Restrictions to be eased at Easter *MNHQ title edit to remind everyone not to get their hopes up.*

[sally067]

Not sure if it was mentioned in another thread but I saw tonight that it looks like the Government plans are that we will see this lockdown lifted at the beginning of April.

twitter.com/tnewtondunn/status/1351313981894483970

This thread of tweets seems to suggest that cities will likely only go back into Tier's 3 and 4 though so we'll still be in a lockdown of sorts until May regardless of the vaccine rollout due to the shear number of cases at present. I guess any hope of things opening in February or March were a bit of a long shot with the new variant.

All seems so endless. Easter is 12 weeks or 51 working days away. I've never wished my life away so much and really hope we get an early Spring.

@toodleloooo @IndiaMay same boat here! It’s so hard. People (usually ones that have had their big weddings) are just like ‘just get married the two of you if that’s what matters’ - totally forgetting the time and money that has gone in

@ihearttc

Best the government actually decide what on earth they are doing with the thousands of Y11 and Y13’s then who have no bloody idea afar they are doing about exams this year. Exams are cancelled and they are using teacher grades but most haven’t done mocks so they can’t do that so they intend to sit “exams” set by the government and Ofqual in Spring when apparently they won’t have been at school from December to January. Honestly these poor kids are struggling so much. And before anyone says it, I’m a TA so I know how hard teachers work. What the Government has done to these kids is inexcusable.

Yes. I have a Y11 and his MH is in tatters.

Also all the needlessly lost jobs, already and still to come.

What is unforgivable is the extent to which this natural crisis has been worsened by an incompetent Govt making the same mistakes again and again. If we lift lockdown too soon again, like at Christmas, for popularity / short term economic reasons, the economy / people will simply suffer on / off for longer and longer.
Stay locked down until enough folk are vaccinated, until the R number is low enough to safely reopen sectors and areas, starting with Schools.

Whilst we have the highest death rate per capita in the world I don't know how anyone in Govt can say anything other than: 'this is our plan when we get to point X,Y, Z'. To give dates at this point is stupid and actually quite cruel (the Xmas fiasco / the exams fiasco is cruel)

I thought it was al ways understood that lockdown wouldn’t end mid Feb, and when it does it’s tiers again

Numbers are still incredibly high, everywhere, yes they are dropping but by Feb I reckon will still be above when we re opened last time, and they have, hopefully, learnt from last time that when you reopen cases will go back up

By mid Feb they will only, again hopefully, have vaccinated the first four cohorts. SD etc will still be required as they don’t know if anyone vaccinated can still transmit, they don’t know with the Pfizer jab if waiting 12 weeks will work, they don’t know how long the jab will be effective for. The jab will help especially when the majority are vaccinated, but that’s won’t be until mid year. In the meantime restrictions will stay

Moving out of lockdown into tier 4....
I’m falling to see the difference between the two. Maybe children back at school??

Let’s be honest and call a spade a spade. If some areas are still in tier 4, they will still be in lockdown.

Having said that, I had never e petted to see the country ‘reopening’ before easter.
It didn’t happen in the first wave. No reason it would happen in this one.

I can’t see it being before Easter either. They’ve got to have had a large proportion vaccinated plus community transmission next to nil

It’s a tough slog

Schools shouldn’t reopen fully until teachers and staff are vaccinated. Schools are still not covid safe even with lower numbers in and fully reopening without any safety changes will just drive another spike!

^ I agree with this however I also feel that whenever we do come out of lockdown / start to ease restrictions, there will still be groups who haven't been fully vaccinated that will still be at risk, and parents / grandparents will still be at risk with the schools opening. Not sure what the answer is at this stage.

Bubbles are still bursting in schools even with reduced numbers in

Schools need to be made much more Covid safe before they even think of reopening. Hands in pockets, Tories.

Staff and pupils have been put at risk for long enough.

I can't see anything changing before Easter.

It would be criminal to send schools back knowing that pupils do transmit the virus and teachers and school staff are unprotected. I will keep primary school DS off until it is safe if they do try and send them back to soon. I work at a College and will be very anxious if I have to go back onsite whilst cases are as high as they are.

The latest evidence is showing that 1 dose of the vaccine is not giving anything like the protection that was stated so unless they do a u turn on the second dose cases and not going to fall dramatically, nor are hospital admissions or deaths.

