Sir Keir Starmer calling for nursery closure!

[Boogie5678]

Sorry I’m not sure how to link this but it’s on BBC news.

PicsInRed

On the other note, I am surprised no one speaks about closing supermarkets. Their workers are exposed to many more contacts with customers and at higher risk of getting COVID than nursery workers.

No, but see that would also inconvenience male shoppers. We can't have that, can we?“

To be fair, it would inconvenience pretty much everyone. We all need to eat.

@PicsInRed

On the other note, I am surprised no one speaks about closing supermarkets. Their workers are exposed to many more contacts with customers and at higher risk of getting COVID than nursery workers.

No, but see that would also inconvenience male shoppers. We can't have that, can we?

Yes but supermarket staff aren’t expected to cuddle, wipe noses and change nappies of shoppers are they? Don’t get up quite so close and personal I don’t think!

I'm a nursery teacher and it was a massive kick in the teeth to hear Boris Johnson say the school teachers are the ones at risk so all education would be shut...except nurseries. We weren't even just forgotten, we were actively told that we dont matter.
I dont understand why we arent just open to key children again.
I'm terrified of bringing it home, I have my elderly grandmother living with me, my daughter who is asthmatic and I have an autoimmune illness.
I'm so scared and so upset by the way we have been treated.

I work in a nursery and I don't feel safe at work
We haven't had any cases yet but it's only a matter of time
I've spent all weekend stressed as a colleague was tested yesterday morning, thankfully she has just got a negative result
I'm torn, I can see we do an essential job but at what cost?

Yes but supermarket staff aren’t expected to cuddle, wipe noses and change nappies of shoppers are they? Don’t get up quite so close and personal I don’t think!

Yes! Thank you!

It does make sense, but does anyone have a plan for what they'll do with their toddlers if childcare closes? It seems like childcare is much safer than leaving my 2 year old shut in the living room with snacks and the tv for 8 hours a day. I felt like it was bordering on neglect last lockdown, so I really hope that if they close early years they put something else in place, perhaps financial support for parents who have to reduce hours or resign from their jobs.

To be fair, it would inconvenience pretty much everyone. We all need to eat.

l agree, the issue is that women feed themselves and their children using the money they earn either due to childcare or working in it.

So on the one hand we all need to eat, but on the other hand "close all the dangerous childcare" and good fucking luck to women with no money to buy food in those super safe supermarkets... which are still open but only actually available to people with money to spend.

Our nursery and those of many people I know have been open since June without a single case. Small children are very low risk for transmission. Couple that with the high level of economic impact to parents and closing them doesn't make sense.

It seems sensible to open for only key worker or vulnerable children but I suspect if that was the order given many nurseries would not open at all.

Unlike schools they are there to make money and it's simply not profitable to open to such a small number of children. I can foresee that many would close their doors and never reopen.

@Iliketeaagain the nursery I work at has had 6 staff and 13 children test positive. One of the nursery workers who caught it then passed it onto her dad who she lives with who then died from it.
My sons attend a different nursery which has had several bubble closures too.

"Before nursery closes, I would want to see the evidence for how many people catch covid at nursery - I don't know of any "bubbles" that popped in my surrounding area since nurseries when back in June, not even in the lead up to Christmas"

The government has never been forthright with figures about who catches covid where. They oy recently admitted schools were a vector despite ons survey showing that kids at school age were the most I texted age groups. This was a way of denying there is a problem, and they are still doing it for nurseries.

It would be useful to show the rate at which different workers are catching covid. I would guess this would be hospitals care homes and schools but it might be rapidly changing with the new variant.

I am not convinced about supermarket spread . However busy they are now and all pretense of SD abandoned they dont feel as bad as bring stuck shoulder to shoulder with schools kids in a corridor. Plus they are usually much bigger buildings with high roofs.

2m SD could be introduced in them though.

It's really irresponsible to keep them open. Exploitation of poorly paid, non-unionised staff who deserve the same protection for themselves and their families as everyone else.

Agree with him. They should be open for frontline KWs only where both parents are one and not working from home.

You can’t compare education to shops as not like staff have fleeting contact with children from behind a screen with masks, SD etc.

