Study in the time of COVID-19 (2019/20 intake): online learning, the rule of six and who knows what's next? Anything could happen!

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Following on from the previous thread as our young adults start their second year at universities up and down the land (and some overseas too!).

Castle Leazes is Party Central too, so very very popular. 🙂

Other party halls are also available
DD managed a few parties at Park View. One of her friends got allocated Castle Leazes, and she said it was hideous. Fortunately she managed to transfer to Park View in January.

I don’t think DD has any plans to return before Christmas. I wouldn’t encourage it either.

Dd in Leeds says that most people she comes across are from the SE of England (as is she). I’m not sure if it’s the good transport links or just the good reputation of so many Northern unis. She definitely wanted a big, lively city & I suppose you have to go north to get that if you don’t want London.

My 2nd year student has just been in touch to see one of his housemates has had a positive test. They had not been out socialising at all but this lad had been doing a sport so I guess that is where he caught it. So annoying & shows how easy it is to catch it even if you are not partying.

DD wouldn't have come home, but we would have traveled up there next week, stayed overnight in a hotel, taken her out for dinner and taken her food shopping to stock her up with bulky items the next day before maybe doing something in York and then coming home.

We aren't now allowed to leave our county and now have been told that we are expected to stay at home unless there are very good reasons why we need to go out.

@decorhate, the whole flat will probably get it, but at least that gets it out of the way. My DS thinks his whole flat has had it now, though none of them was ill.
I'm not expecting either of my DC to come back before Christmas. I think DS has a study week after Christmas and then exams, so perhaps he will stay longer then.

She definitely wanted a big, lively city & I suppose you have to go north to get that if you don’t want London.

Bristol?

Hoping your DS is okay @Decorhate.

It seems as if we're almost hitting the tipping point where more DC have had it/been closely exposed to it than not.

DS chose Newcastle because he loved the city and university but also because he thought of himself as a southern country boy who wanted to expand his experiences by going somewhere completely different from the places he’d lived so far.

On a completely different note, it seems from the data that many large cities are now seeing their Covid rates falling. Newcastle’s has fallen steadily in the last few days, and I read it’s regarded as a real decline, not just a blip. I don’t understand why these places are still under threat of Tier 3, if this is the case?

It's interesting why some people love some places/unis and others don't. DS didn't like the vibe of Newcastle at all despite it being home to his football team!

@LaBelleSauvage123 isn't this what Andy Burnham is arguing too?

DD loved Newcastle from the moment she stepped out of the car. DH is from the north east anyway so she had been into Newcastle several times with me and MIL.

She hated Warwick and York because they felt isolated, didn't like Manchester or Bristol, quite liked Nottingham and Leicester, wouldn't even consider anywhere in London and was meh about Lancaster. Coming from a rural area she wanted city life, but somewhere that wasn't so big that public transport was required.

Leeds and Sheffield are too close and too familiar and she wanted somewhere new to explore.

@ginfordinner I could have written the very same post! DD loves Newcastle and feels that it is a safe city. As such a lot of students have had the virus now it is good to know that it is in retreat there.

Once DC have had the virus they must want to be able to behave a lot more normally, but this is not allowed by the university. I mean seeing other people from outside their flat. The same will be true when they come back for Christmas. Would you be OK with DC social mixing with other post covid friends?

@Ginfordinner well it's good that not everyone is the same. DS similarly didn't like the vibe of Bristol!

I'm with your DD on Warwick though. I visited friends there back in the day when I was a student and really wasn't keen on its Brutalist architecture and it's seemingly quite isolated position (and that it seemed as if you had to walk through a wood by a lake to get to the campus from public transport? Struck me as being unsafe).

Sorry typo with the mistakenly placed apostrophe in 'its' .

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 it’s hard to know the truth. Data says numbers are falling but another report states that Greater Manchester’s hospital beds are filling up - it’s so hard to know what’s true.

Hmm - I’ve been pondering the post Covid mixing question too. DS and his flatmates are definitely mixing with those who have also had the virus, while being very cautious with those who haven’t. It all comes down to the reinfection question doesn’t it? And of course DS is only assuming he’s had it - he didn’t get tested. I’m hoping that a more reliable antibody test will be available soon!