Like a previous poster whilst I am aware that lock down is devasating for many people in terms of jobs and MH I would rather we stayed in longer than coming out too early, having loads more deaths and then going back in over and over again.

There is absolutely no way anyone will accept tier 4 as a loosening of lockdown. For anyone without school age children it’s identical except you can go to a bloody zoo! People want to see their families and friends indoors and many people in the north haven’t been able to do that since last March. It is now bordering on inhumane what the government are doing. In most other countries who are in a lockdown situation you can see a limited number of people indoors.

The opinion polls of people saying they want harsher restrictions are not representative of the majority of people I honestly don’t know anyone who isn’t totally fed up and just wants to get on with living. If the vaccine isn’t the ticket to release they thought it would be they need to be honest and frankly find a way to deal with it that doesn’t involve months of more restrictions. It is not our responsibility to give up our lives to save the NHS it’s the governments responsibility to use the tax we pay towards it to properly fund and equip it.

Also for all those posters saying they just want the schools back, it is not the responsibility of people with non school age children or no children at all to keep living like this so children can return to school. People have businesses, dreams, ambitions and plans for this year and the government has no right to take away again after we have given up a year of our lives and seemingly achieved nothing for it.

@Katie517 you’re 100% correct and what those opinion polls mean in reality is I want harsher restrictions for everyone else “excepting the things I will be doing”

Flood gates open 1st April latest.

At their press conference only a few days ago the government confirmed again that teachers are at no more risk than other professions

Whether that’s true or not I don’t know

I’m a teacher and not worried - most my colleagues have had a few days illness at most if they caught it

Yes teachers have died but no more than other professions

If you are classed as vulnerable then you will get vaccine because you are in a higher priority group, not just because you're a teacher

Does anyone really think a healthy 24 yr old teacher should get the vaccine over someone healthy in their 50s? When age is proven to be the biggest single risk factor?

Schools will 100% open before mass teacher vaccinations - those at most risk will be done soon anyway as CEV have been called

So many teachers are over emphasising their personal risk

Oh god please don't say the Pfizer vaccine is much less effective with only one dose 😳🤦😞 this is just a nightmare

@Delatron

The reports are saying with the exception of schools.

So schools earlier than Easter.

Oh god this post at least helped

Lockdown hell indeed

@Beebityboo

Just seen on sky news that the Pfizer jab first dose may now only offer 33% protection as opposed to the 90% they found in trials. They really need to u turn on their wait 12 weeks plan and get second doses in to the vulnerable asap.

How did that happen? Do you have a link

Fark

@LizardWar so no indoor gatherings AFTER everyone has been vaccinated / indefinitely.

No chance.

Where did SAGE say that?

Independent Sage have zero say thank god

Ah why is this poster still talking about far right laugh or opposite

Here Marsha

news.sky.com/story/covid-19-uk-to-look-very-carefully-at-vaccine-dosing-after-concerns-raised-over-level-of-protection-12193205

@IdblowJonSnow

It's ok to ease lockdown when infection rates are low. It was the right thing to ease last june. The massive mistake was not to take action at the start of September when numbers began to increase again. I really hope schools open before Easter.

The fatal decision was moving London to tier 2 for December. The country should have been kept in tier 4 through December.

@LizardWar you are clearly trying to get a reaction or scaremongering as you have posted the same comment a couple of times on this thread. If it’s true share a link and to be honest even if someone from independent sage has said that they can quite frankly shove it! It won’t happen people won’t accept it. So if it’s a wicked little fantasy that you have as a very sad individual then it will be one that never becomes a reality.

I think it very unlikely that schools will go back before Easter. Even if all over 50s are vaccinated by then many teachers, lecturers etc will refuse. They will have to vaccinate all teachers first I think.

Sounds good to me. Only a few more weeks.

The issue with that Bella is the vaccines are currently 12 weeks apart so even if we managed to vaccinate every teacher in the country today, it would still be 12 weeks until they were fully protected, and there is no way I can see that schools will be closed for that long. They will open them up and vulnerable staff and family members will have to take their chances again. They need to be looking into rotas/masks for older children and ventilation that doesn't require everyone freezing their tits off as a priority, waiting for vaccines isn't realistic (though I think teachers should have been just below health workers in priority)