Tighter restrictions? What else can be "tighter"??

[R2221]

Schools closed, work places closed, nailbars, hairdressers, clothes shops, closed. My high street is dead and a couple of big shops are permanently closing down. We've been totally indoors, going out only to get grocery and exercise.

Oh, gyms are closed, no play dates, birthdays, dinners or even coffee with friends. WHAT ELSE CAN BE DONE TO STOP THE SPREAD??? What would "tighter" restrictions mean? To me, next tighter level means no grocery and exercise :(

My local hospital is totally full. I don't understand why.

Someone on here in another thread said they were working from home last year and now back in the office. I literally do not understand why her employer is making her work in an office unnecessarily as she could obviously work from home.
I have probably made mention in MN of the fact that I wfh in lockdown 1 but am in the office now, though no idea if you're referring to me. In my case my employer is most definitely not making me work in an office, they would be completely happy with me wfh, as evidenced by the fact that probably 95% of my department are wfh. I choose to come in to preserve my sanity and because I was massively struggling to work effectively at home. I walk to work, I work in an office alone, wear a mask whenever I leave the office and see from a distance perhaps 2 or 3 others who are also in offices alone.

Problem in my opinion is not everyone is following the rules. Did you see pictures in the newspapers of footie fans last night welcoming their team back? crowds no masks, then youve got those that think this is not real, who were in Hyde park preaching, pictures of parks ram packed not social distancing. Girl went over 150 miles to Wales because she wanted to go on a beach, followed by pubs doing lock ins, Then youve got kids at school, kids playing in the streets, groups of teenagers hanging about from different homes. Should of had as others said earlier full lockdown and stay in !

Schools are not closed - just ask ANY teacher. Schools are open to key worker and vulnerable children (as they have been throughout all lockdowns!) and this time they are also open to those who cannot access work remotely (since those laptops / WIFI hotspots the government promised to these kids never did materialise!).

Trouble is the definition of “key worker” is very lose and where there is a two parent home only one parent needs to be a key worker to gain a place!

Schools will have to find kids a place even if their parent is not really in the position of key workers that cannot work from home or if there is another parent home working from home. Schools say tougher guidelines to prevent people taking liberties with the “key worker” status are needed. i.e. if the kid can stay at home with another parent then they should!

Key worker places should really be the exception ie a nurse who is a single parent working a shift during school hours should have a place. A kid who’s parent works in local council from home who has another parent at home working from home as a non key worker shouldn’t get a place but the government guidelines DON’T state this and some have gone out of their way to get kids a place even if they really don’t need one!

The uptake of places has been overwhelming and puts those vulnerable kids and key workers at greater risk as if the bubble shuts that’s a nurse/ doctor / police officer / supermarket worker / delivery driver who cannot work (as they cannot do their jobs from home!).

Homeschooling is rubbish and extremely hard when you are trying to work full time but people shouldn’t be putting kids in school right now unless there really is no other option!

@RichardMarxisinnocent no, this woman couldn't understand why she now has to work in the office

Schools are not closed. Most have all staff in and are at 50% capacity.

@DollyDaydreamz

Schools are not closed - just ask ANY teacher. Schools are open to key worker and vulnerable children (as they have been throughout all lockdowns!) and this time they are also open to those who cannot access work remotely (since those laptops / WIFI hotspots the government promised to these kids never did materialise!).

Trouble is the definition of “key worker” is very lose and where there is a two parent home only one parent needs to be a key worker to gain a place!

Schools will have to find kids a place even if their parent is not really in the position of key workers that cannot work from home or if there is another parent home working from home. Schools say tougher guidelines to prevent people taking liberties with the “key worker” status are needed. i.e. if the kid can stay at home with another parent then they should!

Key worker places should really be the exception ie a nurse who is a single parent working a shift during school hours should have a place. A kid who’s parent works in local council from home who has another parent at home working from home as a non key worker shouldn’t get a place but the government guidelines DON’T state this and some have gone out of their way to get kids a place even if they really don’t need one!

The uptake of places has been overwhelming and puts those vulnerable kids and key workers at greater risk as if the bubble shuts that’s a nurse/ doctor / police officer / supermarket worker / delivery driver who cannot work (as they cannot do their jobs from home!).

Homeschooling is rubbish and extremely hard when you are trying to work full time but people shouldn’t be putting kids in school right now unless there really is no other option!

And people who work on schools would also need a key worker place for their children as they are unable to work from home

@Redlocks28

Many schools are 40/50% full due to the government saying anyone with just 1 KW parent or with out a laptop, can have a space.

That probably isn’t helping much.

This, with knobs on.

My DC, who lives with us, is a teacher and has been in school the whole of the last week, teaching, though school supposedly 'closed'.

DC is very careful as vulnerable and goes nowhere else. We do all the shopping, etc. DC has had no other contact.

Symptoms Sat. Positive test Sun. Now potentially all four other household members infected.

