Next week's announcement won't be the good news we think it'll be

[likeamillpond]

Listening to the news and reading between the lines regarding the latest variant that's supposed to be resistant to the vaccine, I don't think it's going to be brilliant news next week.
I dont think it'll be a case of, We've got this. You can all go out now.
Im hoping theyll say for certain that schools can go back. At least.
I think we are still in the shit. They just haven't told us.
I'm prepared to be told I'm worrying over nothing.

Exactly. I am not sure why this is so difficult for people to grasp. I agree that the Government messaging has been woeful but this is basic maths and should not need to be explained to a fully functioning adult!

I completely understand.

But I don’t want to spend our 0.4R on full schools. I’d rather be able to see my family personally.

And to face these restrictions for longer and not see my family, so other people can benefit from schools open, is completely unappealing.

Ideally schools would open on a rota and have social distancing. And some changes would be made to allow us to see family, spreading the 0.4 across more of us.

Glass half empty types start so many threads

I think I just want schools to reopen as well. My eldest missed his gcses last year now it's looking like all of his first year of a levels are down the toilet too. He should be in a lab doing sciences.

Right now, I just want my kids to get qualified and to able to go on a UK break or UK attraction legally.

I can live without non essentials now as I am well practiced in finding whatever i need in the supermarket.

I dont need restaurants, pubs, hairdressers all the time my kids cant go into school and I'm not allowed to see family or friends

OnceUponANightmare

“Exactly. I am not sure why this is so difficult for people to grasp. I agree that the Government messaging has been woeful but this is basic maths and should not need to be explained to a fully functioning adult!”

I think most people do grasp it but just don’t care very much.

@DenisetheMenace

OnceUponANightmare

“Exactly. I am not sure why this is so difficult for people to grasp. I agree that the Government messaging has been woeful but this is basic maths and should not need to be explained to a fully functioning adult!”

I think most people do grasp it but just don’t care very much.

That's different. Not caring is one thing, and shows a total lack of social responsibility. But the pretence is usually that people do not understand why X activity is allowed when Y activity is not allowed but poses similar risk. So if people do understand the answer then pretending they don't because they don't like it is dosingenuous.

@Totallyfedup1979

Exactly. I am not sure why this is so difficult for people to grasp. I agree that the Government messaging has been woeful but this is basic maths and should not need to be explained to a fully functioning adult!

I completely understand.

But I don’t want to spend our 0.4R on full schools. I’d rather be able to see my family personally.

And to face these restrictions for longer and not see my family, so other people can benefit from schools open, is completely unappealing.

Ideally schools would open on a rota and have social distancing. And some changes would be made to allow us to see family, spreading the 0.4 across more of us.

Good for you. But that it utterly selfish.

The young are the ones harmed most by the measures that have been taken to control the pandemic, almost entirely for older people's benefit. They are missing out on vital education and sociliasling which is critical to their development. It is cruel and not proportionate at all, hence Government refusal to publish a cost/ benefit analysis of lockdowns.

They'll also be the ones who are expected to pay off the enormous national debt incurred when they were not the ones who consistently voted in incompetent Governments who did not prepare for a pandemic despite it being top of the national risk register for decades, and a question of when not if it would happen.

I find your attitude to the impact on them callous and your belief that your preferences should be prioritised over their needs quite disgusting and showing a lack of moral fibre.

I have no school aged children, so no vested interest except that I actually care about the welfare of children which you clearly do not.

What exactly do you think should be prioritised over the mental health and education of children (once the immediate health issues are under control and we start to prioritise what to open)? Shopping? Cinemas? Sunday roasts and family BBQs? Ridiculous.

I find posts like that baffling. Are there really people this selfish and short-sighted? That they would rather children suffer than that they, as an adult, have to suck it up for another couple of months??

I think it would be useful to just get some information. Even if it is to say the restrictions will be continuing until at least this date. The uncertainty is so depressing.

I think schools should go back but with an attempt at some mitigation.
Masks, screens and possibly a rota system so less in at a time.
Then some easing for the rest of society so a better mix for everyone.
Young people have really suffered with compromised university provision and not able to see partners and lack of job opportunities
Also new young mothers not able to socialise and get support from other mums
They need to look at the overall situation not just schools

I think schools should go back but with an attempt at some mitigation. Masks, screens and possibly a rota system so less in at a time.

Why is this a random musing, which people think might be nice, rather than the bare minimum we should expect?

Everywhere else, mitigation is a legal requirement.

Was there really anyone that thought next week's announcement would be " we can all go back to normal now " ?

@minipie

I think there will be serious unrest if they move the goalposts now - even if there is a reason for it like the new variant.

Since December we have been given the message that this is one last push while we roll out the vaccine. If they turn round and say “sorry despite the vaccine we’ve still got to stay at home because of variants...” I don’t think people will take it especially the under 35s.

There isn’t any strategy to rule out new variants is there? There is no reason to think they are a short term problem or that a longer lockdown will mean we defeat the risk from variants. IMO we’re going to have to live with them and have tailored annual vaccines as best we can (like with flu).

I completely agree.

If we are going to lock down every single time the virus mutates then we will be locked down forever and will never leave our homes because this isnt going to stop. Viruses mutate- thats what they bloody do, all the time. Its natural for them and often it makes them less dangerous (which is what has happened to some versions of the HIV virus). We cannot lock down every time a new variant emerges as this will never end. Then there will come a point when more people are dying due to lack of cancer treatment than the virus.

Totally agree, this is a crazy situation.
I have two daughters in their 20s should be working in london currently at home working in childhood bedrooms not able to see partners for months. We have stuck to the rules but this is not sustainable for much longer

@Totallyfedup1979

Exactly. I am not sure why this is so difficult for people to grasp. I agree that the Government messaging has been woeful but this is basic maths and should not need to be explained to a fully functioning adult!

