Why are we okay with students being locked up in their dorms?

[JKRowlingIsMyQueen]

I just heard about the students in Manchester who are not allowed to leave their dorms.

Why on earth is this allowed to happen? So the rest of us who are not students are allowed to get pissed in a pub, get on a plane and travel abroad and back etc., but if you are a student you are not allowed to LEAVE your dorms?

What science are these kind of rules following? The science of Boris needing more ammo to blame young people for spreading the virus?

I'm losing hope.

It's 2 weeks ffs. If a lot of students hadn't ignored guidelines in the first place, they wouldn't be in this situation.

@Itsabeautifuldayheyhey

It's 2 weeks ffs. If a lot of students hadn't ignored guidelines in the first place, they wouldn't be in this situation.

No, it really isn't. And no, they really didn't.

Nice try though.

@MummyPop00

You’d need a lot more than just a million students in terms of % of the population. Try everybody under 50 instead.

Didn't SAGE say the risk increases at 45? I mean of death. The risk of developing disabling Long Covid starts much younger.

@Itsabeautifuldayheyhey

It's 2 weeks ffs. If a lot of students hadn't ignored guidelines in the first place, they wouldn't be in this situation.

Shows the complete lack of understanding. It’s not two weeks - why would it be ? These are the regulations before they even enter College ie with no confirmed cases. Would you like to clarify what other members of society you would like to see subject to draconian measures because some supposedly ‘ignored guidelines’ or are you content to limit it to students at this stage no doubt with the remit to extend it to other members of society as you see fit.

Up to 4,000 students across Britain are now self-isolating for a fortnight after more than 500 cases of Covid-19 were confirmed across at least 32 universities.

@JamieLeeCurtains
Well it certainly sounds to me from this report that it is for a 2 week period.
It has been reported that Freshers ignored the guidelines and have been out on the town making the most of the pubs being open.
Come on, 500 students over 32 unis are infected, do you really think they've all been social-distancing and wearing masks and still attained that level of infection?

I don't think it's right for anyone to have been physically locked in to their accommodation. That's appalling, not to mention very unsafe. I feel very sorry for the students in this situation. The first year of university is supposed to be the time of your life, but they're paying a lot of money for a shit experienced and a few online lessons. That cannot be right.

Having said all that, I really don't know what anyone expected. It seems to me that it was entirely predictable that this would happen. It was totally obvious that the virus would rip through university campuses - UCU predicted that - and that large numbers of students would therefore be forced into self isolation. What would be the alternative, to just let them get on with spreading the virus to staff and the wider community?

With this in mind, I was really surprised that there weren't more students opting to defer this year, but I assumed that they must have decided it was worth the risk. Did students and their parents genuinely not anticipate this happening?

The government certainly knew it was likely, and should have stepped in much earlier in my view to make the universities do everything online. I think the universities knew exactly what to expect as well, and were each probably hoping that they wouldn't be the first so that they didn't get the bad headlines. As things stand, it's a total mess.

I feel sorry for the vulnerable students. The diabetics, those with severe asthma, etc.

I do sympathise with students. Going out, partying, widening your social circle, is as important as the academic part in my view. It's a (usually) wonderfully free time of life.

It would've been fairer if the government had postponed university study this year. I understand it's not an easy time to get a job, but I can imagine places like care homes and schools have vacancies for carers and teaching assistants - even if just temporary to cover staff sickness.

@user1471448866

Shows the complete lack of understanding. It’s not two weeks - why would it be ?
Well maybe because that is what is reported in the media. The BBC report:

"Manchester Met said it had introduced a 14-day self-isolation period at its accommodation at Birley and Cambridge Halls after 127 students tested positive for the virus."

Another report is quoted in my previous post which refers to a fortnight. Why wouldn't I think it is for 2 weeks?
What makes you think otherwise?

@Itsabeautifuldayheyhey

Up to 4,000 students across Britain are now self-isolating for a fortnight after more than 500 cases of Covid-19 were confirmed across at least 32 universities.

@JamieLeeCurtains
Well it certainly sounds to me from this report that it is for a 2 week period.
It has been reported that Freshers ignored the guidelines and have been out on the town making the most of the pubs being open.
Come on, 500 students over 32 unis are infected, do you really think they've all been social-distancing and wearing masks and still attained that level of infection?

