Looks like the plans are now leaked.

[pinkhappy]

The Times seems to have leaked the plans now. I for one will be very happy if children's outdoor sport starts on March 8.

March 8:
Schools
Kids outdoor sport
Golf + Tennis

Early April:
🛍Non-essential retail
Outdoor pubs + restaurants

Mid April:
Gyms

May:
Cinemas + Theatre
Indoor pubs + restaurants

August:
Foreign holidays
Clubs

@Beebityboo

All schools back all at once is literal madness tbh. There's some agenda there because there is no way that any scientist has told them that's a good idea. I fucking despair.

This sums it up for me. What the actual fuck are they playing at?!

@FrangipaniBlue "Do the posters harping on about "but mutations!" realise that when a virus mutates it is doing so in order to survive, thus generally becomes less deadly....

It's basic science 101 FFS.
Can we stop with the hysterics please?"

Total misinformation. T
Many if the variants have been shown to be more dangerous not less. Please don't make things up.

Ds secondary school have been doing tests for Keyworker kids i think , they have def set up an area outside for tests
My friend who is a teacher is having 2 weekly covid tests at school ( not sure which ones ) and my other friend who is teacher in a special school has had the jab as our area ( maybe all ) are including them.
Often more going on behind the scenes than we know

@DenisetheMenace

“At the very very best they won't be completed (first dose) until July. - three weeks until effective - thats AUGUST at best!”

Possibly I’m a lone voice, but given where we were a year ago I think even August is bloody fantastic.

You’re not a lone voice at all. It is fantastic. A third of all adults vaccinated in less than three months is almost miraculous.

@RubyViolet I am in my late 40s, DH over 50. Neither of us would be happy to see our children unable to attend school whilst they wait for us to receive a vaccine for a disease which is highly unlikely to kill us.

If we wait for all over 40s, we'll be into the second half of the summer term once the 3 weeks for it to take effect is factored in. And if schools had to wait until then, how much longer for businesses? How would we fund it??

Frankly, I wasn't expecting there to be a vaccine this year six months ago and I certainly wasn't expecting to receive it so soon when they did develop it.

Non essential retail - not till April . Outdoor restaurants only. In this weather are they mad. They might as well lock us down for evermore. Totally pissed off.

@FrangipaniBlue

Do the posters harping on about "but mutations!" realise that when a virus mutates it is doing so in order to survive, thus generally becomes less deadly....

It's basic science 101 FFS.

Can we stop with the hysterics please?

You know viruses don’t mutate on purpose?

Mutations are random. Occasionally they are beneficial (not to us to the virus).

@Multicover

Lockdowns are instigated to stop the NHS from being overwhelmed. Not to eradicate the virus. High vaccination rates mean that the incidence of those most likely to become seriously ill requiring hospital admission will decline. Covid is here to stay. The sooner people get their head around that the better. Get kids back to school and get tbe economy moving.

Sim To have all adults offered a vaccination by July. 3 weeks to be effective means AUGUST. Not March/April.

5 months is a LING time fir the virus to do its thing & cause mayhem in the hospitals & morgues.

LONG

@FrangipaniBlue

Do the posters harping on about "but mutations!" realise that when a virus mutates it is doing so in order to survive, thus generally becomes less deadly....

It's basic science 101 FFS.

Can we stop with the hysterics please?

"Generally" - exactly. Plus that isn't the issue. The issue is as it mutates it can evade the existing vaccines, which means we need new versions of vaccine and to give everyone a booster. It's not rocket science.

@FrangipaniBlue

Do the posters harping on about "but mutations!" realise that when a virus mutates it is doing so in order to survive, thus generally becomes less deadly....

It's basic science 101 FFS.

Can we stop with the hysterics please?

Mutations are random. They are not intentionally trying to achieve anything. They just happen.

Most the time they result in dead ends.

Sometimes they (accidentally) result in a more successful organism. 'More successful' can be achieved in a number of ways, eg more transmissible, less detectable, tougher against immune responses etc.

Probably as most of us with kids are under 50 and don't shit our pants at getting it unless we are already vulnerable.

Not true - many secondary school parents are over 50.

@YardleyX

Do people think it’s going to mutate into the Bubonic Plague, or something?

The impact of the current vaccination programme will be ENORMOUS, mutations or no mutations.

There is already significant evidence that vaccination stops transmission as well as illness.

This alone is huge. This means that we all benefit even just from the third of the population already jabbed.