I'm due to go back to work after maternity leave next week, 1 year old starts nursery on Monday, 3 year old already attends. I'm in the very fortunate position to be a high earner alongside my husband. So if they close nurseries- option 1 we would get a nanny (and assume that we dont also have to pay nursery fees while they are closed). If nannies arent allowed then everyone says that you can request furlough for childcare reasons. Well a. Furlough wouldn't cover our London rent and b. I dont think that long term work deadlines are going to change so unlikely that work would want to furlough me indefinitely. It's hard to work from home with a 3 year old and absolutely impossible with a 1 year old. Sure I'm not a key worker, my role isnt essential to covid or Brexit but its essential to keep my family housed and fed. If there were some hard facts (not anecdotes) about the risks of nurseries being open then that would be one thing but as far as I can tell its people who will not be directly impacted by this calling for nurseries to shut without thinking of the implications for working parents. Had I known that my ability to be a working parent would depend on falling under a list of approved careers then I might have made different choices at university.
I felt abandoned, lonely and forgotten for a large chunk of maternity leave and again am feeling forgotten amongst all this once again.
Fingers crossed we see some improvements in case numbers this week and people stop going on about this.

We've taken our child out, but I spoke to the nursery manager last week and he said he thinks they'll be closed except to keyworkers soon. I assume he's getting that from industry chat. He's usually super positive and cheery and he sounded so down-beat this time - I really feel for them.

They have had a positive case now (first since they reopened in June) - it can happen anywhere, and once it gets it it's very hard to get rid of. We took our child out because there are 80-odd children in a fairly small building, which is basically the same as a school.

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss

Agree with him. They should be open for frontline KWs only where both parents are one and not working from home.

You can’t compare education to shops as not like staff have fleeting contact with children from behind a screen with masks, SD etc.

Many nurseries have moved outside. Have temp checks and PPE

Good businesses that value staff who stay long term will go under.

They should restrict to key workers/vulnerable only, and the critical worker list needs reducing. We have to send DD as work won’t help us if they are open, I wish they’d close!

So on the one hand we all need to eat, but on the other hand "close all the dangerous childcare" and good fucking luck to women with no money to buy food in those super safe supermarkets... which are still open but only actually available to people with money to spend.

Yep. Loathe Starmer

@insancerre

I work in a nursery and I don't feel safe at work We haven't had any cases yet but it's only a matter of time I've spent all weekend stressed as a colleague was tested yesterday morning, thankfully she has just got a negative result I'm torn, I can see we do an essential job but at what cost?

@insancerre: You do realise that you may have no job to come back after the end of the lockdown if your nursery closes now? Children's parents will have to resign from their jobs to look after their children and they are unlikely to get new jobs after the lockdown as the unemployed numbers will skyrocket.

If Keir Starmer is calling for it, then it will happen in the next 3-4 days.

This has been the pattern for every single Government U-turn so far.

@Haffiana

If Keir Starmer is calling for it, then it will happen in the next 3-4 days.

This has been the pattern for every single Government U-turn so far.

Starmer didn’t call for school closure

Presumably then many would close permanently. More mass redundancies.

Funding would have to go to parents in the home instead, enabling one to reduce their hours or become a sahp to care for their child.

It's getting to the stage where some changes wouldn't be easily reversible from an economic point of view and those calling for open-ended, long-term nursery and school closures need to recognise that. Endless furlough isn't going to happen. It'll be more like universal credit level of support.

Of course supermarkets can't close? In what fantasy world can they make timely regular grocery deliveries to every household in the country. I have a car and can drive to my local supermarket, do my own shopping leaving delivery slots for those who need them. That helps the vulnerable!

They should have closed at the same time as the schools. You cannot rely on people using their common sense when it inconveniences them.

@BustopherPonsonbyJones

They should have closed at the same time as the schools. You cannot rely on people using their common sense when it inconveniences them.

Do you work with a toddler at home? Ever tried it?

@BustopherPonsonbyJones

They should have closed at the same time as the schools. You cannot rely on people using their common sense when it inconveniences them.

Or quit your job because you couldn’t get childcare?