Downing Street to hold press conference this afternoon

[FairyAtTheBottomOfTheGarden]

From BBC News -

UK government Health Secretary Matt Hancock is to host a virtual press conference from Downing Street later today, it's just been confirmed.

He is going to be joined by NHS England national medical director Steve Powis and chief medical adviser Chris Whitty.

Were we expecting one today?

@ElizabethG81

Mass testing was promised for all Tier 3 areas when we came out of lockdown. Have we got it? No.

Now London schools, in Tier 2, are getting mass testing. Fucking brilliant. We know they hate the North, but they just have to keep on proving it week on week, don't they?

7 boroughs out of 35. I think people on this thread underestimate how large London is and how many people there are.

Secondary school kids here in the NW have been in and out of school like yo-yos since Sep, a lot have been off more than they've been in. Now it's hitting London they're going to start mass testing. I'm fucking fuming about this.

But it’s only 7 London boroughs this applies to right?
There are 32 London boroughs so 25 boroughs presumably with lower rates not getting the tests.
Can’t see the problem

True it doesn’t apply here although a higher area not too far away

No, so why are they constantly hunting for a disease in people that aren’t ill? I know people on here will scream “asymptomatic” at me but I think they are hunting for case numbers so they can keep the restrictions going as long as possible

First they said restrictions would be lifted for Christmas.

Then there were two weeks of guilt tripping and emotional blackmail to try and convince ppl not to take it up.

Now a fortnight before Christmas suddenly there is this. Its keeping the restrictions in over Christmas by stealth.

But why do those 7 boroughs matter more than the millions of others in the North?

@ElizabethG81 because they're in the centre of the universe SE silly!

@ElizabethG81

But why do those 7 boroughs matter more than the millions of others in the North?

Cos it's London innit! So fucking angry right now!

I listened to that open mouthed. I’m in one of the areas that has had 2 weeks out of restrictions mid July and then back Into them again. Where the fuck is the testing for the school kids here? All the kids locally that have been in and out of school since they went back, why don’t they and their families matter?

ElizabethG81 dds friend is on her 4th lot of isolation, 8 weeks off school - it’s been hitting London too.

I think they should offer those flow tests to everyone who wants one like they did with students. They are cheap and easy to use.

@nancy75

ElizabethG81 dds friend is on her 4th lot of isolation, 8 weeks off school - it’s been hitting London too.

But not enough to put it in Tier 3 like the rest of us with very high rates?

Is there good, empiral evidence that asymptomatic spread is a thing? Pre symptomatic yes, but true asymptomatic?

@MarshaBradyo

But it’s only 7 London boroughs this applies to right? There are 32 London boroughs so 25 boroughs presumably with lower rates not getting the tests. Can’t see the problem

True it doesn’t apply here although a higher area not too far away

It doesn’t apply in my borough either. Luckily I understand why and don’t begrudge the schools in the 7 (out of 32) boroughs that will get tested as they obviously have a higher need. Luckily I do not feel the need to take to social media decrying how unfair it all is and how the Government must hate my borough and want us all dead

Yes, it has been hitting London, so why it London tier 2 not 3 like most of the north?

I live in London and it's obvious that part of the north of England should take priority.

I am absolutely raging on behalf of my students and their families.

We haven’t been open to all year since last week of Sept. some year groups have had 5 periods of isolation. We have closed fully on multiple occasions when we couldn’t staff the school. My students have been anxious, they don’t know how long they’ll be back in school and for how long. My head has been begging for us to go to remote learning as we have now for multiple cases and wants to break the chain of transmission - we can see how pupils are infecting each other - yet dfe said no.

These pupils have had a rough time the past few months and have been forgotten as we are just a deprived city in the West Mids.

@ElizabethG81

But why do those 7 boroughs matter more than the millions of others in the North?

Because London has the highest case rate in the country and they are trying to stop it getting worse.

No idea why they've not put it in tier 3 though.

Sasha no me either!

ElizabethG81 I’m not getting in to a North v South argument, people living in London didn’t pick their tier, we’re stuck with this shit show of a govt just like everyone else.

Literally crying with frustration and seething with rage. So, large areas of the North crippled with covid for months and virtually nothing. A rise in London and we have a crisis. The SE bias in this country is unbelievable.
So many saying schools are the source though. We had a month lockdown and cases fell accross the country with schools fully open. It's the number of social interactions that matter not where they are.

[quote mumsneedwine]@ineedaholidaynow I am a teacher. And I am exhausted. We have year groups in and out like yo-yos,teaching in class and in lime at the same time. Trying to remain cheerful while colleagues are in hospital. Hancock admitting (almost) that schools are not safe is just a tiny 'victory' that we were right.
Not sure how many kids are going to want to get tested next week though as if they are positive then they are isolating for Xmas.[/quote]
It’s no coincidence that today is 14 days before Christmas. So obvious. The Penny dropped that all the kids will be hugging Granny on Christmas Day.
They can’t hide it if the Grandparents start dropping like flies in January.

I have wondered the same @ILookAtTheFloor

The problem is that there is very little information regarding any questions like this and any attempt to ask them here has you called out as a conspiracy theorist that doesn’t think covid exists.

I’d also like to know more about what happens when you’ve had covid. I heard a scientist talking on a radio station who said that human bodies are incredibly efficient and so don’t have antibodies floating around against all and sundry just in case one of the illnesses it’s seen before infects you again. Instead it stores the information in T Cells and releases antibodies as necessary. This makes perfect sense to me and suggests that many people who’ve already had covid can’t now become infectious as they won’t develop the disease again. However there is very little information about that, we are only told that they can’t find antibodies 6 months on.

If we get another national lockdown because of rising cases in London I will lose my fucking shit. I am in the NW who have never been out of some degree of punishing regime since March. Now our levels are finally plummetting.

Thanks @Lostinacloud and I agree 100% with your point around immunity. Any questioning of the covid line is construed as heresy, it really is like a religion at times.

@Axlcat

I’m scratching my head here. Northerner living in London. Mum works in a school in Yorkshire tier 3. I’ve been worried sick about her and there was no talk of mass testing school children up there when they had horrific figures. North south divide or what?!

London has twice the population of Yorkshire. 10 million to about 5 million. It’s a numbers game

Seriously- the answer here is to CLOSE THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS a week early. In the most affected boroughs. They have done in wales. Though I suppose best to test the kids than let them all socialise.
We’re in the Nw where secondary schools have been on their knees yet nothing has been done up here. None of this mass/community/surge testing that they speak about