I completely understand.

But I don’t want to spend our 0.4R on full schools. I’d rather be able to see my family personally.

And to face these restrictions for longer and not see my family, so other people can benefit from schools open, is completely unappealing.

Ideally schools would open on a rota and have social distancing. And some changes would be made to allow us to see family, spreading the 0.4 across more of us.

They are not opening schools so that other people can benefit. This school generation is our future! They need to get back to school for their mental health but also their education. We need kids to train as doctors, teachers, plumbers, nurses etc etc. Otherwise we are stuffed for the future. We get teachers fully vaccinated and we open up the schools. We can’t go in any longer. 100,000 deaths with Covid. 67m population. There is another thread on MN where a family are getting their house repossessed as their business has crashed. It’s ok for us public sector workers to say let’s keep lockdown but the economy doesn’t work like that. We need businesses fully open to pay taxes, business rates, that’s how we fund the NHS and local government ie schools, social care etc etc.

@Woolff

I think schools should go back but with an attempt at some mitigation. Masks, screens and possibly a rota system so less in at a time.

Why is this a random musing, which people think might be nice, rather than the bare minimum we should expect?

Everywhere else, mitigation is a legal requirement.

Exactly. But as woolff said, this should be an expectation and not a dream.

But I don’t want to spend our 0.4R on full schools. I’d rather be able to see my family personally

This is one of the most selfish, ignorant things I think I have ever read on here.

Yes- lets prevent ALL children from their legal right to education because someone on the internet wants to see their family. Because family BBQs are REALLY going to help the UK in years to come when our generation is old and needs trained professionals to assist us medically and to prop up our broken economy arent they?

So unbelievably stupid.

It's not selfish or ignorant to value time with family and friends above all else. And the woeful lack of priority this government has given it throughout is the main thing I'm angry about in the handling of this crisis.

I am a parent of two, so am desperate for schools to re-open, but I can tell you this: if you lose a loved one in the coming months, you will regret the time not spent with them for the rest of your life. You'll regret it more than your kids falling behind on phonics, or even missing their GCSEs. It is the most important thing to me, over and above schools reopening. For this reason, I am now seeing friends and family in a way that isn't always strictly legal, but I still object to the fact that it is illegal to meet my mum and my sister for a walk at the same time - at least while people are queueing up in coffee shops on my high street buying lattes. Because you can't monetise time with family, so the government doesn't care. But it should.

@AlexisCarringtonColbyDexter

But I don’t want to spend our 0.4R on full schools. I’d rather be able to see my family personally

This is one of the most selfish, ignorant things I think I have ever read on here.

Yes- lets prevent ALL children from their legal right to education because someone on the internet wants to see their family. Because family BBQs are REALLY going to help the UK in years to come when our generation is old and needs trained professionals to assist us medically and to prop up our broken economy arent they?

So unbelievably stupid.

I agree. Clearly not losing their jobs, house or kids crying daily from staring at a screen all day watching a teacher trying to teach remotely. But hey let’s have a family party.

It's not selfish or ignorant to value time with family and friends above all else

Of course its not unreasonable to want to hug your family.

But expecting ALL children not to go back to school to achieve that and miss out on the education that you yourself benefitted from?

Selfish AS FCK.

I don’t think it is reasonable to prevent children attending school OR to ban people seeing loved ones.

@joanneg36

It's not selfish or ignorant to value time with family and friends above all else. And the woeful lack of priority this government has given it throughout is the main thing I'm angry about in the handling of this crisis.

I am a parent of two, so am desperate for schools to re-open, but I can tell you this: if you lose a loved one in the coming months, you will regret the time not spent with them for the rest of your life. You'll regret it more than your kids falling behind on phonics, or even missing their GCSEs. It is the most important thing to me, over and above schools reopening. For this reason, I am now seeing friends and family in a way that isn't always strictly legal, but I still object to the fact that it is illegal to meet my mum and my sister for a walk at the same time - at least while people are queueing up in coffee shops on my high street buying lattes. Because you can't monetise time with family, so the government doesn't care. But it should.

We lost my lovely FIL to bastard Covid 3 weeks ago. We hadn't seen them for several months (not local), no Christmas or anything as trying to protect him and MIL.

It'll upset me forever, but life has to continue. We need to find a way of moving forward. Schools need to be able to open up, in the safest way possible to give our next generation the chance to get back on their feet

The R rate isn't static. With vaccinations and continued restrictions, it will go down further meaning you could then open up more with less risk.

In Scotland the schools are being opened gradually, with lower primary first. It is a bit rubbish for my S3 14 year old, but I can understand the logic and I hope it means he will return after Easter with much less concern about numbers spiking again.

To me the schooling isn't an all or nothing question and a bit of caution along with some easing of outdoor meetings- which we now have evidence to show doesn't really put the numbers up - are things that could be done in parallel.

Yes, sorry, to clarify my point above, I 100% think schools should open fully from 8 March. But I don't think it's fair to expect people to sacrifice seeing their loved ones in order to make this happen, particularly people without children.

@AlexisCarringtonColbyDexter

It's not selfish or ignorant to value time with family and friends above all else

Of course its not unreasonable to want to hug your family.

But expecting ALL children not to go back to school to achieve that and miss out on the education that you yourself benefitted from?

Selfish AS FCK.

I can never figure out why people here say it's "selfish" to express an opinion. It's selfish to actually do something that might negatively affect someone else, but writing something on a forum has no effect on anyone in terms of the virus, it's just words. It's not like Boris is scanning mumsnet and acting on the "selfish" advice of random posters!

Agree OP.