You don’t seem to understand the difference between the students ordered to ‘self isolate’ because someone in their accommodation has been diagnosed as Covid positive and the draconian measures being implemented across Universities irrespective of any confirmed cases which are far beyond Govt guidelines. Also ‘come on’ all you like but students have every right to go to pubs that are open legally as much as any other part of society or at least that is my understanding

I don't think it's right for anyone to have been physically locked in to their accommodation.
I think if the Govt had forced people returning from abroad into hotels and quarantined them back when we first found out about Covid, it could have helped.

Also ‘come on’ all you like but students have every right to go to pubs that are open legally as much as any other part of society or at least that is my understanding
It's fine for students to do that as long as they are adhering to the guidelines, mixing with only 5 others and social-distancing. There were plenty pictured in the media who weren' doing that.
It's sad that those who do adhere to the laws and guidance have to be restricted because some of their fellow students didn't.

@MadameBlobby

It’s absolutely shameful. Older people (and I include myself) have no business treating the people we will rely on in future to look after us all in this way. It would serve us right if they shat on us as we have on them.

My thoughts exactly. I really can't believe how some on here seem to be defending this.

MadameBlobby@ Not sure this about protecting the elderly but protecting society as a whole. What exactly are you accusing older people have done to the young?

I have two who should have been at university this year. One stayed at home as all of her classes are online and it seemed ridiculous to pay rent, and one deferred until January and carried on working full time instead, as he knows full well that he won’t study online and is waiting until f2f starts again. He’s not planning on going into halls and is going to rent privately with a gal he currently works with who is going to the same uni. She is currently working pt and studying online from home. If f2f starts in the new year, they’ll go. If not, they’ll rent from next September.
I don’t have an issue with self isolation. It sounds as though there are high numbers of cases. I would expect it to based on cases and tracking though. And I have absolute faith that the university will be working like mad to arrange food deliveries and other support. Because I work in a post sec and that’s exactly what we did. I’m pretty sure my kids would have ordered in pizza.
I don’t believe anyone is stupid enough to lock doors or fire escapes. If they are, they should be criminally liable and charged.
I talked through the options with mine and while the entire situation sucks balls, I’m content with the decisions they made. If they had decided to go, we would obviously have talked them through how to mitigate those risks.
The entire thing is awful. People need to be taking responsibility and making sure they are prepared for all eventualities. Adult children included. And if they aren’t going to be able to cope with all eventualities, it isn’t time to go.
While my older two made their own decisions, I wouldn’t have let dc3 go. She has a physical disability and anxiety disorder. We’re already looking at how she can be supported to cope on her own, and that includes attending somewhere within 4/5 hours so we can rescue her at short notice if her mental health deteriorates. If it looks the same next year, she’ll be deferring.

“I have absolute faith universities will be working like mad to arrange food deliveries and other support” They should have had this in place long before now but they wanted the money. The government had plenty of time to prepare but did nothing.
Your Children are lucky to have been told in advance they could do all their studies online and have a job. Not all students had these options, jobs are scarce and some parents cannot afford to support their children for a year if they differed.
This isn’t just about students it’s about what rules Boris and his inner circle are able to put in place with no discussion or vote. If we let this go more will follow.
If you don’t believe students have no food and fire gates are chained then your not looking at the news and social media

I think you will find a lot of people are very much NOT OK with it. I am very very glad that some law frims have got involved. I would also like to know how many DoLS assessments they carried out and how many applicatinos they submitted to the court of protection to authorise this very clear Deprivation of Liberty for individual students.

It's a disgrace. The "serves them right" attitude on here is horrible as well. Since when was it okay to lock people in a building? Honestly I want off this planet. What are we doing? Students locked in their halls and it's where I live its low illegal for me to see my mam. Illegal!!! I hope something is done for those students soon

Imagine you have booked a holiday, you are going alone and you have to share your bathroom and kitchen with 9 strangers. You have just turned 18yrs old. Unfortunately the activities and adventures you planned can’t go ahead due to flu. You have to self isolate for 2 weeks. You are not allowed out of the complex and food is difficult to obtain due to delivery slots being taken. On day 13 you find out a neighbour in next doors flat now has the flu and you are told you need to self isolate for a further 2 weeks. Surely, anyone can see this is awful, strange and unacceptable? If the infection keeps going around and around like this; effectively when will they be allowed out? There are whole blocks of apartments isolating at present.

