Some of our young people are half way through their degrees (2019/20 intake): lockdowns on repeat, light at the end of the tunnel with vaccinations (?) and the legacy of COVID-19

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Previous thread

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose is all I can say!

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Almost up to 1000 posts in six months! New thread.

[Benjispruce3]

Isolators.

[Benjispruce3]

I’m pleased though that uni is going ahead with their socials in a tent area or outside with a test to participate scheme. Only problem is, so many are testing positive! I know that’s the point but obviously could be a damp squib if everybody has to isolate. Hope all the idolaters are ok. I just hope DD can stay negative until her jab next week.She’s not moving until mid July.

[Benjispruce3]

DD has her first jab next week! Still negative despite many around her positive.

[Zandathepanda]

Yours too Rampant
She’s just booked her jabs to make her feel better.

[RampantIvy]

I hope she stays virus free and she gets home safe and well. I managed to get the last room in a hotel we stayed in last week. It was the receptionist who told me about the races. It's going to be a busy weekend in Newcastle next weekend.

[Zandathepanda]

Thanks for the tip about the hotels. Dh will be doing a mercy dash when they are all ‘let out’ so I will tell him it’s a round trip! Poor thing just wants to come home.

[Zandathepanda]

Yep. I expect some students will be serving there or in hotels. It is so contagious this one!

[RampantIvy]

Same with DD and the people she knows. Gosforth races are on next weekend, and all the hotels in Jesmond are fully booked. It sounds like a car crash waiting to happen.

[Zandathepanda]

Dd knows more people with it than without in her area! I think they’ll have to phone the landlord and explain - I expect it’s unlawful to leave.

[RampantIvy]

I think it must be ripping round Jesmond just now @Zandathepanda. It's the same with DD. Some of her housemates are isolating in their rooms, but she has decided to sit downstairs with a couple of the girls in the house.

I wonder what will happen if they have to self isolate for 10 days. Their tenancy ends next weekend.

[Zandathepanda]

Rampant fingers crossed. Dd is still in isolation. She is still negative. Very lonely with every house surrounding her positive too.

[RampantIvy]

It seems like most of DD's friends have now tested positive, so she is off to get tested again. I hope they don't have to spend their last week self isolating in the house. They had plans to go on various day trips.

[Notagardener]

Yeah, another DC here hoping to go for camp America next year instead..

[Ragwort]

That's interesting reading ZZ thanks for sharing, I think my DS will just accept that he can't do Camp America this year and postpone it until next year.

Good news about the vaccine now available for all over 18s.

[Decorhate]

I have very happy memories of my summer on a J1 visa!

Just popping in to say I saw this:

The NHS website will now allow adults aged 18 and over to book their coronavirus vaccinations (both doses) - the first page says aged 21 and over, but when you put in your NHS number and date of birth it will accept the booking.

Ds is still hoping for a placement for next year & has a couple of interviews at last. But he has decided to stay in Bath either way - so will either do one locally or go back into 3rd year.

[ZZTopGuitarSolo]

@Ragwort

My DS still in Nottingham after finishing exams (only one??), having a great time with his mates and picked to play for the First Team (cricket) so was over the moon . Still no news on Camp America, looking less and less likely so probably back home soon and his local pub job ... which is a great holiday job, tourist pub on the river, lots of young people work there and very well run..... and still looking for a placement year job but may end up trying two or three shorter internships if he can find them. Main thing is that he is remaining positive and cheerful which we are very grateful for as we know so many students are struggling.

We've been anxiously watching the situation with J1 visas from the opposite perspective - we desperately need foreign students coming into the US to do the jobs they do every year. We have all sorts of services and entertainment businesses unable to fully reopen because of a lack of staff.

Here's a story in our local paper about it...
www.pressherald.com/2021/06/13/maine-summer-tourism-relies-on-foreign-student-labor-but-not-this-year/

Maine’s summer camps rely heavily on international staff. About one-third of camp workers come on visas, said Ron Hall, executive director of the trade group Maine Summer Camps.

“It is not because Maine camps aren’t looking for Maine workers – there just aren’t enough,” Hall said.

To work around embassy restrictions, some camps have even paid to fly students to Mexico to quarantine for two weeks in a hotel and get a visa at the U.S. consulate in that country before traveling to America, Hall added.

The loss of the program this year is a triple blow – to employers that rely on those students, students missing a valued experience, and to the U.S., by failing connect with up-and-coming citizens across the world, said Phil Simon, vice president of professional exchange programs at CIEE, a nonprofit international education company in Portland that administers J-1 visits.

“No other government in the world does this program at this scale – it has been hugely valuable for the U.S.,” Simon said. “You are reaching a group of university-educated people – they are going to be parents, teachers, architects, lawyers and politicians. You are building this network of friends in other countries at scale.”

It typically takes at least five months to arrange a J-1 visa, he said. The number of students making it to the U.S. this year will be at most 10 percent of those that came in 2019.

“The businesses in the U.S. and Maine that do such a good job at welcoming these visitors also rely on them for staffing,” he said. “This avenue is just not going to be open to them, which is going to create issues.”

[ZZTopGuitarSolo]

Update from here in the US - DD's university has just dropped all mask and distancing requirements for vaccinated students. Unvaccinated students will have to continue to wear masks and test twice a week.

The college Covid rates have been very low, and the town where her college is based has hit 70% fully vaccinated which I think was their threshold for making the decision.

[Parker231]

DS (21) has booked his today. Now hoping DD will get hers soon although Belgium aren’t get down to the 21 year olds yet.

[icanbewhatiwant]

@blametheparents Ds was 20 last month. So hopefully not long until they are all offered one.

[bigTillyMint]

Yes DD (nearly 22!) has booked hers in Bristol, and DS gf (23) has had a text to book here in London, so hoping DS will be able to book soon.

[blametheparents]

I noticed today that the NHS online booking is now open to age 21.
DS didn’t take a year out and is a baby of the year so he’s got a little while to wait yet, but probably only a few days at the rate it’s going right now.

[icanbewhatiwant]

Ds has been invited for his first covid vaccine at the campus university. I'm glad they are getting them done. Good job we don't live that far away as when he gets called for the second one he will be back home for the summer. I'm sure there's a way round it for those who aren't local. He could only book one though.

[Zandathepanda]

At the moment Dd is PCR negative and so are some of her flatmates. They’ve organised the flat into zones. She’d been completely isolating for 4 days (with nips to kitchen and loo) before coming home so she’s glad to come out and see the negative ones. They have a large living room with lots of windows and several sofas which is handy. Hopefully the negative tests continue!

[blametheparents]

DS still in exam mode and not mixing much so hasn’t been pinged by track and trace and doesn’t really know anybody (yet) with a positive test result.
DD, on the other hand, has just been told to self isolate due to being on a coach with classmates that have tested positive. Seven so far from the one coach.
Supposed to be getting my 2nd jab in the next few days. Am testing each day to make sure I am negative before I go and get it.