I disagree that KW should be working outside the home for a school place. I know, and include my husband, several people who work in the home but are unable to do anything with their kids during working hours as their work is critical and time-sensitive. That also goes for me to a lesser degree

[quote purplebunny2012]@RichardMarxisinnocent no, this woman couldn't understand why she now has to work in the office[/quote]
Ah okay. Yes, it makes zero sense why an employer would make someone work in the office when they are capable of working from home.

Buy them online? All other clothes shops are shut, unless they sell food or medicine

That would be perfect if you didn't have to order 3 different sizes to get something to fit!

I don’t believe it’s only household mixing that is spreading COVID. The nurseries need to close, the garden centres need to close, Wilko and B&M need to close. The only places that really should be open are food shops (true food shops, NOT shops that offer food amongst everything else), chemists and pet supplies. This would also mean that more people can stay home with their kids rather than sending them to school. There should also be definite rules on travel, none of this ‘stay local’. So 10 miles from home or something like that. So people really know what they can do. Sick pay needs reviewing too, some people can’t afford to be sick so won’t isolate if they need to.

TheNighthawk
I'm so sorry to hear that your family now have the virus.
Working in a school myself, and being clinically vulnerable, it's been my biggest fear since March last year. So far I've dodged the bullet, but I do wonder for how much longer😒
My father died from it last year so it feels very real to me.

Stopping non essential construction, people working in others houses? Just to add schools are not closed!! They are and always have been open to keyworker and vulnerable children throughout each lockdown. I’m a TA in a primary school and every single member of staff is in and working on-site in my setting, my class had 23 children in today thanks to Gav!!

@Beverley71

I don’t believe it’s only household mixing that is spreading COVID. The nurseries need to close, the garden centres need to close, Wilko and B&M need to close. The only places that really should be open are food shops (true food shops, NOT shops that offer food amongst everything else), chemists and pet supplies. This would also mean that more people can stay home with their kids rather than sending them to school. There should also be definite rules on travel, none of this ‘stay local’. So 10 miles from home or something like that. So people really know what they can do. Sick pay needs reviewing too, some people can’t afford to be sick so won’t isolate if they need to.

Yeah perhaps all those essential workers can just take their kids to work with them, you know, pop them in the locker for 12 hours

*Where is "other countries"?

I know of many other countries. I don't know of outdoor mask wearing there.

How many "other countries" are needed to influence mask wearing in further countries?*

Turkey. Mandatory mask wearing everywhere including outside NO exceptions from age 2 towards.

Schools aren't actually closed though...

The latest from the WHO (1 December 2020) on the ineffectiveness of mask-wearing among the general public: apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/337199

^At present there is only limited and inconsistent scientific
evidence to support the effectiveness of masking of healthy
people in the community to prevent infection with respiratory
viruses, including SARS-CoV-2 (75). A large randomized
community-based trial in which 4862 healthy participants
were divided into a group wearing medical/surgical masks
and a control group found no difference in infection with
SARS-CoV-2 (76).^

^The review concluded that wearing a mask may
make little or no difference to the prevention of influenza-like
illness (ILI) (RR 0.99, 95%CI 0.82 to 1.18) or laboratory
confirmed illness (LCI) (RR 0.91, 95%CI 0.66-1.26) (44);^

A compilation of the same ministers who are now mandating universal masking rejecting the notion on the basis of "extremely weak" evidence up until June 4:

The mask policies have been extremely effective at providing people with visible enemies to blame for the inevitable continued spread of a virus, though. Divide and conquer.

PinkSparkleyPussycat Speak for yourself, we've been in lockdown here since 20th December!

But not everything is closed though is it?

To those who follow the rules yes but schools are still open to everyone who feels they are more important than the rest of us and they’re still going to work and schools just as before so ‘tighter’ perhaps means that we should all be in this together as was implied before everyone fell over themselves to point out how ‘we’ doesn’t apply to them

@Jellykat

PinkSparkleyPussycat Speak for yourself, we've been in lockdown here since 20th December!

We've been tier 4 since then (we went from tier 2 to 3 and then 4 in two days!) so I was thinking of the national lockdown!

Sorry if this was mentioned previously but I don't get why landscape gardening and decking supplier/installers are allowed to continue to work. Can't see that that is essential!

I wonder if any other chronically ill or disabled and housebound single people and single parents are a bit perplexed by this neeed for social support of healthy married people, as they have to spend a whole 8 hours with their own child or neeed more than their live in company. Meanwhile thousands of people continue to die, but stuff them because "I'll break the rules if I can't have what I want"

@McSilkson I've always thought mask wearing was a bit of a funny one. It seems like there might be some evidence to show that they can prevent the spread but this evidence is based on proper mask hygiene - not keep it stuffed in the bottom of your handbag and rewear over and over. I've seen one person since the start of March actually remove a mask correctly and dispose of it. I think they have the opposite effect of making people think they're safe and therefore do less of the measures that do work.

@shinynewapple2021 it was a news story this morning, I can't remember what publication. They weren't saying it was actually happening but an mp said that was a measure they 'could' do.