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

@Dementedswan

Seems like they are banking on the vaccines keeping hospital admissions and deaths down. This is the reason why all those extra people are being asked to shield until their vaccines take hold.

That is kind of the point of the vaccines, surely?

Sounds good to me. Rely on vaccination to keep vunerable people safe and keep hospital admission down, like vaccination is designed to do. Isn't that the message the government have been putting out? Why shouldn't lay people believe it?

I want my DC back in school. My y5 sons school had just two 'bubbles' burst (neither were his) and my yr7 DD had just six days off as a close contact between September and December. They are both happy to wear masks all day and I will test them at home if required or I will sign consent for them to be tested at school. I do think teachers should be prioritised for vaccination though. Couldn't give a crap about pubs reopening tbh. Education should take all priority.

Yes, only all the vulnerable haven't been vaccinated. I haven't 🤷‍♀️

Yet another leak. I wonder if they ever found out the source of the last one. And what happened about it.

This is likely released information

@addicted2spaniels

We run our own business, niche bespoke product that we can only sell via our showroom - that is around 1500 sq ft, over 2 floors and can easily be operated by appointment only. And we've spent a fucking fortune making covid secure.......... but people can stand in huge queues in B & M, Home Bargains and supermarkets because clearly Covid is selective in where it strikes.

I honestly could sit and cry reading the news tonight. And only on MN would people be bleating on about going abroad for their holidays whereas I'm sat here almost crying at the thought of making 8 people unemployed.

Sorry to hear this. I don't understand why non essential shops can't open. So many of the small independent shops in my town only ever had one or two people in them at once even pre-covid. As for big chain stores, again, if B&M and The Range are allowed to be open, why not M&S and Waterstones.

As a teacher (on mat leave) I am a little nervous of them putting all kids back in from 8th March. I do think practically they should vaccinate teachers and other public facing workers (police, bin men, energy workers, shop workers etc) to keep illness down. It's the best move for society and keeping things open.

But, I think kids have made enough sacrifice now. They have suffered enough. We need to prioritise them now and start getting on with life and accept that there will be people at risk, as there is with other illnesses, but the majority cannot sit at home anymore. We have all put our lives on hold for a long time to stop vulnerable people being hospitalised, but now the vaccine should reduce those numbers, which means we are done suffering (or at least I feel I have already reached my breaking point).

Teachers need to be more adaptable.

Its comments like this that gets teachers hackles rising.

Hairdressers before pubs ffs! No one wants to go to the pub or restaurant with hair that’s not seen a hairdresser for 6 months !!

But plans don’t mean anything. We all want to have a n illusion fo control over the situation but viruses don’t really care about schedules and summer holidays. I know it’s really hard to not know when thing swill be normal but we just don’t know and can’t know.

Loving how we only find out through the press again. Cue a day of kids asking me what's going on- when I know as much as they do.

It was bloody awful in school before we closed last time. Not looking forward to that side of it.

The virus transmits through contact. Less contact equals less transmission.
About 1 in 6 people go to school in the UK. If they all go back everyone else needs to hold off mixing to reduce introducing it to your child's school via other means.

Whilst I’m happy that schools are opening as my dc are desperate to go back, I’m praying the case numbers don’t rise out of control meaning that the provisional dates for the rest of society opening up are pushed back. I know it’s selfish of me but I’m desperate to get some resemblance of a life back. Pre covid i didn’t go to the pub/out for meals that often, say 2-3 times a year, but I regularly visited the cinema, regularly took my dc on days out, went to the library, swimming etc. It’s those things I’m desperate to do. I don’t go on foreign holidays, have a fancy life, but life’s basics that gave me and my dc enjoyment I’m really wanting to return.

Teachers need to be more adaptable

What are they not doing that you think they should do?

And before you start:

Teachers do not have to work in the evenings.
Teachers did not have to work on the weekend
Teachers do not have to work during the school holidays.

Anything but anything outside that time is unpaid work.

Don't give me "any other duties as required by the HT": they have to fit in the working day.

In your own time.......

As far as I know there is no date for foreign holidays to be permitted. All depends how the vaccination and cases will go.

No mention on that list of weddings which even with no guests at all and whether in church or registry office have been completely banned in London since 19 Dec. You can marry if you are dying but not if you are merely having cancer treatment. Other than that I think our longest ban in English history.

I don't think the plans have been leaked, it looks like they've been released en masse to the media.

I think they look 'OK.' I'm pleased about schools, yes it's risky, but the DC can't stay off for ever more, and there's a break reasonably soon with Easter where hopefully can reassess and the break will keep a lid on the infection rate. Everything else seems fairly cautious, which is good. Let's see what today brings...

I wonder if postnatal baby groups will be up and running by mid April ish before my baby arrives 🤞🏻

Still nothing about universities.

‘Stop with the denial. The average age in ICU is a lot lower than you seem to think. You seem to think 30-50 years olds are getting it and being hospitalised?!’

Denial? I won’t embarrass you by telling you what I do for a job
Meanwhile is there any possibility that the ‘average age’ in ICU is younger because the older age groups have now been vaccinated?
Anything to say about bed occupancy NUMBERS in ICU? Or does that not fit with your ‘keep the country locked down forever’ approach?

Why would there be any more lockdowns now that vaccines are being rolled out at a great rate? Or are you saying the vaccines don't work? This question is to the posters who seem determined that we will end up back in lockdowns

@FrippEnos

Teachers need to be more adaptable.

Its comments like this that gets teachers hackles rising.

It’s not that hard

From a selfish point of view I am so happy about the schools, cannot wait for mine to go back, I have 7, 5 of which are in school and home schooling then all whilst running a business is impossible, they will be better off at school and I can’t wait to get back into more of a routine.

I don’t get why people think there will be more lockdowns in November? Everyone will be vaccinated by then?

So many doom mongers on here! It's great news that the schools are going back, hopefully all at once. This should be a priority. It's hardly rushing into things, schools have been closed (to most) for too long already and opening up at each stage after the schools, if the leaks are correct, is going to be extremely slow.

Also interesting to note the criteria for further opening at each stage do not focus on the infection rate itself but rather the effects of infections on hospitals and deaths. Quite right too as this was supposed to be the case all along - flatten the curve so hospitals do not get overwhelmed- but seems to have been forgotten along the way. People like to ignore the vaccine and want to be locked up forever to avoid a mild case of the virus.

Also I have a 2 and 1 year old and the 1 yr old has literally lived his whole life in a pandemic. I feel so sorry for the kids in all of this.