Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

8th Dec 6pm press conference

687 replies

PurpleDaisies · 08/12/2021 17:14

Whitty
Vallance
Johnson

I wonder what they’ll say.

OP posts:
MarshaBradyo · 08/12/2021 22:06

[quote BewareTheLibrarians]@MarshaBradyo Does full lockdown = closed schools though? I've worked through a "full lockdown" in a school with no masks in class etc, (and I'm sure many who work in factories and healthcare have had to work in similar/worse environments despite a "full lockdown".)

Another school closure would be awful for students of all ages.[/quote]
It generally does to non KW children, it has each time we’ve had a full lock down

If people mean tier 4 with schools open to all then slightly different

Although I doubt even that due to no furlough and resistance to bringing it back

BewareTheLibrarians · 08/12/2021 22:12

@HariboMaroon

Yes “full lockdowns” incorporate school closures.

I already have some parents on my social media bellowing it from the rooftops that schools need to close.

It really is a mass psychosis. Do people thrive off drama?

Fingers crossed they won't anymore, it's been an absolute shitshow to "catch up", to even try to start to fix the problems and lost learning that lockdown has caused, the increased safeguarding concerns, the year 10s who've become very stressed year 11s due to missing a chunk of their year... I could go on. I'm guessing the parents on social media you see are primary? Because all my secondary colleagues and secondary parents I personally know are desperate for schools to stay open and really worried that they won't without some form of mitigation (masks/ventilation/vaccination). Having said that, I do completely support parents with CV/CEV children/family members homeschooling because again - no mitigations.
Happypootle · 08/12/2021 22:14

@herecomesthsun your post about Arthur I find distasteful. You are right that there are child murders outside of lockdown. However Arthur's murder specifically occurred due to lthe circumstances of lockdown, lack of grandparents access/ threatened arrest etc. this was stated in court. Lockdown vastly increases risk factors for children in abusive homes.

BeckySteph · 08/12/2021 22:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HariboMaroon · 08/12/2021 22:19

@BewareTheLibrarians

They are. I agree with you, it’s a fucking nightmare. I’m on supply at the minute for primary and secondary and the problems are so so far reaching amongst all the age groups. They really need to be in school.

Original poster
PurpleDaisies · 08/12/2021 22:20

@BeckySteph I think you’ve accidentally posted on a covid thread rather than started one in relationships!

OP posts:
BeckySteph · 08/12/2021 22:21

Sorry I’m new here and I put this on the wrong thread :( I’ve requested to have it taken down. Don’t know how to delete it

Original poster
PurpleDaisies · 08/12/2021 22:22

Don’t worry-just thought you’d get better advice elsewhere. Will report your post to get it sorted.

OP posts:
Itisasecret · 08/12/2021 22:23

It’s really all pontificating anyway. Primaries are truly struggling. Many have swathes of staff off long term sick. Staff exposed to high viral loads, so no masks, no vaccination, no SD, no masks. Literally no protection. For all the talk of secondary being “fucked” on here; I know far more primary children under long term supply because their teachers are ill. Oh and primary children can actually get quite sick.

The fact we’ve used our children and put them at risk to obtain a restriction free, herd immunity, is nothing short of fucking disgusting. No one will address that though. It’s too uncomfortable.

Wokemon · 08/12/2021 22:23

Do people see it yet that life is not going back to how it was. Apparently 6 months ago that was fear mongering and a conspiracy theory. Welcome to the new world order.

Original poster
PurpleDaisies · 08/12/2021 22:27

Do people see it yet that life is not going back to how it was.

Yet.

To be honest, things aren’t that different for us. There are changes but I can live with wearing a mask to Asda. I realise I’m in a fortunate position thought.

OP posts:
paranoidnamechanger · 08/12/2021 22:35

@PurpleDaisies

Do people see it yet that life is not going back to how it was.

Yet.

To be honest, things aren’t that different for us. There are changes but I can live with wearing a mask to Asda. I realise I’m in a fortunate position thought.

There is no yet. Life has changed forever for so many people, in terms of the mental health crisis alone.
BewareTheLibrarians · 08/12/2021 22:44

@Itisasecret That sounds awful, I'm sorry Flowers At least in secondary we have masks in corridors, but at primary you really are thrown under the bus. And the situation with supply is awful too for the kids - they're aware enough to be worried about their teachers if the teachers are off long term (even if they're off for a day it throws them!). And I can't even imagine who is more stressed - the teachers off long term sick or the staff having to cover. Both of them are horrible, stressful positions to be in.

Absolutely agree with you that herd immunity through children is despicable. DS was in year 6 when he caught covid. He's now in year 8 and still has heart problems and really painful throat/tonsil complications, both due to covid. He was perfectly healthy before, no long term conditions to "blame" the severity on, just random shitty luck. To think of any other kid having to go through that because people believe "covid doesn't affect kids" is sickening. Or that long covid in kids is just "anxious parents". It soon becomes very clear who doesn't actually give a shit about kids and just wants their life back to normal.

