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.

that is unfair @Tinty, did you not read that people are working because their employers have deemed them necessary?

@Tinty I think that’s the point though - the essential staff such as Nurses would have much less pressure if we weren’t all mixing like this. Same for teachers, if more employers allowed working from home (and were understanding about the need to take time out to support children) fewer teachers would have to go in. We need to limit footfall precisely because we support essential workers not in spite of it. Both DH and I are ‘essential’ (teacher and police officer) and are happy to continue to work if needed.

I also think there’s more cars as people are more aware of the guidance, in particular what’s actually not disallowed. Last lockdown I nearly killed myself walking to care for a parent at their house, as it seemed to be the notion that cars were bad and must not be used except for extreme emergencies, otherwise people would die. This time I am well aware that driving to parent is perfectly ok. So, times me by a million (or however many support bubbles there are), and that’s a lot of extra cars. Ditto childcare bubbles - people driving to pick up and drop off kids. And all the other “exceptions” that people are travelling to - historic sites, cemeteries, take aways etc etc

It’s a very different lockdown. The nursery I work at has all the children still attending. Last lockdown we had under ten children who were key worker children attending. That meant only four staff needed to work. Now we have all our staff and all their own children are at school because they are key worker children. They were all home last time.

@tinty the fact is nurses wouldn’t be under so much pressure is less of us were mixing doing non essential things.

Dh is out to work every day. Different county. He’s driving there, distancing and wearing masks. Not possible to wfh due to his industry. He’s pretty essential for the business. I suppose the company could get away with saying it’s an essential business due to the nature of the products they produce.

Even if all non-essential work was stopped, all schools closed, all this that and the other shut, hospitals, police, prison, water , electricity etc etc workers, some of them would still be working.
Whereever or however the virus started, it likely only took 1 person who had it, to spread it world wide very quickly.

Trying to stop the virus is like King Canute trying to stop a tide. It doesnt work. it is a futile.

TwirpingBird

I agree with you, I’m going to work & seeing 6/8 work colleagues and 20 customers per day

Then follow the rules

I’ve not got enough work to do but deemed a key worker ( load of bollicks am I )

The government wants us to blame each other, rather than them for protecting the economy or making harsher choices

I know. My husband leaves for work and has done every single day since last March teaching SEN kids in a PRU. They don't want to be in school. Their parents don't want them at home. So my husband has to put his life in danger because others don't know how to raise their children and our useless government can't make decent decisions 😡

I don't have a problem with the self-employed going into peoples' houses to do work, essential or not. Many don't qualify for help and they need to eat and the risks are very small.

I have a big problem with employers who won't let office and admin workers do their work from home because they are micromanagers and are in fact forcing their employees to break the law (you're not allowed to leave your home without good reason - leaving your home to work in an office when you could work from home but your boss doesn't like it isn't a good reason).

@lovelemoncurd

I know. My husband leaves for work and has done every single day since last March teaching SEN kids in a PRU. They don't want to be in school. Their parents don't want them at home. So my husband has to put his life in danger because others don't know how to raise their children and our useless government can't make decent decisions 😡

That's a bit unfair. Kids don't end up in PRUs because their parents are useless, they end up there for a whole variety of reasons. I am surprised that you are so judgmental, given that your DH actually works with them and knows what sort of challenges they have.

Hoping for the government to pay your DH to stay at home OP

@Tinty

You are all perfectly happy for Nurses to HAVE to go to work and nurse the sick patients or supermarket staff to work so you get your food and delivery drivers have to work to deliver it to you. Just so long as YOU don’t have to go to work and be at risk. I hope no one complaining of having to go to work, are buying non essential items from Amazon etc or sending your DC to school because it’s too hard to homeschool them, and you are a keyworker even though you are working from home.

Exactly this. I get what your saying op and yes some employers should allow more staff to wfh but many have to carry on . Things like people giving people quotes etc may seam non essential and yes for a couple of weeks maybe it’s not necessary but this has gone on for 10 months likely till March or longer . The economy needs to keep going so many businesses haven’t made anything this year at all and many won’t survive. It is important that some people can go to work to keep the economy going . It’s worrying but stay away from the news so much , the cases are going down and people are having the vaccine every day so it is getting better .

Do you expect the government to pay for them to stay home?

Yes

It doesn't work like that and if it did we wouid be SCREWED- economy is v v important.

The economy doesn’t work like that. Or at least it doesn’t have to work like that. It’s a political choice.

I understand the need to keep the economy going, but for god sake then they need to stop telling us we are self centred, evil creatures lacking in empathy who deserve to be punished with longer lockdowns because we obviously arent following the rules. I am sick of the guilt trip. If the economy is the priority, then be truthful with us (although getting truth from a politician is as likely as pigs flying). Stop saying 'stay at home' if you actually dont want us to stay at home, and stop telling us we are killing people if you decided the economy is worth killing people for.

I know. My husband leaves for work and has done every single day since last March teaching SEN kids in a PRU. They don't want to be in school. Their parents don't want them at home. So my husband has to put his life in danger because others don't know how to raise their children and our useless government can't make decent decisions 😡

What an uninformed, judgemental post.

OP do you not understand that people want their jobs to still be there when this is all over. For a lot of people and industries furlough is is just delayed redundancy.

Gosh lovelemoncurd I hope your husband doesn’t share your vile views about the children he teaches in the PRU.

Well... my kids aren’t at school and I’ve lost my job as the company I work for can’t afford to continue operating, so I guess if we just closed everything down then yeah there would be less mixing, but you’d all be wondering where you’re next mortgage payment is coming from like I am, and your kids could be sobbing every day that they miss their friends and school.

Of course we all need to carry on op. We have bills to pay!
We can't just look at the news and decide we stay under the duvet.

If you are clinically vulnerable you stay at home, but otherwise we crack on and carry on. Just because the death rate is increasing it does not mean you are personally at further risk. Your risk stays the same, very very low. So turn off the news, be glad your household still has an income and understand that we are 'peaking' right now and into early next week and then things will improve.

@lovelemoncurd

I know. My husband leaves for work and has done every single day since last March teaching SEN kids in a PRU. They don't want to be in school. Their parents don't want them at home. So my husband has to put his life in danger because others don't know how to raise their children and our useless government can't make decent decisions 😡

Your husband sounds so empathetic

I hear you, OP. The governments failure to insist that people work from home is to blame.

There needs to be a much stricter definition of what a key worker is.

40,000 cases is better than 60,000 but still ridiculous considering we are in a ‘lockdown’

People are doing their best to avoid people too. But is probably high because so many people are working. In the morning going to work roads are the busiest I’ve seen even during the tier system.

Because the lockdown is really tier 4 with schools sort of closed to a few pupils , it will mean it lasts longer than a strict one as transmission will be occurring. I get that the economy needs to keep running but I do feel some businesses are being ridiculous where they could WFH or furlough.

In the hospital I work in cases have increased this week after being high but steady. Lots of covid patients coming through A&E, Our ICU/critical care is much busier this last week. So for the NHS it’s probably going to get worse before it gets better.

Where do you think they money for furlough comes from?

Couldn’t agree more they need to ditch the stay at home message and putting the blame at those of us who are working . Posting pictures of busy trains and traffic. Always taken at rush hour to villainize us. Asking if we really need to go out is it essential. When they made us all essential.

A lot of people just want the generous furlough, they wouldn't be happy with £500 a month UC and would soon want to be working then.