It's interesting that others go to look at cities etc. before choosing a university. Ds1 just looked at the nearest two. My friends son didn't view any he knew where he wanted to go. Perhaps ds2 will want to view other universities and cities, he currently year 12. Though he seems to think he wants to go to Sussex.

I live in Suffolk, I haven't travelled far north. I've been to Carlisle once and Scotland as a toddler, but can't remember it. So really Norfolk coast is as far as I've been regularly. We holiday down south. So it would be great if ds2 chose a university up north.

We didn't look round any of the cities. Living in Yorkshire we are already familiar with Leeds, Sheffield and York, and as we have family in the North East had already been into Newcastle several times.

We took the train to Bristol and to Manchester so saw some of each city between the station and the university. DD has CFS and joint problems so the hills in Bristol made it a no, and Manchester was just too big. DD loves visiting London, but wouldn't want to live there.

She loves Newcastle, and especially the area she is in now as it just has a lovely vibe. She loves being able to walk out of the door and not have to get a train to get to a shop. She loved that her halls were 5 minutes from the where her lectures were and an easy walk into town.

She loves the architecture of the old buildings and the streets of Victorian terraces where she is now. @NewModelArmyMayhem18 if you thought Warwick's architecture was brutalist you would hate York which has really hideous shabby 1960s buildings. I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but both DD and I though the campus at York was just awful in spite of the green spaces.

@LaBelleSauvage123, my DS is exactly the same, which is why I am glad that he has had an invitation to do an antibody test. Now he just needs to get on and register for it. I do have a real concern about reinfection as a family member has already had it twice (key worker so confirmed both times), and DH and his brother have had another one-time-only virus twice each. Maybe a genetic resistance to immunity?

@simbobs I’d be really interested to hear how your DS gets on with the antibody test. DS has a disabled brother who needs 24 hr care, as well as various very vulnerable family members, so we are avoiding contact with the virus as much as we possibly can.

Both mine chose their unis because they were v familiar with them and liked them/the city - both had bf/gf at the uni while they were still in 6thform. And infact, I was the same

Both v v happy with their choices, as I was!

My DD has had it . It was mild and she's now completely better - so almost certainly no long covid .
I would advise her to follow the same precautions re social distancing , mask wearing etc as it obviously is possible to catch it again or be an asymptomatic carrier . A positive antibody test confirms you have had covid but it doesn't of course give any information on how long you might have immunity for . The antibody test doesn't look at T cell immunity so you can have a negative antibody test but may still have a primed immune system . At the end of the day washing your hands , wearing a mask and staying away from humans insofar as its practical and following advice / law is all you can do .

@Labellesauvage I will report back when he gets the test, though that does mean completing the registration, as I mentioned. It is possible to pay for an antibody test. One local pharmacy is advertising them for £49. I realise that he may have immunity even if he gets a negative result but I wanted it confirmed that he had actually had it as he was unable to get a test at the time.

Thanks Simbobs

Ds now had symptoms too so is going for a test.

He’s managed to get a grocery delivery booked for today but forgot to include paracetamol so I’ve just posted some to him to hopefully arrive tomorrow. I’d advise anyone with dc away from home to nag them to ensure they have a good supply of food & medicine in. I don’t mean stockpiling, just replenish as they use stuff do they are not caught out when self isolating.

I know a lot of students in halls have not had proper support but there is none at all for the older years living in private rentals so they need to be prepared.

The rules around buying paracetamol are a pain at times like these - they have asked a friend to get them some but it’s not really enough for a household for more than a day

@Decorhate I hope your DS and his household gets better soon. Good advice about getting stocked on paracetamol. I sent my DD some a few weeks ago just in case. I also got an on the day amazon delivery of chocolate for her yesterday She was a bit stressed about workload and was upset so I went onto amazon at midnight and the chocolate supplies arrived at lunchtime. (Not suggesting that chocolate is a treatment for covid though )