As the majority of DC, teachers and parents of school age DC won't need hospitalisation

[Lucyandbet]

Why are so many people on MN so gleeful at the prospect of them shutting again? Aren't we focusing on the wrong age group to impose weeks/months more isolation and crappiness on? Why does everyone seem so happy at the prospect of shut schools?

@DBML

I have to have phone consultations with my physio. They’ve never even physically assessed me. Asked me a bunch of questions over the phone and then sent me a pictorial plan of exercises to do. 4 months on, I’m still in agony and in 2 months will have another phone conversation. Now that is a job you can’t do without seeing people...but is currently being done without seeing people.

Me too. It's pissing me off actually. Dd can go and have her nails done but I can't see a real life physio. Mines a broken arm and wrist. What's yours?

Lucyandbet I assume then that you are seeing patients in person; are not wearing a mask during consultations; your patients are not wearing masks and you are not cleaning after each visit? Please clarify your own working situation as a physio

@MrsMiaWallis

Sciatica and piraformis syndrome. I can barely walk.
I’m sorry you are having to tolerate your pain too. I’ve been understanding because of the situation we’re all in and wouldn’t want others to put themselves at risk. It is a piss off and draining to be in so much constant pain though.

OP, we have no data yet on the rates of hospitalisation for the South Africa strain. SAGE have advised the government that it appears to cause much more severe disease in children. Surely as this is such a new variant we should keep our children safe while scientists figure out the real risk profile and determine the correct mitigation measures?

Or would you prefer we all plow ahead and chuck kids into a giant Petri dish and just hope for the best when it comes to child deaths?

NHS Tayside. Population 420,000

Deaths ‘with’ Covid positive test = 486
Deaths solely from Covid = 21
Age range of majority 80+

Yanbu. This hysteria has to stop.

[quote DBML]@MrsMiaWallis

Sciatica and piraformis syndrome. I can barely walk.
I’m sorry you are having to tolerate your pain too. I’ve been understanding because of the situation we’re all in and wouldn’t want others to put themselves at risk. It is a piss off and draining to be in so much constant pain though.[/quote]
I was understanding at the beginning but as people flock to pubs hairdressers beauty salons etc I am now pissed off.

How do vulnerable families isolate if they have to send their children into school?

Have you been working as normal @Lucyandbet

Yep. It’s a service I would have thought would be up there in it’s importance to remain as fully open as possible. It’s a joke to think you can assess people over the phone.

Dd has not seen her nhs physio since this began. Just one telephone call from the consultant, one xray and one phone call from the physio. She has scoliosis.

So you’d rather close everything else and all retail and hospitality staff to lose their jobs?

Schools or everything else is the choice. Choose.

Oh my goodness @phlebasconsidered
That’s awful!

Raise your bar OP. Raise your bar.

The number one contrubuting factor for transmission of the virus to vulnerable groups, is transmission in the community at large. time.com/5899432/sweden-coronovirus-disaster/

@mrsanflowerpot

Because DH has just spent Christmas away from us as he's working on a Covid ward and DS is shielding. Because he said yesterday was the busiest day in his hospital in the twelve years he's worked there. Because I'm a member of SLT feeling like I'm putting my staff and students, and all of their families at risk. Because life in school last term felt impossible and I'm scared about what's coming. Because DH has lost three colleagues and one of our kids has lost a parent to Covid. I could go on.

Thank you to your husband and you too x #solidarity

Why aren't we focusing on protecting/isolating the over 70s

We are - they (and the CEV) are the priority groups for the vaccine. They cannot be isolated - though the CEV are asked to shield - so they are the first to be protected

Because a tiny fraction of a large number of people is a large number of people

Ds is medically vulnerable, we are walking a tightrope with school and the Education Welfare. We have letters from the Dr saying ds should stay home, but school feel he should be in. I've given up work to keep him home, it is an enormous amount of work to do this and keep him engaged, and keep school happy...and I am aware it is his transition year to secondary and at the moment I cannot foresee how this is going to work. Meanwhile his older sisters are attending secondary - what should I do @Lucyandbet, keep them off too? Maybe dh should not go to work either?

'Protect the vulnerable' - it sounds so easy, but firstly - who are the vulnerable? And secondly - how do we protect them??

We're a pesky multigenerational household. Teenagers at big secondary in years 10 and 11, my parents live with us and are over 70.

Don't know what to do for the best really - if GCSEs are still going ahead my year 11 really does need to be in school so if they are open he will be going - at what risk to his grandparents?

I teach primary aged children (infants) and I'm clinically vulnerable.
I caught covid.
I ended up hospitalised due to covid complications.
I was off school for 7 weeks.
12 weeks on I'm struggling still and will most likely be on medication for life as a result.

A number of our staff caught covid. Although no others were hospitalised many are struggling to recover fully afterwards. 2 months in and several still have fatigue and have 'brain fog.' This seems to be particularly affecting the women in their 40s and 50s in our staff.

@Nousernamesleftatall it’s interesting how no-one else is responding to those figures but I will. Teesside is not alone , there are a few of these now circulating based on freedom of information requests but they seem to be ignored . Is that because there is doubt in their integrity or something else ?

I’m still waiting for op to come back and tell us how she’s continuing to practice physiotherapy face-to-face and with no regard for her personal safety. All because of her commitment to a greater good and the easing of pain for her patients.

Because schools don't operate in a vacuum

I’m not happy about the idea but I also feel so much for families and school staff who are vulnerable. Government has insisted everything be normal but there are all kinds of things that would have improved things for schools e.g reduced class sizes, removing NC requirements and trusting teachers to help children learn appropriately
for where they are at after this very messed up year, enabling staff and families to learn/work from home where there were good reasons.

@Lucyandbet

Why are so many people on MN so gleeful at the prospect of them shutting again? Aren't we focusing on the wrong age group to impose weeks/months more isolation and crappiness on? Why does everyone seem so happy at the prospect of shut schools?

How is it not the right age group to focus on? You do realise that it is schools that have the highest cases and many are asymptomatic meaning that the spread spills into the community at a much faster rate. Also many young teachers are asymptomatic too. These kids/teachers don’t just take the virus back to their households do they? The problem is they carry the virus and don’t know it and visit supermarkets and other places that are open (depending on the tier they are in) Unless we place restrictions on all those who attend school to not visit any other place at all. So basically go to school then straight back home and not allow them to leave the house for any other reason. Also many kids and teachers have family members that don’t work or go to school and work in different settings so they potentially spread the virus there too.

If all NHS workers and teachers who are vulnerable shielded for the foreseeable we'd have a huge problem anyway!

What about the group below the shielded (CEV)? Do those who are merely clinically vulnerable just take their chances and hope for the best? Or shall we collectively leave our careers and our jobs to protect ourselves?