Deaths everywhere, yet we are still going to work this morning. Why?

[TwirpingBird]

I am sitting here watching BBC breakfast with another harrowing video of ITU nurses at breaking point, ambulances lined up outside, 1800 dead yesterday, and headlines of 'lockdown isnt working', 'people arent complying' blah blah blah. Its all 'you need to follow the rules, you need to stay at home. I am seething.

My husband is leaving for work in an hour where he will enter 5 houses today to do completely non essential work because the government deem him a 'key worker'. My best friend will go to work in her office in a interior design company because she is a 'key worker'. Her husband will go to work giving quotes for kitchens in people's houses because his boss deems him a 'key worker'. None of my friends are on furlough. We are all seeing nobody outside of work. We are all sticking to the 'rules'. But how could we possibly expect the rules to work when everyone is still getting in their cars this morning?

I am raging angry. I am SICK and TIRED of being told 'follow the rules'. WE ARE!!! The rules make no bloody sense. And people are still dropping like flies, and experts are saying the lockdown isnt working, and the public are still being tarred as 'lacking empathy' because we are killing people. We are going to work! Kids are still in school! And then we come home and we do what we can but its never going to be enough. I am starting to wonder why I am bothering to hide myself away, managing a 2 year old and a newborn alone 5 days a week, naively thinking I am helping to manage transmission, when in reality its not helping at all because people are still at work.

You don’t have to be out in your car to know how busy the roads are.

I was referring to the threads that are today I drove to work & was shocked to see so many cars on the road. Or I went for a job & the park was parked. There have been plenty.

Yes to this, it’s hard to mitigate when the very top can keep buying low value assets compared with the very bottom who might lose all

Exactly.

If you could work from home then, why not now?

Is there anywhere we can find out the number of furloughed workers during the last lockdown and now? I would be interested to see it because as far as I can tell just from speaking with people both in 'RL' and on here, it seems many many people who were originally furloughed now are not. In fact I don't know a single person out of my friends who is still on furlough (other than one who works in non essential retail).

My workplace furloughed lots of people last time (law firm), they haven't furloughed anyone this time round because demand has shot up and we are much much busier.

I suspect there is a lot of this sort of thing going on, businesses have now been dealing with this for nearly a year, in some sectors I just don't think the need for furlough is as high as it was in March last year when it was a complete unknown and no one knew how demand was going to go for lots of businesses.

I've not seen any figures so for all I know furloughed numbers could be higher but I would be surprised tbh.

Obviously this isn't including hospitality etc... Which I know are still closed.

I feel privileged I can still go to work, luckily it is as Covid safe as it can be, I love my job.

Furlough has reduced I'm sure I read something about it.
I wfh first lockdown but cant really now. I went full time, a ton of work, role had changed, workplace rota.

"At its peak in May, the programme supported 8.9 million jobs - almost a third of all employees - and it has been the single most expensive part of Britain’s COVID economic support programme, costing 43 billion pounds ($57 billion) so far."

That was in relation to furlough

I think a lot of businesses who haven't been forced to close are now just reaching the point of having to crack on in if they want to survive this in a way they were too apprehensive to do last time.

I keep coming back to my workplace but it's a good example. I think they furloughed people originally out of fear that business would decrease massively, not because it actually did. They have now seen that actually we are still busy so they aren't rushing to furlough anyone this time round.

I see it with my husband's self employed friends and acquaintances too. They just can't afford to be as apprehensive as they were last time. If they can go out and do their job, they will. Who can blame them.

I agree business need to work which they can't do if furloughing. And we really don't know the true end of it all.

@MintyMabel our internet is brilliant at work! I’m on Sky’s top package in our area and the only way I can get a faster connection is switching to Virgin and hell will freeze over before I do that! It doesn’t help I’m going through the VPN to save documents.

I’m now of the opinion I can only do my best with what I’ve got in my working hours

I need to go to work now!

@gongsr

Carry on quoting everyone, you don't look at all silly.

Any more helpful contributions to the debate?

I made my contribution ages ago.

I saw no need to repeat it but here you go - schools aren't safe. We need to restrict the numbers of children using them by redefining keyworkers. Some classes are as big as before the so-called closure.

School staff should not be put at more risk. Make schools safer. There have been enough threads about how this could happen.

You have to remember that the longer something like this goes on for the more tiring it is for people to continue to be overly strict about.

Where my self employed husband may have been more willing to pick and choose jobs last time round or stay home more often instead of taking on every job because it was new and just needed to be one big push from everyone to get through, he can't afford to be that way now nearly a year later.

Where people may have been able to justify their children crying every night because they missed their friends or family in March just to get through the slog of one lockdown, it's not as easy now when we're on our 3rd. Hence people using childcare bubbles so their kids can play with someone etc...

Where businesses may have been able to weather the storm of having an entire workforce furloughed practically during the first lockdown, they may not be able to do that now if they actually want to continue having a business to run once this is over.

