place somewhere else when they decide to send them back. What this group of parents usually want is to be able to keep a space open in an oversubscribed good school which means no one else can get the place. No I don’t agree with that.

I'm not sure exactly what you are not agreeing with here. but kids who are vulnerable themselves or from vulnerable families are in their schools, and the schools (and especially the Government) have a duty to make the arrangements safe. This means social distancing. No crowding in corridors. Classrooms (or marquees or tents or halls) that have enough space or ventilation to be safe. The ECV (and indeed all the kids) should have the right to have education in as safe a space as possible. They shouldn't have to lose a school place for which they have worked hard, because they are being asked to work in unsafe conditions.

YOU wouldn't want to work in unsafe conditions and the law to some extent would protect you. It's not fair that children (including the ECV) aren't protected, and why should they be penalised for Government negligence.

Why not allow temporary home schooling, it better enables the schools to distance appropriately, it is being advocated by independent SAGE, it worked for Denmark.

I think your attitude is ignorant and mean actually.

In terms of schools I think for vulnerable and shielded children and wider families there should be the option of withdrawing kids and not losing a place. Not just for parents who are paranoid for no particular reason. They’ll get a place somewhere else when they decide to send them back. What this group of parents usually want is to be able to keep a space open in an oversubscribed good school which means no one else can get the place. No I don’t agree with that.

And in the meantime civil servants are fighting against being sent back to the office, others are working permanently from home, many other workplaces have made massive adjustments to working conditions and yet parents who aren’t happy with the (shocking in some instances) state of schools are ‘paranoid for no reason’ and their kid deserves to have their school place removed?

Bloody hell. We’re in a global pandemic. No one knows what the fuck is going on. Opinions about how best to deal with things vary massively and they are opinions. The parent who doesn’t want to send their kid back for safety reasons isn’t definitely wrong and you aren’t definitely right, so punishments really aren’t the way forward.

Noble as usual talking sense.

I am sending my DD to school but I'm not happy about the conditions and I've had discussions with the Head about it. We're in agreement, it would be better for children, teachers, parents and the wider community if there was money for extra staff and space (e.g. using the village hall, which was offered) to allow social distancing. As it is, they're crammed in tightly as usual. Which not only is the perfect condition for sars-cov-2 to thrive but actually also isn't that great for normal learning either.

One case in any class, and they've all been highly exposed.

Yet everywhere else, social distancing and masks. Apart from places like the sweatshops in Leicester.

Yes, children getting a state education are at that level, apparently.

And in other countries - many other countries, children from 5 up are masked and there is social distancing.

My DD would be happy to wear a mask, but not if she's the only one doing it (there's nothing worse than standing out she says).

And there never, ever is any discussion about the impact on children's lives of a parent (or teacher) getting seriously ill directly because they've been crammed in like this. THAT will have life long impacts.