Please can someone summarise the latest news conference?

[Lelophants]

Feel like im missing a few things (on baby duty)

Key point : new variant is possibly more deadly than old variant. 13 deaths per 1000 people infected instead of 10.

Boris: Currently, the rate of infection is forbiddingly high, and I think we have to be realistic about that,” he said. “I think we will have to live with coronavirus in one way or another for a long while to come. I think it is an open question as to when and in what way we can start to relax any of the measures. Obviously, we want to do everything we can to open up but only safely, only cautiously.”

i take from that schools won't be back for a long time

i hope my ds can repeat the year

There was a lot of "we need more data" talk, the new variants are worrying but they need to compile more data to be able to see exactly what's what.

The vaccine roll out is going well.. except people aren't happy about the delayed second doses - however Whitty & Valance were fairly reassuring about it, and about the data from Israel - that it's not completely verified (?) and they need more data to be able to tell more..

Basically I got the impression there's a lot of ifs and maybes, and right now they can't say for sure what the situation is about the new variants as they need time to actually study them.

There was no promises with any of it, I get the impression that they are trying to be cautious and they don't want people assuming everything will be back open in Feb..

I would think March / April at the earliest now going by the way they were speaking, but who knows at this point.

So in short... we’re fucked?

What’s new date in people’s heads that

Schools will open
Shops will open
Weddings will be back on

do you rekon, just roughly? As it’s not looking good now

Didn't he say that the review wouid still be on 15 Feb?

So no relaxations before that, and as Gav said 2 weeks notice of schools reopening, hen I guess closed until March at least

"Lots we don't know for sure"

"Can't lift restrictions yet"

"Trying to plan for worst & hope for best"

As aside, who wants to take sign language classes now? I love the sign language guys, and their emotive expressions. Wish I could practice daily!

One of them said that getting schools back was a priority and they want to do that as soon as they can before anything else. So we shouldn’t assume that schools will open alongside shops for instance.

As aside, who wants to take sign language classes now? I love the sign language guys, and their emotive expressions. Wish I could practice daily!

I actually signed up during the first lockdown, it's been great to learn (I work in a public facing role and always felt guilty that I knew no signs at all).

So in short... we’re fucked?

It's not looking great.

Is this a film? We are all starring in? 😱

So surreal in a sense!

@covetingthepreciousthings

So in short... we’re fucked?

It's not looking great.

Agree

well what does everyone think will happen? i'm feeling scared now

i work full time in retail, people everywhere everyday and the public are starting to get more complacent with covid measures we have in place

I hate how the virus mutates. One step forward, another back.

I mean.. if we were totally fucked, would they tell us?

Everything's shit, and it's really hard to see any light at the moment. I second it being so surreal, even things like children just getting used to masks and social distancing and not being allowed to cuddle relatives. How did we get to this point?

I'm sure it will definitely end, pandemics have come and gone before, but I'm just not sure what our way out is apart from vaccines and then tweaking vaccines.

@GirlCrush

well what does everyone think will happen? i'm feeling scared now

i work full time in retail, people everywhere everyday and the public are starting to get more complacent with covid measures we have in place

Retail is hellish at the moment

if we were totally fucked, would they tell us?

Then why not stop Lockdown immediately... I mean what would there be to gain by crippling the economy forever.

We’re not fucked. Look here

coronavirus.data.gov.uk/

Infection rates dropping, as is the R rate, and we’ve vaccinated more than 5 million people. I work in a south east large tertiary care hospital and our numbers peaked at around 250 COVID in patients last week.

One way of looking at it is that at least we know

You can react one of two ways

1 Wah! This is bad news!
2 At least we know what we are dealing with, thanks to science, and can now begin to do something about it

I'm not a fan of censoring the truth about the virus for the second reason. It's better to know as much as you can, because if you're ignorant then it has more of an advantage over you

Thank God for science recognising these new variants. That's good news, not bad

It's annoying me how today it is reported that the new mutation is '30% more deadly'. It means that if you are aged over 60 and get covid, rather than having a 1% likelihood of it killing you, you have a 1.3% chance of it killing you. I don't think that would scare to many people on a personal level (altogether I understand its impact from a public health perspective). I imagine a lot of people would see the headlines and think 'it'll kill 30% of people that get it' or similar....30% more deadly sounds very threatening until you look at the actual numbers.

@GirlCrush

i take from that schools won't be back for a long time

i hope my ds can repeat the year

I don't see that repeating years is possible. New children will be starting in September, schools can't suddenly increase capacity to manage more kids or afford to get in more staff to teach them.

Last year the government suspended the curriculum when schools were closed, this time they haven't. I think that's a clear sign that the kids won't be repeating the learning they're covering at home now.

I'd like to see an extra revision year of schooling for all children. It is possible.
Schools used not to have a Reception class: children started at 5 in what was the equivalent to Y1.
We simply move YR to the nurseries and preschools. They are, after all, Early Years. They should stay with the other Early Years children.

@Tanith when did it change? I thought I was going crazy because no one I know seems to remember but I'm certain I went to school nursery age 4 and then year 1 age 5. There was no reception. That was the 80s.