I cant see schools going back at Easter

[ssd]

If the new variant is more deadly

I really dont think they'll open before summer

The government need to get a plan if action now

I dont think shops etc will open up either, we need much more people vaccinated twice to see if the vaccines help us

Shit.

I don't know if they will open then but I am now starting to really worry for my son who has started his GCSEs now. If he misses much more school then they will need to start making big allowances for these year groups too. It will be so unfair to use the same measuring stick for them when they haven't had nearly the same learning time as previous and future years. I think my son is learning about a third of the amount he would be if he were in the classroom learning. And he has good access to IT and doesn't struggle with learning. Other children will be struggling even more.

@Diverseopinions you’re right we should be leading this instead we’re trailing. I do have a spidery sense that they are scared shitless of something on the horizon and they’re grappling with how to deliver the message about said something. Maybe a hunch but something is up.

There has been a marked change in Boris and the scientists. Something has changed (not sure what yet) but all the optimism and confidence is gone. I don't have a good feeling about what's brewing....

@Thewiseoneincognito cross post. I think exactly the same thing sadly. I'm so over it all but think we're not nearly out of this by a long shot

[quote Thewiseoneincognito]@Diverseopinions you’re right we should be leading this instead we’re trailing. I do have a spidery sense that they are scared shitless of something on the horizon and they’re grappling with how to deliver the message about said something. Maybe a hunch but something is up.[/quote]
Or are you just looking for the next bad news press release and making it fit your narrative?

Thankfully I can send both mine on key worker my youngest age 6 def needs it (y1) and my eldest has mon and Friday off as she wants to have best of both worlds socialise and see friends and lounge around doing home learning she is y6. But can't see why they won't go back no issues at all

@Thewiseoneincognito Like what? Don’t think my anxiety can take much more of this

I don't think there is evidence the new strain is more deadly, just more people have it.

My guess is they'll open schools start of May when it's more considered summer and the temperature rises might hopefully surpress it, ie they'll be back a few weeks late after Easter.

Could go horrible wrong, as I keep reminding myself that last summer was OK, but then schools were shut during it, so not sure what will happen. Honestly from last year it feels like two steps forward (vaccine) one step back (new strain, which it looks like vaccine works against, as seemed to be expected, but obviously is more infectious)

So where does this end then? Cos winter 2021 won’t be better.

Saint Boris's confidence and optimism gone?

Maybe he's been given a date for the vote of no confidence. He'll want to be out of there before the economic shit hits the fan, anyway. He won't want to be associated with the millions unemployed and communities destroyed on a scale of which Thatcher would be proud.

@ssd

I also read the new south African variant might not respond to the vaccine. Schools arent going back...

Ever?

@BubblyBarbara

If they don’t open till after Easter in mid April, they need to scrap holidays and cram two terms in before summer. It’s about 14 weeks.

I don't think this could happen as schools have been functioning all along and it would be unfair for them not to have the summer break. You're on to something though. We can't carry on going in then locking down when the NHS is under threat etc. I think something more drastic needs to be looked at - Covid has amplified winter health pressures so do we just have school April to November from now on in? Sounds ridiculous on many levels but in my mind no more ridiculous than me attempting to homeschool and wfh with 4 DC

@BungleandGeorge

Call me a cynic but I presumed the mutation was a convenient thing to blame our awful mortality rate on. Rather than blaming it on suboptimal control of the virus and insufficient healthcare services.

This a million times over. It’s very convenient the mutation became known about just before Christmas when they knew they need compliance. Very convenient it rears its head again now whilst they deflect the blame onto the public to avoid any responsibility for the whole shitshow.

what about universities? reckon they'll be back f2f in the autumn?

@velveteenrabbittales we too we are never getting out of this ...

@Thewiseoneincognito @velveteenrabbittales

I got the same sense of unease watching the update tonight. Previously there was a serious tone but it felt like they had a handle on it but that was a definite undercurrent tonight. Perhaps to do with what Matt Hancock has been saying about the South African variant and vaccine efficacy??

@velveteenrabbittales

There has been a marked change in Boris and the scientists. Something has changed (not sure what yet) but all the optimism and confidence is gone. I don't have a good feeling about what's brewing....

I agree there seemed to be a shift. "This isn't going away, ever" I think we all know that, but by how much is is not going away?

@LynetteScavo What do you mean 🤷🏻‍♀️ How can it not be going away ever?

I think in areas of low prevalence schools (certainly primary) will open March 8th/15th. The rest after Easter. Cases are plummeting and the vaccination programme is going well. There are already areas with low prevalence. I’d be hopping mad if I lived somewhere with no cases and the school was shut. There aren’t many places like this yet but there soon will be given that cases are dropping 25% per week now.

And on the government I think they’re being deliberately pessimistic so they can deliver an ‘uplifting surprise’ at some point.

We have gotten out of every single other pandemic we have ever had without the tools are our disposal now why should this one be any different.

Our mistake was thinking we could get out of it any better than we have done before in terms of impact of deaths/long term illness.

I think they are scared of two things. The realisation that we cannot circumvent the natural course of a pandemic that much more than we used to be able to 100 years ago with the Russian Flu Pandemic or indeed the Spanish Flu (www.history.com/news/spanish-flu-second-wave-resurgence has some eerie comparisons with this one) and that vaccines can only go so far.

And that there reaches a point where lockdown is going to cause more problems that we are trying to solve and that the longer term consequences of this economically and socially could be profound if we dont have a roadmap out of this

@BubblyBarbara

If they don’t open till after Easter in mid April, they need to scrap holidays and cram two terms in before summer. It’s about 14 weeks.

Interesting because I can't the government suddenly wanting to have to spend the extra money on wages etc.

I mean before summer holidays. So skip half term in summer term. There’s a good three months they could knuckle down there instead of the usual potato painting and time wasting to stretch out the school year.

The predictions from the “layman” who have no idea what will happen are just useless. You are not conversant with all the science, government data etc. What’s the point in speculation about something that you don’t fully understand unless perhaps you are married to Whitty or Valance.

It is what it is and will run its course. Believe me I don’t say this lightly as an owner of a business that supplies the pub trade. But endless spurious speculation without full knowledge about how a pandemic works is just pointless. It whips those that cannot cope with it up unnecessarily and is just futile.

Just look at other countries similar to us in Europe they are struggling as well. We just need to abide by the rules and limit exposure, trust in vaccines and slowly but surely things will reopen.

I really can’t fathom why people who don’t want to discuss this or read about it come on to complain to those that do. No one claims to have the answer, they state their opinions and want to know others opinions, it’s human nature.