Study in the time of COVID-19 (2019/20 intake): lockdown restrictions, relaxation of rules and repeat... And will the Grinch government cancel Christmas?

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Carrying on from our previous thread.

I believe these threads have probably been running since the summer/autumn of when our DC were about to start/in Year 13 (so 2018)?

Isn’t it Leeds where the council allow a ‘legal’ prostitute zone and the area has got rougher?

Yes I think so.

That's horrific @Decorhate.

I have just looked it up @Zandathepanda. TBH I'm surprised it is in Holbeck because traditionally the red light area was in Chapeltown. I used to live in Leeds, and Chapeltown was a bit of a no-go area. Mind you Holbeck isn't that nice either, but it is nowhere near Headingley where most second year students live.

I remember being given a rape alarm when I started at uni, and being really perplexed as to why I should need such a thing. Coming from a small town it wasn't something I had ever thought about. Seems so naive now.

Gosh @Decorhate, that’s scary

@Ginfordinner chilling. Finishing off Peter Sutcliffe is one good bit of Covid news.

Does anyone know how the testing will work so students can come home for xmas. My DS at NTU says he hasn't heard what the plan is. Thanks

@minesawine I think all universities are contacting their own students to inform them. Priority is being given to areas and unis with high infection rates, but participation is not mandatory, nor will every student get a test. I am just going to wait until my DC tell me when they intend to come and act accordingly.

@minesawine it won't necessarily have been finalised yet by individual universities, if they don't know whether mass testing will be available for their students, but the gov.uk guidance is here:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reopening-buildings-and-campuses/student-movement-and-plans-for-the-end-of-autumn-2020-term#testing-availability-and-end-of-term-movement

As a member of the public, I would be most concerned by the option to complete self isolation back home with mum and dad if you are a (on that day) negative testing close contact of a case, even of your only option of getting there is public transport. Because the rules for the rest of us are that you don't go anywhere for 14 days, if a contact, and getting yourself a test which is negative in the meantime is lovely, but doesn't let you out...

Either you are a potential danger to others, or you're not, surely? And if you're not, why make students a special case? Up to now they've been that particularly evil breed, in the age group unlikely to be ill, or even suffer symptoms, though out there and killing everyone's granny the while. Not every person in the 18 - 25 age bracket is a student and not everyone needing to live away from home for prolonged periods is, either, but there don't seem to be any plans to exempt anyone else.

If a student has already had covid, they could still be identified as a close contact of a new infectious case, so do they still need to self isolate for 14 days?

Oh dear .. DS messaged me .. in bed for 2 days with a headache, sore throat and cough . He got tested this morning and 2 of the girls in his house feeling the same so they were tested too ...

Hope they feel better soon @Alicatz66

Thank you @Benjispruce2 ... don't like it when they are ill and not at home ..

Oh dear alicatz : those do sound like the lesser publicised symptoms. Fingers crossed all OK.

We are picking up DS tomorrow after his SI bout to avoid him catching it!

DH fretting about police pulling us over .

I just told him not to speed!

I agree marching. It is also like suddenly mum and dad (who will mostly be in their late 40s upwards) aren't at any sort of risk themselves??

Mine had headache and a cough - in the light of the cough I told her to get tested which she did - positive but recovered quickly - she said it was not as bad as last years ‘ freshers flu ‘

@simbobs yes...

Will I need to self-isolate if I previously tested positive forCOVID-19but have now been notified that I am a contact of a person who has had a positive test result forCOVID-19?

If you have previously tested positive forCOVID-19, you will probably have developed some short-term immunity to the disease. However, it is not certain that will happen for everyone who has hadCOVID-19, nor do we know how long any immunity to the disease might last.

If you are notified that you are a contact of someone who has had a positive test result forCOVID-19, you must immediately self-isolate and follow this guidance.

• or, of course, if you can wear a badge which says 'Student', you can get a bus to the station, hang around the concourse while your train is delayed, sit on said train, once it arrives, for a few hours, get another bus / tube / taxi, or instead of this, spend a few hours sitting in a small metal box on wheels with a friend or relative. If you have been infected by your close contact, then any of the people you will come into contact with on your journey can be assured that the virus knows that you are a student and will, accordingly, hang fire from replicating itself within you whilst you are in transit.

Self-isolating at home for 14 days is very important even if you have already hadCOVID-19. This will help protect your family, friends and the NHS. You will be helping to protect the most vulnerable in society, by limiting the spread of infection in the wider community and reducing the chance of a second wave ofCOVID-19.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-contacts-of-people-with-possible-or-confirmed-coronavirus-covid-19-infection-who-do-not-live-with-the-person/guidance-for-contacts-of-people-with-possible-or-confirmed-coronavirus-covid-19-infection-who-do-not-live-with-the-person#will-i-need-to-self-isolate-if-i-previously-tested-positive-for-covid-19-but-have-now-been-notified-that-i-am-a-contact-of-a-person-who-has-had-a-positive-test-result-for-covid-19

Yes. It is getting very difficult to distinguish law and regulation. If the state tells you to isolate (even if you are immune, had a vaccination or anything) they can order you to stay in. However if they cocked it up and thought someone you had been in touch with had had CV19 but it was mistaken identity I would image you could get that overturned by a court ( not that people will be going to court over this).

Currently the English legislation once Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No. 4) Regulations 2020 expire in early December does not stop people going out although we will probably be back into perhaps even four tiers in December so will have to look at the law as it comes out. The right to move house provision in those regulations does not apply to students moving back to the home of a parent as it only applies to moves relating to the "purchase, sale, letting or rental of a residential property".

We will need to look at whatever laws are in place in December for students planning to come back home then.

There is the mental health clause , though xenia otherwise known as the Cummings defence

@Xenia any thoughts on the university which apparently (according to a poster on TSR attending said university), has told students that if they don't leave during the 'window', they will be deemed to be 'staying for the whole holiday period' and won't be allowed to.leave at all?

Does the university travel window thing actually allow this? Surely, students are subject to the restrictions (apart from being able to travel to somewhere else when notified as a contact...) and freedoms as the rest of the population?

Or do you think this university knows something the rest of us don't, as to what restrictions (on movement, particularly) Lockdown 2 will morph into...?

Actually, re above... if we are going back to tiers as before, sharing overnight accommodation other than with one's household probably won't be permitted. But equally, hotels were allowed to accept 'leisure bookings, so just not being allowed to go to share with another household shouldn't preclude travelling away from university per se?

@MarchingFrogs no university can lock the doors on their own accommodation. And have no “power” over non university owned halls or private rented accommodation (which covers the vast majority of students). All this is guidance only, we and they will make our own decisions based on our own situations cognisant of any penalties that may arise as a result. I think everyone’s gone a bit bonkers over students and Christmas!

I hate how 'students' seem to have become some kind of legal entity. They are adults and subject to the same laws as everyone else. I find it farcical that my 21 year old, who spent the summer working on a COVID ward, lives in a house and has a car can be told she can't do the same as every other 21 year old. My 18 year old will do as Uni ask and leave when told to, but if anyone tried to lock her in I'd break the door down ! Have to say Bristol have looked after her well so far.
They are adults. Their occupation is student. We do not have occupational laws in the UK as far as I know ?

Quite right mumsneedwine