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Original poster

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

651 replies

JKRowlingIsMyQueen · 28/09/2020 19:05

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.

OP posts:
cantkeepawayforever · 28/09/2020 19:55

Locking in is NOT ok, especially fire doors. that is appalling.

However, very strict but supported lockdown - access to food, medical and mental health care staff but not free movement out of the area - is a sensible way of treating and controlling a very significant outbreak.

mumsneedwine · 28/09/2020 19:55

@Redolent neither of my 2 can do that. One involves sick humans and the other sick animals and they have to legally complete practical work to pass.

emmetgirl · 28/09/2020 19:55

I don't see how anyone can be ok with people being kept inside a building by security guards, effectively against their will. When did this become ok?

Tickledtrout · 28/09/2020 19:55

It's absolutely awful and thank goodness society as a whole is beginning to wake up to this. Covid is not the only threat to life and suicide and substance misuse is a far greater threat to that age group.

UntamedWisteria · 28/09/2020 19:55

I posted about this on FB and one so-called friend told me that students needed to "stop being soft".

FFS!

AuntyPasta · 28/09/2020 19:56

If they can’t get food then that’s a huge issue and each University should be dealing with it.

mumsneedwine · 28/09/2020 19:56

@jdoejnr1 and why have they tested positive ? Because the Uni was proactive and tested on arrival. If schools did the same weekly we would probably find lots are asymptomatic. And the 127 is Uni side, not in one halls.

MrsMcMuffins · 28/09/2020 19:57

Mother of fresher currently locked in self isolating here....
Before she went we were told only some teaching online due to nature of her course. She only found out when she got there all except 1 hour a week is online and that hour may also turn into online.

Some of you speak as if these students are adults, but they are YOUNG adults away from home for the first time.

Universities were greedy and wanted to fill their halls with students for money. It’s a scandal.

cantkeepawayforever · 28/09/2020 19:57

[quote mumsneedwine]@cantkeepawayforever you didn't answer my question. Would you be ok for your child to be locked in (meaning no means of escape or getting food) if John 17 doors down tested positive. Who they have never met ? You'd be happy with that I assume.[/quote]
I have accepted - as has DS - that this could happen if there is a case anyweher in his halls, yes.

Is it genuinely the case that students have access to no food? Maybe not food 'of their choice', but no food? My understanding was that the universities were providing basic foodstuffs?

Aworldofmyown · 28/09/2020 19:58

Its disgusting and very worrying. I don't understand how anyone can believe this is ok.

zaffa · 28/09/2020 19:58

@starrynight19

covidchristmas but what if after two weeks some other students in your block get it. That’s another two week lock down and so on and so on.
But isn't that what's happening in schools? (If someone in your year bubble tests positive you isolate for two weeks, on repeat) and isn't that what happens in your household already? (If someone tests positive you isolate and if another person tests positive you isolate etc) Can anyone link a reputable news source to confirm the fire doors were locked? I'm not being goady I just can't find the reference anywhere
user1497207191 · 28/09/2020 19:58

How about Uni's start enforcing social distancing etc in their own on-site common rooms, bars, cafes etc? My son has just started (at a college based campus) and says no one is enforcing any of the Covid rules in the outlets, shops, bars, etc. How come local councils are enforcing the rules in town centre pubs but ignoring the campus pubs?

starrynight19 · 28/09/2020 19:58

untamedwisteria the things that have been written about students are terrible.
People literally are blaming them for this virus. Maybe like care homes were blamed.
I wonder how many of these people would happily be locked away in a room and pay for that privilege?

mumsneedwine · 28/09/2020 19:58

@cantkeepawayforever on that I agree. But that's not happening. Students were given an hours notice having lived somewhere new for a week. And then left alone.
And then locked in. Locked in. Does anyone really believe this is right ? Criminals at least get a fair trial before we lock the doors.

loulouljh · 28/09/2020 19:58

I am not ok with it at all. I feel very uncomfortable at what is happening. It is not justified at all. Poor kids.

MarshaBradyo · 28/09/2020 19:59

@MrsMcMuffins

Mother of fresher currently locked in self isolating here.... Before she went we were told only some teaching online due to nature of her course. She only found out when she got there all except 1 hour a week is online and that hour may also turn into online.

Some of you speak as if these students are adults, but they are YOUNG adults away from home for the first time.

Universities were greedy and wanted to fill their halls with students for money. It’s a scandal.

How is she? Is she coping ok
StealthPolarBear · 28/09/2020 19:59

Children in schools are presumably isolating in their family homes. Not in school.

cantkeepawayforever · 28/09/2020 19:59

@AuntyPasta

If they can’t get food then that’s a huge issue and each University should be dealing with it.
Absolutely.

Locked fire doors - unacceptable.
No food - unacceptable.
No medical or mental health support - unacceptable.
Isolation - acceptable, it's a legal requirement for us all.
Lockdown of a wider community - widely and successfully used to control significant outbreaks elsewhere.

jdoejnr1 · 28/09/2020 20:00

[quote mumsneedwine]@cantkeepawayforever you didn't answer my question. Would you be ok for your child to be locked in (meaning no means of escape or getting food) if John 17 doors down tested positive. Who they have never met ? You'd be happy with that I assume.[/quote]
Thats bollocks:

"Manchester Metropolitan University sent students an email with information about food deliveries and other services, including an arrangement with the local Asda supermarket."

cantkeepawayforever · 28/09/2020 20:01

Thanks jdoe, that was the kind of information I had also seen. Obviously not having access to any food would be unacceptable.

ShalomToYouJackie · 28/09/2020 20:02

Is it only halls of residence where there's been a positive test result that have to isolate or is it all student halls all over the country?

Inkpaperstars · 28/09/2020 20:02

Can I just check....I understood these are rules and regs put in place by the universities concerned. As far as I know this is not a government policy or measure. It is policy to self isolate, for everyone who is tested positive or a close contact. Anything more than that is the individual university involved deciding, or am I wrong?

MsPeachh · 28/09/2020 20:03

I am not ok with it at all. If the universities simply asked the students to self-isolate for two weeks on arrival this could’ve been avoided. Bless them, this is not what they were promised at all.

DonnaDonna01 · 28/09/2020 20:03

@cantkeepawayforever no answer to this -

@cantkeepawayforever can I ask if you lived in a block of flats and Mr Brown on the fifth floor had symptoms or a positive test would you expect the government to say “that’s it full block locked down - 500 of you isolate now. No warning just do it, would you be happy?

If you are following social distancing and wearing a mask in a public areas why full blocks of students? If this happened in a tower block in the centre of London there would be a national out cry!

AuntyPasta · 28/09/2020 20:04

Aren’t university medical centres doing phone consults?