Quartz2208 · 08/12/2021 22:55

I think a lot of our reaction though is because we simply do not trust the Government. And I think the party simply underlines that. Doing it on the same day it came out (having previously said there was no going back) causes the panic.

MyrtlethePurpleTurtle · 09/12/2021 01:08

@rrhuth

Why have so many people who have already had two jabs turned into anti-vax batshit types now?
I was wondering that
Noeuf · 09/12/2021 05:32

Thank you - seems a bit mad I don’t think much is going to stop this, I’m losing sight of why we are trying really.

PAFMO · 09/12/2021 05:44

[quote Happypootle]**@herecomesthsun* your post about Arthur I find distasteful. You are right that there are child murders outside of lockdown. However Arthur's* murder specifically occurred due to lthe circumstances of lockdown, lack of grandparents access/ threatened arrest etc. this was stated in court. Lockdown vastly increases risk factors for children in abusive homes.[/quote]
Any post talking about Arthur Labinjo-Hughes as if they knew him personally is far more distasteful, tbf.

MarshaBradyo · 09/12/2021 06:10

Because ultimately that's what the choice to lockdown or not is. Which groups of vulnerable and which competing interests do you prioritise. The problem is a general failure to understand that this is the basis decisions have to be made on.

Exactly. The huge problem and potential damage is there as much as people might want to wave it away.

Happypootle · 09/12/2021 07:15

@PAFMO I'm not talking as if I knew him personally although perhaps I know more than most about the case as it is very local to me. My point stands.

herecomesthsun · 09/12/2021 07:51

[quote Happypootle]**@herecomesthsun* your post about Arthur I find distasteful. You are right that there are child murders outside of lockdown. However Arthur's* murder specifically occurred due to lthe circumstances of lockdown, lack of grandparents access/ threatened arrest etc. this was stated in court. Lockdown vastly increases risk factors for children in abusive homes.[/quote]
I'm sorry that you fid the facts distasteful. But the "vas"t majority of these cases would have happened regardless of lockdown, going by the figures, unfortunately.

Lockdown increased the estimated figures of child abuse by 20% which was a wholly unwanted consequence of course, but suggests that the "vast" majority would have happened anyway.

And one of the reasons for lockdown was precisely to protect the grandparents of these children, who as you rightly say are of enormous importance in their lives.

TheVampiresWife · 09/12/2021 08:04

Let's not forget the huge increase in domestic violence during lockdown, either. Calls to the NDAH went up by over 60% - and that's just the victims who felt able to seek help. There will be many thousands more who did not. And there will be tens of thousands of children involved, too.

We can never, ever allow this to happen again. Protecting groups of vulnerable people from illness while other vulnerable groups at left to suffer abuse, violence and worse is completely unacceptable. I say this as someone who is CEV and a DV survivor. I can't speak for everyone obviously but if I had to choose between taking my chances with covid and months locked in my home with my abuser I know which I'd pick.

MarshaBradyo · 09/12/2021 08:10

We can never, ever allow this to happen again.

I was behind initial action but I agree. There’s no mistake this hits children hard.

Loss of line of sight through usual channels also meant many referrals were missed.

Happypootle · 09/12/2021 08:11

herecomesthsun a 20% increase in child abuse is a pretty horrific statistic though, if true? I am sure the enquiry triggered by the Arthur Labinjo Hughes case will have a lot to say about the impact of lockdown on child safety. We will have to disagree on it for now.

bordermidgebite · 09/12/2021 08:17

The violence is horrific

In absolute terms though if it's a child every 2 weeks then a 20% increase is less than 6 children

How many children have died of covid ? How many more children will be placed in dangerous situations having lost parents to covid ?

So difficult

rrhuth · 09/12/2021 08:20

@TheVampiresWife

Let's not forget the huge increase in domestic violence during lockdown, either. Calls to the NDAH went up by over 60% - and that's just the victims who felt able to seek help. There will be many thousands more who did not. And there will be tens of thousands of children involved, too.

We can never, ever allow this to happen again. Protecting groups of vulnerable people from illness while other vulnerable groups at left to suffer abuse, violence and worse is completely unacceptable. I say this as someone who is CEV and a DV survivor. I can't speak for everyone obviously but if I had to choose between taking my chances with covid and months locked in my home with my abuser I know which I'd pick.

This presentation of a false choice really pisses me off - if we were a country with a functioning system additional support would have been put into vital services to address these issues. We can not seriously be saying 'we shoudl have let hundreds of thousands of people die from Covd during wave 1 because the government refused to invest in other vital services'.

The UK has got almost broken public services, especially in terms of refuge places etc - due to the Tory party and their voters being happy to see services cut.

I categorically refuse to choose between more domestic violence or more covid deaths. Sort both things out. And maybe, just maybe, if there had not been eleven years of grotesque cuts to children's services, social services, women's services, drugs services, alcohol services, mental health services, police services, justice services, probation services, prison services - maybe the numbers of people stuck in their homes in terrible situations would have been drastically lower when lockdown came.

You only have to look at what has happened with catch up funding in education - the UK budget for that is pathetic compared to the US, to the NL. The UK state is broken and the lockdown was not the cause of that. The Tory party is the cause of that.