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.

[quote mumsneedwine]@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.[/quote]
I think that’s fair - it would be what, at max 30% of the population that ‘need’ to be on campus?

The other thing is that these students were sent to uni with no protocols whatsoever. No mass testing or quarantine period upon immediate arrival. What did they honestly think was going to happen? We already have the experience of US universities. The ones that had procedures in place were able to stay upon. Many others sent students home en masse because it clearly wasn’t working out.

Gladysthesphinx 👏👏

@Inkpaperstars

Batshit is it illegal for them to leave, or is it a university policy ie. disciplinary issue. If it isn't illegal (and they are not required by national rules to be self isolating) then surely they must be allowed to leave if they leave the university? Not much of an option admittedly! Just trying to understand what legally is happening here.

Have you read the thread? People have had their keycards wiped so they cannot leave.

The level of hatred I've seen levelled at them online today is sickening. So many believe it is all deserved as they 'flouted' 'the rules'. I really hope once these young people come to power they have more compassion and empathy for all of us and don't tar us all with the same brush as many have done them because if I were them I'd be furious and shaft those who fucked me over like this.

Locking fire escapes is illegal surely?

This happened in New York and students posted about the dismal food they were paying thousands of dollars for the pleasure of

www.nytimes.com/2020/08/22/nyregion/coronavirus-tiktok-college-quarantine-food.html

Donna, that wasn't what i was asked, though. I was asked 'would I EXPECT the Government to just tell me and 500 other people to self-isolate, and would I be HAPPY for them to do so'.

To which my answer was that I expect them to do so, and in fact predict that they shortly will do so, and I am happy that they have the right to do so as part of infection control.

I would make the same answer for DS, who is a student. I expect that at some point this winter he will have to self-isolate in his accommodation, I accept that public health is right to do so if needed to control infection, and I am happy that he is both psychologically and physically prepared for this, as it is so predictable.

They're getting more support than most:

"We are developing an additional package of care and financial support to assist students who have been asked to go into 14-day self-isolation.

This is in addition to the measures we have already put in place for things like online shopping, laundry provision and access to medicine.

The additional support will include the provision of food and other essential items through partnerships with local supermarkets, enhanced health and wellbeing services, and financial assistance."

How many others on here have had that support?

I am not ok with it. It sounds like the plot of an M Night Shyamalan movie (or perhaps already is), whereby people are locked up for not following "the rules", like a dystopian nightmare. Or maybe an episode of Black Mirror.

@HesterShaw1, DS has tested positive, but is not ill. A mild temperature for 16 hours, a cough and a bit of a nasal drip have been the full extent of it. Most people would, in days gone by pre-corona, have gone to work.

@Gladysthesphinx

There’s also a political issue here.

Universities enticed students to turn up this September. Why? Because if all the first years had deferred (as they would have done if they knew the reality awaiting them) the universities would have gone bankrupt. Bust. The only way to avoid this would have been for the government to bail out the entire university sector.

Why didn’t the government do this? Because it couldn’t afford to. It would have run to many many many billions. It’s a large sector.

Basically, there is no money to compensate people for the vast costs of lockdown. The government can’t afford to bail people & business sectors (including universities) out. This is why the university sector was kept open, & students encouraged to attend.

What happens if the government can’t afford to compensate people for their losses? People object. They’re angry. They disobey the rules. And they get locked up for it.

Locking people up, keeping them prisoner, is the inevitable consequence of shutting down society. Because we can’t afford to compensate people for their financial loss, we have to lock them up to stop them from rebelling. Detention centres, anyone? Barbed wire?

You can only do so much with social pressure when people see they’re losing their livelihoods and futures - the only way a government can enforce that, ultimately, is through totalitarian measures. With the students, we’re just starting to see what awaits us all if this goes on.

💯💯💯

Spot on, Gladys. But still you have people baying for lockdowns, stricter ones, ones like this, turning each other in for any perceived infraction. Divide and conquer!

