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.

@CottonHeadedNinyMuggins

just had this emailed...

We are writing to you as you have previously been identified as someone thought to be clinically extremely vulnerable and at high risk of becoming very unwell if you catch COVID-19. We wrote to you last month advising you to follow shielding guidance until 21 February.

We are now extending that guidance and advising you to shield until 31 March 2021. We will write to you again in mid-March with further advice.

Might be a precursor that it could be extended slightly too

thank you for the heads up

My mum is 59 lives in Sheffield. No health issues. She had her text today to book for the vaccine

I thought the opposite of Covid bingo threads. Full of 'they can't keep us welded into our houses' and 'I'm going to be doing whatever I like come March I don't care what Boris says'. Plus 'you're all doom mongers' etc...

@Christmasfairy2020

Is the NHS under pressure? If not then why do we need to still not visit family and live life. Its stupid

Exactly

@Sparklingbrook

I thought the opposite of Covid bingo threads. Full of 'they can't keep us welded into our houses' and 'I'm going to be doing whatever I like come March I don't care what Boris says'. Plus 'you're all doom mongers' etc...

Oh and Schools. Must. Stay. Open. At. All. Costs.

And Teachers. Are. Workshy.

Sack. Them. For. Wanting. To. Be. Safer. They. Don't. Want. To. Work.

Also

It's. Just. Flu.

(and also, basically, Lets Pretend It's 2019 lalala This Isn't Happening)

TBH, under circumstances slow is good and would show the government is learning something. The more we delay gratification now, the better the rest of the year and the less likely we have to go back into lockdown, though I still feel some more may be unavoidable next winter come what may, but we'll see.

I believe they will be giving 'earliest possible' dates for if things reach certain thresholds, which of course the Sun and the Mail will immediately headlines as 'SCHOOLS BACK ON 8 MARCH! PUBS OPEN 5 MAY! HOLIDAYS IN AUGUST! '

Couldn't give a crap about pubs opening, non-essential shops opening, or my own (entertainment based) physical workplace opening right now. The only thing I want is my DC back to school. Happy for blended/gradual whatever type of learning, lateral flow testing and masks worn every second, but I want them having face to face teaching from their qualified teachers.

Those of us who have stayed well and not had major bereavement are very lucky

I’ve had two major bereavements, but neither were from Covid. Does that make me lucky or unlucky?

No one expected for him to stay "right everything's lifting. Schools go back may, pubs open month after" bla bla.

Everything will be eased gradually.

You say, like many, the new variant is supposed be 'resistant' to the vaccines which is not true at all.

A Molecular Biologist who works for Mordena has some well balanced factual information on her twitter. Mac n Chise. For anyone who wants science based information.
She tweeted "Ben Osborn, the UK head of Pfizer, said they do not expect to have to change their vaccine to handle SARS-CoV-2 variants B.1.1.17 and B.1.351 due to no drop in efficacy! Let’s talk about variants, vaccines, and why you shouldn’t panic."

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.05.21251182v1

Moderna*

Fuck all point to getting vaccinated then really, since apparently it does nothing to prevent any deaths or allow us to come out of lockdown.

[quote sadpapercourtesan]@Beaniecats I have about as low an opinion of this government as you could imagine, but to suggest that they are using the new variants to artificially create a climate of fear - to control us - is arrant nonsense.

The one thing that gives me a frisson of grim satisfaction in this protracted shitshow is that Boris Johnson hates this even more than I do. He's a libertarian at heart and loathes government, let alone things like forking out for furlough and extending school meals to the holidays. It must be like fingernails on a blackboard for him. The lazy blustering shit trumpet must wake up every morning in a state of bitter regret that he ever went for the job - he wanted the title, not the work, and he isn't even getting what his overprivileged milk-fed arse considers a decent wage for it. Gutted.[/quote]
Great post, right on the money, @sadpapercourtesan

@wonderstuff

Yes but only for exercise, apparently we'll be allowed to sit down for a chat.

It’s too bloody cold! 😂

@CottonHeadedNinyMuggins

just had this emailed...

We are writing to you as you have previously been identified as someone thought to be clinically extremely vulnerable and at high risk of becoming very unwell if you catch COVID-19. We wrote to you last month advising you to follow shielding guidance until 21 February.

We are now extending that guidance and advising you to shield until 31 March 2021. We will write to you again in mid-March with further advice.