Same with things like higher uptake of school places and so on...

It's not surprising to me at all that these things aren't happening like they did in March last year because lots of people aren't in the same position they were a year ago when they perhaps thought this was for a short time. There does reach a stage where people have to just get on with what is best for their family because they simply can't afford to not do so anymore. And I think we are fast reaching that point.

We have lost a few staff to covid this time around sadly but generally we dont have as many staff off this time around. There are still shortages due to shielding and isolating but we're coping. We dont have as many covid wards as at the beginning either. Reports in the press dont apply to every hospital up and down the country. And this is a major hospital in a big city.

This degree of naivety is staggering. What is being put in place to ensure this?

Basic logic dictates the current number of people who are unemployed, not on furlough, claiming benefits and facing poverty will reduce when more jobs are available when places open again. The gap will still be there but that’s not because of Covid.

I see it particularly in regards to education
This may be a problem. I know our education authority and our school in particular are working really hard to reach those kids who were already on the wrong side of the attainment gap to try and keep them engaged with education. As is already the case there are some areas doing better than others. I think education needs a much better focus in the coming years.

I also think when it comes to paying for everything it will hit the have nots the most.

Always the way. And unfortunately will remain whilst those who are not being financially impacted keep asking “who is going to pay for all this” because god forbid those of us who have not had a problem financially put our hands in our pockets over the next few years to pay for those who have not been as fortunate as us. I’m sure I’m in a minority in saying they can up my tax if they need to, to help us get back out of it.

One other thing that would help is a re-programming of thoughts about the national debt. There seems to be a push to reduce it massively very quickly. That’s not always necessary and doing so more slowly will benefit the economy. But opposition always use it as a tool to bash the government, and governments use it to make the kinds of unpopular decisions to meet their core policies. We know the tories want to reduce the welfare bill, they always do. If “bringing down the debt” gives them the excuse to do that, they’ll use it.

OP I think you are taking the 'Stay at Home' statement too personally.
It's the difference between need to do e.g. go to work to pay the bills and like to do e.g. go to raves/pop into every shop that's open on a daily basis to pass the time/hang around outside hospitals and town centres protesting/mixing particularly indoors with other households etc.
For me that means work, a once week dash around the supermarket and a few walks a week around the local block, trying to keep in mind distancing and good hygiene. It's certainly a far cry from what I'd actually like to be doing.

My workplace furloughed lots of people last time (law firm), they haven't furloughed anyone this time round because demand has shot up and we are much much busier.

Same with us, albeit most are still working from home.

I did suspect there are a lot more people who could work from home but won’t, either because their employers are being arsey, or they’re sick of it and don’t want to do it anymore.

And unfortunately will remain whilst those who are not being financially impacted keep asking “who is going to pay for all this” because god forbid those of us who have not had a problem financially put our hands in our pockets over the next few years to pay for those who have not been as fortunate as us. I’m sure I’m in a minority in saying they can up my tax if they need to, to help us get back out of it

Agree with this.

I always think it when I see everyone calling for the furloughed workers to pay the bill (as if they had any say and who are often some of the poorest paid already I imagine).

It seems ridiculous to me. We've been fortunate that DHs work has been quite steady throughout. I just feel lucky for that. I do not have any wish to see those less fortunate footing the bill entirely just because I don't want to.

There used to be a case of, we need good office space in London to attract the best in the world.
Dont know if that will carry on now or not.

I did suspect there are a lot more people who could work from home but won’t, either because their employers are being arsey, or they’re sick of it and don’t want to do it anymore

Yes I imagine there is this going on too.

our internet is brilliant at work! I’m on Sky’s top package in our area and the only way I can get a faster connection is switching to Virgin and hell will freeze over before I do that! It doesn’t help I’m going through the VPN to save documents

My husband is an IT manager so needs a good connection. BT Fibre came to our area just as lockdown started and he had to re-think a similar “hell freezes over” view he had with ever using their services again!

I have a similar issue with VPN, but it’s at the works end rather than mine. It’s useful for me though as there is a particular task I hate doing and have refused until they update their broadband.

You are right we can only do our best.

@Ragwort The magic money tree aka public borrowing will pay for everything.
Except we are already back to borrowing levels of about 1960.

Paying it back, let alone paying the interest, is going to be a huge job. And we are still borrowing.

Anyone fancy the lifestyle of 1960?

@Sparklingbrook
Yes there is a weird attitude to shop staff. It is like they are faceless.

Dont know if that will carry on now or not.

I don’t fancy companies chances of hiring bright young things with the promise of working from a laptop on their bed.

@TheKeatingFive

Dont know if that will carry on now or not.

I don’t fancy companies chances of hiring bright young things with the promise of working from a laptop on their bed.

Yep. Think back before childcare issues and a big enough house to a flat share. Working with other young people was pretty good, esp if you got a place at a well regarded company. Plus the socialising after. At home it’s a room and laptop.