Surely we’ll all be in full lockdown very soon?

[Browneyedgirl20]

With the recent travel bans and now freight banned from France, Hancock saying the new variant is ‘out of control’ etc - how long can it be until the whole UK is in lockdown? A few days maybe?

I hope there is a national lockdown so at least I can be furloughed if my dd not at school.Tiers don't work so the experts say but boris doesn't want to announce this till after xmas day.

I mean doesn't want to announce a full lockdown till after xmas day.

The tiers have been as useless as track and trace, which has cost billions! Put the money into furlough, do a proper lockdown, focus on the vaccine before too many mutations render it useless.

@justasking111

Well in Wales we were not told until 5pm that lockdown would be at midnight, so do not expect much warning.

I live in rural Wales and work in the very small village shop... we had folks in within 20 mins of that 5pm announcement, cars packed full buying nibbles for their long journeys, as they were leaving early for their Xmas breaks to Scotland, Newcastle, London etc whilst they could still legally travel! We are also STILL getting folks coming in for Xmas from all over, and to really rub it in, constantly complaining that our shop doesn't stock whatever exotic goodies their usual local shop does!

@tryinghardnottocry It was the same with the old strain though, wasn't it, that children were the carriers?

Tzimi scientists are exploring the idea that this mutation is much more contagious in children and younger people. From what I can understand, part of the 'spike' in the virus has changed so that it can pass through the more limited virus passages that children and young people have. This means they will catch it more easily, but whether or not that means they will get more ill from it is not known.

The Government I think are hoping that there will start to be a drop over the next two weeks in the current Tier 4 places because the implications if they dont means there is nowhere to go.

I think it's inevitable that there will be a drop towards the end of the holidays because of the schools being off, then the first week the schools are physically back in the building it'll be OK and will then sky rocket.

@Requinblanc the previous lockdowns did work. The first one in the spring got numbers down very low for the summer. The only reason the second lockdown didn't get numbers down as low is because it didn't last long enough. It was working - numbers had levelled off and were starting to drop, but our peerless leaders stopped it just as we were turning the corner. Two weeks was obviously not going to be long enough to get case rates back down again. If BoJo the Clown had extended the lockdown even from December 2 to December 16 we would be in a much better position now.

I think more areas will be put into higher tiers as the new variant takes hold in more places, and nearly everyone will be in tier 4 after Christmas. Unlike in the first lockdown allied health professions will stay open (because closing them the first time was a big mistake) as will schools (because it's too damaging to shut them and because they can now throw masses of asymptomatic testing at them to prevent the major outbreaks we have now in schools in London and the SE.)

Then we will all hunker down until the vaccine is fully rolled out and we emerge blinking into the sun.

Unless the bloody, mother-f*ing, anti-vaxxer loonies manage to frighten too many people with their lies and delusions and we don't have enough people taking the vaccine to achieve herd immunity.

@Localocal but how long would it take for vaccine roll out? You say hunker down until then? But it could be months?! People will be homeless and children starving by then, not an exaggeration, it’s really happening.

@polkadot89 I think things will start to get better, and we will start to move down the tiers, from end of January. The school break over Christmas and increased school testing should bring down transmission rates among under-18s, and the vaccine should be protecting care homes, healthcare workers and over 80's by then, so their numbers should have dropped too. I'm hoping the government will direct all universities to go fully online on January until further notice and keep their halls closed, which will help prevent another spike when students go back.

But the Government definitely needs to do more to support people - rent and mortgage holidays, increases to UC and sick pay, and financial packages for the Excluded at last.

Localocal I agree with you except I think schools need to be closed for the start of next year, possibly just until the February half term to give a chance for school testing to kick in. I have lost faith in this government to delivery anything that works or is on time. Furlough has to be extended. Perhaps the government can get a refund from the billions spent on the failed track and trace so that people with real jobs can afford to live.

My current job means that I have been having to deal with anti-vaxxers and their campaigns for the last few weeks. Hopefully there are enough sensible media people countering them ...