Don't be surprised when the poison hits after you drunk the Kool-Aid.

[quote XingMing]@HesterShaw1, DS has tested positive, but is not ill. A mild temperature for 16 hours, a cough and a bit of a nasal drip have been the full extent of it. Most people would, in days gone by pre-corona, have gone to work.[/quote]
So yes, not actually ill. A little under the weather.

This is insanity.

I can't believe the people who are still defending this stuff.

@jdoejnr1

They're getting more support than most:

"We are developing an additional package of care and financial support to assist students who have been asked to go into 14-day self-isolation.

This is in addition to the measures we have already put in place for things like online shopping, laundry provision and access to medicine.

The additional support will include the provision of food and other essential items through partnerships with local supermarkets, enhanced health and wellbeing services, and financial assistance."

How many others on here have had that support?

And you actually believe that shit? From people who locked up hundreds of people at a stroke? I'm afraid you're beyond help if you believe all this bollocks.

Germany as well - countries that have got on top of the virus well have done so through what seems to cause outrage here

A slight difference between isolating in your own flat (home) with your family and being locked up in 'halls in your first yr at Uni, having been encouraged to go there AND paying 15k per year for the privilege!

Its disgraceful, even criminal and Johnson popularity is going to take a hammering because of this.

Presumably those that do choose to leave and therefore face disciplinary action from the university and are possibly then are thrown off their course still have to pay the £10,000 teaching fee plus any accommodation they had booked?

If so, that's hardly a 'choice' is it?

Its an absolute disgrace. An accident waiting to happen. Can I just mention meningitis too.

127 students have tested positive hence the lockdown. But what did they think would happen when so may were flouting the rules?
Exactly they weren't sitting quietly in their room they were out partying .
I'm not saying all were but i put a good bet a lot were .
It's not forever so less of the dramatics , it's got to be done unfortunately.

I am not OK with this nor with the increasing scapegoating of young people. I am not OK with the increasing tendency of Westminster and the Scottish Government to legislate, and the erosion of freedom of choice, freedom of speech and civil liberties in the name of 'suppressing Covid'

I am not a Covid-denier but I think all reason has been lost and it is an omnishambles. But this being Mumsnet I will be accused of being a Covid-denier, not caring about the vulnerable and being a selfish twat

@cantkeepawayforever yes I understand your answer but you compared it to your situation where you will be in your local community if locked down not a completely different city with no support, hence it’s not the same.

I guess some of us are sympathetic and open to the fact that the government of got things wrong. Others follow like sheep and think everything they do and say is acceptable!

And glandular fever and other illnesses which are generally many times more dangerous to 18-22 year olds than fucking Covid!

I keep telling my DP's 19 year student daughter - do more forget this at the election booth.

Let me comrehend @XingMing, you are happy that the young person is thousands of pounds in debt, learns via a laptop and is exposed to thousands of young people in a small sapce?

I am absolutely not ok with this, OP. If the students want to start a riot, I will be joining them.

As for locking fire doors: I almost think this must be an urban myth, as nobody - nobody - would be that stupid and irresponsible.

There were a lot of people out at the weekend where I live. To judge by the footage, very few of them were students. I would say the majority are locals.

@randomer

Its an absolute disgrace. An accident waiting to happen. Can I just mention meningitis too.

More worrying than Covid, I would say.

@HesterShaw1

And glandular fever and other illnesses which are generally many times more dangerous to 18-22 year olds than fucking Covid!

I keep telling my DP's 19 year student daughter - do more forget this at the election booth.

Sorry that was in reference to @randomer's comment about meningitis.

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?

It's ok in New Zealand;

"Police officers will patrol New Zealand’s quarantine hotels around-the-clock after a number of people – including a man who tested positive for coronavirus – escaped the managed isolation facilities."

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/09/new-zealand-police-to-patrol-quarantine-hotels-after-breakouts