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.

Yes, they should’ve opened schools safely. Like they were asked to and ignored. Opening mass gatherings with no protection is why, we are now in the shit, frankly. They could’ve acted sooner, they could’ve gone for safer schools. They didn’t and now we are stuck for longer,

If only teachers had warned about this....oh they did.

I’m genuinely upset we are in this situation and I want to be back to normal. Poor decision making means that will take longer than it should have.

@Itisasecret

I do hate this idiotic 'open schools safely'. It isn't safe and can't possibly be safe to open schools with high infection rates. All the local secondaries (not all primaries to be fair) had massively high cases. Most year groups were only in half time anyway as too many staff were off sick. Quite a few parents became seriously unwell with their unsympomatic child susbequently testing positive. Really traumatic for the chidlren involved too. It's been established schools were a massive factor in the sprea. It sucks because education is being damaged but it's the fact.

@Dustyboots

Ok. I see.

But this is likely to go on for a long time then, isn't it?

If the current variant is so contagious and vaccines won't be rolled out to everyone for a long time - even then will many have had both doses?

How long can the government afford to pay furlough, keep us locked down, close off the economy and have schools shut?

I see what you are saying @Itisasecret - but practically there has to be another plan, doesn't there?

Now doing 2 million a week and a lot of the mass vaccinations sites aren’t even open yet. The aim is everyone over 50/ with a health condition by April. So depends on your definition of a long time? We’re not going to stay in lockdown once the most vulnerable are vaccinated.

The strategy has been to make everybody feel scared of getting the virus, I’m honestly not sure what they’re going to do about the mental health of those who actually aren’t very at risk but now feel terrified. I don’t think even getting the vaccine is going to be a cure as so many more people are suffering from general anxiety.

@Itisasecret

Yes, they should’ve opened schools safely. Like they were asked to and ignored. Opening mass gatherings with no protection is why, we are now in the shit, frankly. They could’ve acted sooner, they could’ve gone for safer schools. They didn’t and now we are stuck for longer,

If only teachers had warned about this....oh they did.

I’m genuinely upset we are in this situation and I want to be back to normal. Poor decision making means that will take longer than it should have.

This. I do think they'll be open after Easter though

I can’t see schools closed past Easter because there will come a point where the balance swings, Whitty even mention it early on. If people can’t work more and more jobs will be lost and less and less tax paid. These taxes fund the NHS, police etc. You can put the brakes on the economy like we have but you can’t let the wheels fall off completely. The virus will still be around and people will still die but we will have to find different ways to manage it. Lockdowns cannot continue long term because eventually they end up causing more deaths than they safe.

I can’t see schools closed past Easter because there will come a point where the balance swings

People said that about last Easter. Then the half term. Then about the end of lockdown 2. People just put up with it over and over. We are a people who comply. Has there been any sort of mass lack of compliance anywhere in the world yet? Nope, not even in less compliant nations.

It’s not about us complying though, it’s about how far the government can keep paying furlough etc to save jobs.

I think the government are underestimating how angry working parents will be if there are minimal cases in their area and schools don’t reopen. In large areas of north Devon cases have been in the single figure for a week or so now. I would be hopping mad if that trend was to continue and improve more widely and schools didn’t reopen. We need a geographic approach where people are banned from travelling more than 20 miles and mixing socially but schools reopen.

I think bungleabdgeorge makes a very good point

I think people comply as we are scared and the 24/7 news coverage reminds us how terrifying this all is.
It's never reported how the nhs has been run down for years by this government. If it has been prepared for a pandemic ,like its been reported was going to happen for years, then we wouldn't be in this mess and kids education wouldn't be going down the pan.

Teachers weren't listened to either.
Ministers knew better.
Now where are we??

And of course minister's children will be in private school with the best tutors available too.

If you do nothing else, please dont vote conservative again.

@CountessFrog my post wasn’t about lockdowns stopping because we don’t comply, it was that the lockdowns will get to a point where they do more harm than good. The government will then need another way to manage the pandemic.
As for complying I just need to look around to see lots of people aren’t doing that already but that’s a whole different argument.

@ssd

I think people comply as we are scared and the 24/7 news coverage reminds us how terrifying this all is. It's never reported how the nhs has been run down for years by this government. If it has been prepared for a pandemic ,like its been reported was going to happen for years, then we wouldn't be in this mess and kids education wouldn't be going down the pan.

I’m not terrified in the slightest. Just bored with it all.

If it helps to keep the doom at bay - we have already given the 1st vaccine to 5.5mil people. We are currently managing over 400,000 jabs a day, although there is more hubs opening from tomorrow with the intention of getting it closer to 500,000 a day.

Its 10 weeks to Easter, even if you take the lower level of 400,000 a day, more than half of all adults in the UK will have had the first jab of vaccine, many will have had the 2nd. There is immunity from those who have already had covid and recovered.

Those arguing we will be in lockdown forever- how likely is that if this vaccine really works?

Even a month from now will feel very different.

@ssd

I think people comply as we are scared and the 24/7 news coverage reminds us how terrifying this all is. It's never reported how the nhs has been run down for years by this government. If it has been prepared for a pandemic ,like its been reported was going to happen for years, then we wouldn't be in this mess and kids education wouldn't be going down the pan.

I'm not scared in the slightest, I was for about 3 days in March but not since then. I watch as little news as I can these days and spend half of the time rolling my eyes at whatever I do watch. I comply because I can't afford the fines.

@MynephewR or you COULD comply because some hospitals are genuinely barely coping at the moment. At one of my local ones 10-11 wards are now all COVID patients, and that doesn’t include ICU or the ICU extension ward.

Doesn’t it scare you that if you need to go to hospital for a non-COVID related reason then you might struggle to get a bed? Or that you could catch COVID there when you’re already critically ill with something else?

It’s the situation with hospitals at the moment worrying me. That’s not scare-mongering, I have various relatives who are medical staff. The local children’s hospital has had to start taking adult patients I believe. Even if your personal risk is probably low then it’s what non-compliance is doing to others and to the hospitals that is the problem.

I heard This week that Boris was suggesting May. After Easter had already really hacked me off, May? FGS.

A rebel group of Tory MPs seem now to be backing us for them it’s a complicated political landscape now schools which is why it isn’t clear
Boris Johnson number one aim though will be whatever saves him

A rebel group of Tory MPs seem now to be backing us for them it’s a complicated political landscape now schools which is why it isn’t clear

The last time a rebel group of Tory MPs forced the PM into a decision it went their way and now we have Brexit. So fingers crossed.