Might be a precursor that it could be extended slightly too

Just had that too.

Matt and Bob are busy in Outlook tonight!

@MrBullinaChinaShop

Those of us who have stayed well and not had major bereavement are very lucky

I’ve had two major bereavements, but neither were from Covid. Does that make me lucky or unlucky?

That's very sad, I'm sorry.

Look at the great time people are having around the world. We criticise the US a lot, but look at them!

No talk of variants; no lockdown; no closures; no hold on life.

Watching this has finished me off. I thought we were doing it right. I thought the whole world was in the same position...but we’re not!

What the fuck are we doing?

I can't wait to get my vaccine.
Some protection is better than no protection.and it does help prevent a person from getting seriously ill and dying from covid, so on that front it's a definite success.

I think the new variants are a worry and are a reason to be cautious. Personally I think the 8th is too early for schools to go back. Our new cases although so much better than early January are still very high and the number of people in hospital is still higher than April’s peak. Not only that but the now dominant variant is the one that spreads far more easily and caused crazily high numbers in the South and massive issues in schools before Christmas. There is lots of good news and the vaccination roll out is going well but the more it’s allowed to spread unchecked in school age children and their parents the greater the opportunity for it to further mutate into a strain where the vaccinations don’t work well and we are back at square one. If we want this to be the last lockdown we need to close our boarders properly, wait until our numbers are much lower before we reopen schools then we have a much better chance if getting things open in a sustainable way and actually moving towards the normality we all crave. If they do too much too soon we’ll have another peak and more lockdowns. It’s not just about protecting the most vulnerable but also getting a hold on cases so it can’t mutate and cause issues with our brilliant vaccination effort. We are at such a crucial moment. Very slow and cautious opening up will give us a much better chance of normality and freedom.

I'll be happy if my Kids could do school, or even sport next month and have some interaction with anyone apart from me!

I work in supply for non essential retail. I'm desperate for a date (even if its further away) that shops will be open. I am not big on shopping myself but my job relies on people spending on non essential goods. I spoke to a client today , he spent thousands on making his (tiny, indie) shop "covid safe" with screens etc and could easily operate an appointment system, but his shop is in the same category as somewhere like primark or John Lewis where lots of people will be milling about in the same space.

motherrunner
Well my mum who is in a nursing home hasn’t had a vaccine and as I’m mid 40s and a teacher this doesn’t bring me much hope. It’s been 11 months since I’ve seen it takes to her. I just want to say ‘I love you’.

Huge sympathies. My gran, who I adored, died in December. I hadn’t seen her since February. I work in a school and have been in supervising KW children. In the summer, I was shielding before going to see her but her care home had an outbreak of COVID so I couldn’t see her. And now it’s too late. If I did any other job I’d have been at home and able to see her.
I’m lucky to have a job when loads don’t, and I’m beyond lucky that I enjoy it, even now. But some acknowledgement that it has come at an emotional cost would be nice. I got told on here I was workshy and nurses had had to make sacrifices and I should just suck it up. I don’t dispute that, but I have also seen so many articles on the Tv and online about what nurses have sacrificed. I have seen nothing about school staff doing the same.

@DBML

Look at the great time people are having around the world. We criticise the US a lot, but look at them!

No talk of variants; no lockdown; no closures; no hold on life.

Watching this has finished me off. I thought we were doing it right. I thought the whole world was in the same position...but we’re not!

What the fuck are we doing?

I have friends in many different states in the US and all of them have had schools closed and online learning since last March. They aren't having the "great time" you might imagine.

@CottonHeadedNinyMuggins

just had this emailed...

We are writing to you as you have previously been identified as someone thought to be clinically extremely vulnerable and at high risk of becoming very unwell if you catch COVID-19. We wrote to you last month advising you to follow shielding guidance until 21 February.

We are now extending that guidance and advising you to shield until 31 March 2021. We will write to you again in mid-March with further advice.

Might be a precursor that it could be extended slightly too

Me too

I only have links to Florida. Life is normal for most.

I wish I hadn't opened this thread. I can't go on like this for much longer, I really truly can't.

I agree Macoroni - I work in an Early Years Setting and we have been back since the start of the year. We are not allowed to wear face masks and there is no social distancing with 3 and 4 year olds. I am taking lateral flow tests each week, not visiting my mum who lost her husband to COVID last April and paying extra for online food shops - all so I can minimise my risk..It is very stressful!