For all the parents saying they will go and collect their student DC in defiance of any regulation, I wonder how many of the students would willingly leave?

We should retain a sense of proportion. This is not all first years being forced to stay in their accomodation by a long way.

First year students are having a much more restricted freshers experience than some will have hoped for. However I am not sure that is an entirely bad thing. Freshers had become big business with lots of venues keen to part students from their maintenance loans in the first week.

Being forced to curtail the social aspects of university may be causing new students to rethink. If the experience is going to be far more course focussed then students who went away to university mainly for the social aspects may well now decide that university is not for them.

Equally there will also be plenty of students who are glad that the enforced jollity of freshers has been cancelled. These students will be looking forward to their courses starting, whatever form they take.

Students are not children. They are young adults learning to make shift for themselves. They are also individuals. Some will struggle but cope, others will struggle and fall. Plenty will be just fine they just wont have had as many hangovers as expected.

Both my DDs struggled during their first years in the main because they were in flats with other students who were there for a year long party. Fun for the first week but gradually worsened when the party didnt stop.

That’s true gnome. I think my dd quite likes the lack of partying. She is sad about the lack of clubs though - music and walking would be her thing.

Yes some will now have to really focus on their course!

@Pixxie7

MadameBlobby@ Not sure this about protecting the elderly but protecting society as a whole. What exactly are you accusing older people have done to the young?

But we know older people are the ones more likely to be impacted by the virus. I’m not saying we shouldn’t protect people of course but that shouldn’t be by locking up teenagers! I don’t want that kind of action to be taken to protect me, I accept there’s a risk that even in my 40s and vulnerable I could catch this and die. I don’t want it to happen of course but neither do I think locking up the people who are our future is a proportionate means of making sure it doesn’t!

@Pixxie7

MadameBlobby@ Not sure this about protecting the elderly but protecting society as a whole. What exactly are you accusing older people have done to the young?

And to be clear I don’t mean the elderly. I mean all of us so called “adults” who can’t see we need young people, they are critically important to our futures, why is it OK for us to treat them so badly?

You don’t seem to understand the difference between the students ordered to ‘self isolate’ because someone in their accommodation has been diagnosed as Covid positive and the draconian measures being implemented across Universities irrespective of any confirmed cases which are far beyond Govt guidelines.

I'm interested in this. Which universities are you talking about, and what are the measures that have been implemented?

So far, I have only seen the news reports about students having to self isolate in hall after positive cases. Not much fun, admittedly, but not unreasonable in a pandemic. Students should expect to be bound by government guidelines, just like the rest of us.

I live very near a university and walk through the campus most days. There is no evidence of draconian measures, the students seem to be out and about as usual. So I'm curious, what exactly are other universities doing that is making people so angry?

FWIW, I don't think our local university has any halls in isolation at the moment, but I'm pretty sure it's just a matter of time. There is very little social distancing going on, and many students are cleanly ignoring the rule of 6, so it's just a ticking time bomb.

I'm not sure if people really realise the extent to which students were lied to.

Yes students were told that lectures will be online, but they were also told that smaller groups would be face to face. That now isn't the case in most places. Either universities have only just realised that seminars etc aren't feasible to be done socially distanced, or they lied.

Students are now trapped in long term rent contracts, so they can't just leave and move home, they'll have to be paying £150+ a week.

I also think most students appreciated that they would have to self isolate if someone in their household got Covid. But a household, of say 5-7 people, is VERY different from the whole blocks of student accommodation having to self isolate, even if there were no symptoms in their flat. Unis did not make that clear either.

And if people still think that despite the above that students deserve this, then consider the fact that some unis are literally acting unlawfully in the way that they are treating their isolating students. It is against the law, whether they are students, adults or children.

It's a massive, massive disaster of poor planning and incompetent management, at the expense of students.

And as for the “they could have deferred” comments how would this have helped other than shafting the kids with A-levels and highers to come for Uni entry next year?