University students possibly told to stay at uni over Christmas

[WearyandBleary]

This has just been leaked and Matt Hancock has done a non-denial.

This has shocked me. Why not tell old people to stay at home over Christmas instead? The mental health of our students is going to be horrific.

Thanks @canigooutyet

This won’t happen. Many students will have caught it before Christmas and so won’t be spreaders any more. Herd immunity is the outcome of this whole fiasco as I said back in March. Watch this space.

Travel restrictions would only happen if the virus was spreading around campus like wildfire (as it is in some places at the moment). So if students don't want travel restrictions at Christmas then they simply need to stop throwing house parties and start behaving sensibly so that the virus fizzles out. We've seen illegal parties at Dundee, St Andrews, Manchester etc. acting as super spreader events, the solution to the problem is in their gift. Not very fair on the law-abiding majority of course but that's the same as what's happening in wider society.

I am wondering how long we are going to try and string this all out. We are going to get to the same end game at some point. There won’t be a vaccine anytime soon. In the meantime we need to make sure the NHS doesn’t get overwhelmed and we give our youngsters a future.

The story about Manchester has really disturbed me. What legal right do the police and university have to do this? I'd like to know the set up as well. If it consists of self contained flats, how is it justifiable to require all students to isolate? Would you lock down a block of flats?

@MissEliza I agree. It’s outrageous. Also curtailing students going home for Christmas. It’s a virus. It’s going to spread. Protect the vulnerable. In some ways the sooner the students catch it the better. They are all together and less likely to be in contact with high risk people. They can then get on with their lives as that young woman in the article wanted to.

The university I used to attend have said on Facebook some students arrived, were locked down immediately and as such a lot are in the position of not having bedding, crockery, or even basic food . Apparently they’ve launched a helpline so flats can be given food parcels and basic essentials like spoons and cups . Horrendous .

The students at Manchester interviewed on sky said they were given the option to return home and some did but others stayed and are locked down.

My child will be coming home at Christmas. No Prime Minister, Police or Army will prevent it.
Do not underestimate the power of a woman separated from her child.
I suggest you isolate them for 2 weeks before they leave for Christmas, because those that want to will be leaving.
🎅🏽🦃🎄⛄️🎁

How can they legally be locked in ? There is no law in this country to allow this to happen. Even criminals get a trial before being locked up. They could be fined if flouted the isolation rules. But if they have not been in close contact with a known case then they are the same as every other citizen of this country. Lock up my child and I'll see you in court.

@MissEliza

The story about Manchester has really disturbed me. What legal right do the police and university have to do this? I'd like to know the set up as well. If it consists of self contained flats, how is it justifiable to require all students to isolate? Would you lock down a block of flats?

My daughter’s halls (not Manchester) are self contained corridors of 6 flats with a shared kitchen and social space between 6. The rules are no visitors, no socialising outside your flat of 6 and masks in corridors/laundry/reception etc

The larger halls 5 mins away are corridors of 6 again but they have huge social spaces shared between the entire building with pool tables, sofas, Gaming facilities etc. Huge parties involving the entire building have been taking place.

Security stopping the students from leaving, surely they have no legal right , only the police do.

Locking 1000s of students away is a scary day for civil liberties.

@HeresMe

Security stopping the students from leaving, surely they have no legal right , only the police do.

Locking 1000s of students away is a scary day for civil liberties.

I agree. I find it very disturbing and worrying.

Private security wouldn't no, but apparently there is a police presence. Remember though that the City of Manchester has been in a local lockdown for weeks, it's not one of the boroughs that got a few weeks off, and most of the country is not. So what's applicable for unis here in GM is not for most others.

Really, unis should have allowed proper freshers' events to run, instead of trying to fob students off with this Zoom pub quiz / virtual tour of whatever city kind of stuff. Obviously the socialising was going to happen anyway! If they'd allowed internal events, students might have felt less need to go off to house parties and the like.

Got to say though, I do find all this "mother's uprising" stuff a bit infantilising towards adult children. The decision about whether they come to family for Christmas should be mainly theirs - not the government's, not the unis, but also not yours. All this "my child will come, by Hell or high water" stuff is the other extreme. Imagine that there has been an outbreak immediately before the hols in the student's city: they might not want to risk travelling and spreading it, then potentially spreading it to their family, and they might feel relaxed and happier staying at uni with some friends.

The same rules apply to halls of residence as they do for peoples homes. We have never locked people in. This is dangerous and scary police state stuff.

@Jourdain11 you are entitled to your opinion. My 18 year old will be allowed to come home to her family this Xmas. It's not a debate. It's a fact, she has not committed a crime and will not be locked in.

@MissEliza

The story about Manchester has really disturbed me. What legal right do the police and university have to do this? I'd like to know the set up as well. If it consists of self contained flats, how is it justifiable to require all students to isolate? Would you lock down a block of flats?

Definitley agree. No matter the percieved risk, how can it be allowed for teenagers to be forcibly locked inside their flats for weeks with people they have just met and unable to source food.

They are not criminals , and yet are now literially under house arrest. How people can laugh at people worried about the beginnings of a police state is beyond me. The draconian measures are totally out of proportion.

If this happens to my child (& yes she is my child and always will be) I will be outside her halls demanding them release her. With a lawyer. There is no legal right to keep anyone under house arrest in this country. It's making me so angry that our poor kids are being treated so appallingly.

And yet jourdain you post lots of threads looking for moral support and feel the need to come here and preach at us worried and anxious parents about what is best for our children!

My son was 18 last month!! He didn’t magically acquire adult capabilities over night and I won’t be lectured on what is best for him by anybody! If he needs support and backup he has it, if he doesn’t need it , I’m delighted that he’s finding his feet.

Do we need to start a parents of locked down students protest movement? Not even kidding. Plus uni and halls fees should be much reduced this year.

@Cleebope2

Do we need to start a parents of locked down students protest movement? Not even kidding. Plus uni and halls fees should be much reduced this year.

I’ll join.

My learning disabled adult DD (sadly no longer with us) had to have a Deprivation of Liberties Assessment just so she could go and stay at the respite facility she had a place at (on the basis that she did not have the capacity to decide to go there herself). So how in God's name have we got to a point where we are depriving fully functioning adults of their liberty (in the absence of them committing any crime) is beyond me.

Everyone has a different view of what is proportionate in the current climate. Many people will use the any restrictions are worth imposing. Others feel none are. Most people are somewhere in the middle. Many many people (including myself) will feel that this particular restriction on liberties is not proportionate and will actually stoke the generational divide that this crisis is causing. You can only expect people to sacrifice so much for others before they start rebelling and saying no more.