Those who think secondary schools should close - what about gcses and A levels? If schools close should exams go ahead?

Depends how long they have to close for - if it's until half term, then I think they should go ahead, but any longer...who knows? Too early to say really. They are taking place later than usual, and luckily our 11s and 13s took their mocks early in November, so we have those scores if necessary.

I am amazed that anyone thinks its fine to make these kids take exams AND shut schools for half a term.

My dd will be fine as she has good online provision but thousands of kids don't/won't

On the topic of severity of lockdown. Here's what Europe looks like at the moment:

Plus restrictions at the same level of ours

And those places with harder restrictions.

They should all get a blanket pass for GCSE and A Level. Next year too.

@Ihatemyseleffordoingthis

They should all get a blanket pass for GCSE and A Level. Next year too.

I think so too, they have had more disruption (or will have done by May) than the current year 12 students did last year.

@Ihatemyseleffordoingthis
Do you mean that everyone gets the same grade? If so then how is that fair? DS worked solidly all through lockdown and is currently revising for his mocks that may or may not happen after Christmas, lots of his mates haven’t done hardly any work?

They can't all get the same.grade at A level

@Ihateketchup - lots of children and young people have been: bereaved; isolated; depressed; not provided with adequate home learning by schools (no shade on teachers); unable able to access that work due to lack of bandwidth or tech; unable to find an adequate space to work in due to living in unsuitable conditions; completely unsupervised by parents working day and night to stay afloat. Those who have least have disproportionately been affected by this. None of which is fair.

But tbh any grades they get in 2019/2020/poss 21 at this rate will be seen as somehow made up.

A -level I grant you is slightly different to GCSE.

@Ihatemyseleffordoingthis

They should all get a blanket pass for GCSE and A Level. Next year too.

What even is a pass? Not all children would ever 'pass' so how could that even work.

Give them all sufficient to progress to something else.

Assume the best of all of them. Give them all a 6. Those who would have got 8s&9s will still go on to excel, those who wouldn't get a leg up to compensate for the utter failure of the state to provide a proper, safe education.

@Ihatemyseleffordoingthis

Give them all sufficient to progress to something else.

Assume the best of all of them. Give them all a 6. Those who would have got 8s&9s will still go on to excel, those who wouldn't get a leg up to compensate for the utter failure of the state to provide a proper, safe education.

I don't think that is fair at all. For starters some 6th form colleges ask for higher than a 6 for a subject at A level.

They need to use the CAGs, the teachers know the children better than anybody.

I am amazed that anyone thinks its fine to make these kids take exams AND shut schools for half a term.

My dd will be fine as she has good online provision but thousands of kids don't/won't

^^
I agree that many of thousands don't/won't.
But I can only speak from experience.
Our year 11s had good support over the summer (as year 10s they returned to school in July). They took mocks early. They had after school lessons every night from October. Most of their schooling from now until exam time is revision - because of our robust year 10 schemes of work. Revision that we can more than adequately provide on line.
So yes, ours will be fine with missing half a term.
But also, I completely agree that many won't be.

I think it’s very optimistic to think that there’s going to be a massive change by the end of January. In terms of nursing and care homes, the nursing home I work in has been given a provisional date for the first of their two vaccines “by the end of February”. None of our staff have been vaccinated yet even thought they were supposed to be top of the priority list and healthcare staff are supposed to be vaccinated at the hospital hub at the moment. The vaccine roll out is much slower than most people realise. I know GPs who were booked in to vaccinate into the 1000 mark last week who had their delivery cancelled at the very last minute and had to turn hundreds queued outside away.

I think the schools need to shut again. However, I’m terrified at the prospect of only our key workers children being left to mix in school...so us nurses, doctors, care staff etc could easily catch it from our kids and have to go off sick for two weeks or give it to our residents and patients. But we need the schools to be open to be able to work. It’s a real mess at the moment.