If it mutates, it will still be a similar virus. The chances of it mutating into something so different that the vaccines don’t work at all is vanishingly small.

Mutations may reduce effectiveness of the vaccine enough to cause some blips along the way, but this will be constantly monitored and vaccines will be tweaked as necessary.

Well there's a cure for that soooooo........

@VinylDetective

Can we stop with the hysterics please?

Of course not. Some people have become addicted to the drama.

It's quite scary actually isn't it!

@beckypv

Why does a phase return to school matter? Having all kids in at the beginning, rather than spreading it out over 2 weeks surely won’t make that much difference. I think it’s quite clever having kids back for 3 weeks with no other changes. Then 2 weeks of slight relaxation whilst kids are off school. So actually it’s 5 weeks post March 8th when problems may be more likely to occur, but hopefully by then, it may be subdued more substantially by the vaccinations.

Phased return - done 8th March, rest after Easter. Didn't need to be two weeks later.

but if the most vulnerable to the virus are vaccinated, it shouldn't (fingers crossed) mean that the NHS gets overwhelmed.

but the most vulnerable are not yet vaccinated

There aren't any halls, gyms, science labs, corridors, or any other non-carpeted spaces in your school then?

You have already been told about the non-porous floor issue. How many children do you think can sit, at a distance, in one room whilst testing and awaiting the result? That’s a hell of a lot of rooms needed to get through 1000 kids before it’s time to go home again.

@YardleyX

Do people think it’s going to mutate into the Bubonic Plague, or something?

The impact of the current vaccination programme will be ENORMOUS, mutations or no mutations.

There is already significant evidence that vaccination stops transmission as well as illness.

This alone is huge. This means that we all benefit even just from the third of the population already jabbed.

If it mutates, it will still be a similar virus. The chances of it mutating into something so different that the vaccines don’t work at all is vanishingly small.

Mutations may reduce effectiveness of the vaccine enough to cause some blips along the way, but this will be constantly monitored and vaccines will be tweaked as necessary.

This will still require restrictions and depending on the transmission rate of the new variant, possible lock downs.

but the most vulnerable are not yet vaccinated

They are. Where have you been for the last month?

[quote sonnysunshine]@FrangipaniBlue "Do the posters harping on about "but mutations!" realise that when a virus mutates it is doing so in order to survive, thus generally becomes less deadly....

It's basic science 101 FFS.
Can we stop with the hysterics please?"

Total misinformation. T
Many if the variants have been shown to be more dangerous not less. Please don't make things up.[/quote]
The mutations have been shown to spread faster, but that does not mean they are more deadly.

It is very rare for a virus to mutate into something more deadly.

This screaming "mutations argh!!" are just whipping up unnecessary hysteria.

The most vulnerable but not all vulnerable. The death rates will increase in younger people rather than older as they inevitably rise as schools go back

The teachers on this site have spent the last few months telling parents of traumatised kids that those same children need to develop some resilience. Well, time for you to do the same. We're coming into spring, already 1/3 of people are vaccinated including all those in the top 88% of deaths, in another month we'll have done the top 99% of deaths. It's time to put children first, it's the right thing to do.

The hypocrisy on here is fully fledged. Weeks ago hundreds of threads were baying for school closures, and then once this happened on Jan 5th, half of primary school parents promptly declared themselves needing schools so continued to send in kids under keyworker provision. Now, there are endless posts about people being ‘done’ with homeschooling, yet here we are with outrage at the prospect of returning to school in 2 weeks time. (Nevermind that the elderly and most vulnerable have been vaccinated - which should include teachers over 60 - and that younger people are generally less likely to be seriously affected should they catch it).

Mutations may reduce effectiveness of the vaccine enough to cause some blips along the way, but this will be constantly monitored and vaccines will be tweaked as necessary

They are already tweaking. It will take till autumn. It is not a quick process. Neither is re-vaccinating or boosting if it comes to it. Meaning some mutant variation gets out there and is problematic, we are all locked down again....

They are. Where have you been for the last month?

My area is still CEV. No sign of CV yet. Many school staff come under that category and are not yet vaccinated.

And many schoolchildren are vulnerable. What about them?

@Pieceofpurplesky

The most vulnerable but not all vulnerable. The death rates will increase in younger people rather than older as they inevitably rise as schools go back

Death rates in younger people probably will rise if case numbers rise, for obvious reasons. But the number of deaths would still be very small. Far too small to justify all schools and businesses remaining closed.