Here come those tiers again.

[Cismyfatarse]

New Fred.

@jabbathebutt

BBC reporting kids going back in Scotland this month may have to do 2m distancing. Its p1-3 going back isn't it, this month, so how the fuck is that going to work?

The letter from our council said distancing for secondary pupils who go back.

New Fred already.

Nursery and P1 cannot social distance, they think nothing of plonking themselves on your knee.

SD just for the senior school kids that will be back in

@fluffyugg

SD just for the senior school kids that will be back in

That makes sense. Toddlers and early years can’t SD.

As if the teachers haven't got enough to cope with without trying to get a bunch of teenagers who haven't seen their pals for ages to social distance

ah okay, senior pupils might manage better then.

some newspapers reporting schools start of march, shops end of March, hospitality by easter weekend.

Does that sound too soon, I wonder?

It sounds too soon with these new mutations and the fact our vaccine program is expected to slow down in the coming weeks

They certainly didn't social distance before Christmas. I completely lost track of the number of times I said to my S5 'will you please stop touching each other?!'

"have never noticed people popping in and out of my neighbours' day or night."

Seen at least two neighbours having folk go in and out. At least. It is rife.

@ssd

It sounds too soon with these new mutations and the fact our vaccine program is expected to slow down in the coming weeks

Agree with you, I think Easter more likely for schools

@jabbathebutt

ah okay, senior pupils might manage better then.

some newspapers reporting schools start of march, shops end of March, hospitality by easter weekend.

Does that sound too soon, I wonder?

Definitely too soon and a recipe for complete disaster...

I can't get my neighbour to stay the fuck away from me every time I'm in my garden. Tell him constantly to stay back and he just ignores me. See other neighbours chatting and going into each others houses too. I agree ignorance is rife.

I haven't seen any of this. It was lovely to have a chat with neighbours outdoors when shovelling snow, but that's the closest we've been for months and no signs of anyone having extra visitors indoors apart from the ones who are perennially getting their house done and still have a constant flow of work vans outside.
It's a bit of a mystery what's going on and if their house will ever be "finished "

JL on the radio earlier talking about the cases not coming down fast enough to consider easing restrictions...he said we 'might' be in a position to have staycations in Scotland by summer though...

I don't believe that most folk in west coast/glasgow aren't doing the rules but, police figures for fines/party breakups were higher so maybe there is more going on or the police are more zealous?

Certainly on first lock down, it wasn't always the most deprived areas that were highest in Edinburgh and Stirlingshire, I looked at Glasgow but it was basically all in the red at the time, plus I don't know it well enough to tell. Because of it's small population, your local area can immediately be up high just because a family of 4 test positive.

We really need to stop measuring by positive PCR test in the community and concentrate on how many folk are needing treatment in hospital or dying because they have covid.

genuine question for those of you who think its too early for schools to go back ..

How are the s4-s6 going to get their grades for whatever they want to do next ?? We are already seriously running out of time

call me selfish but I worry about my ds's future in a way that the govt doesnt seem to be

Especially as the SG regime for counting tests is not the same as the WHO, so we run the risk of overcounting by WHO standards and thus keeping lockdown going longer.

@fluffyugg

SD just for the senior school kids that will be back in

Yes, this is the impression I got. But surely that can't be a long term thing? There's no way full classes can be back with 2m distancing, primary or secondary. So we'd be back to blended learning, with Edinburgh children getting one day a week in school, with a bonus day every 3 weeks. I really, really hope the 2m thing is just while 5% of the students are in, and is abandoned when the rest of the school goes back.

senior kids will be awarded grades based on their coursework I think.

BJ on the news pretty much confirming schools, then shops, then hospitality by April

@fluffyugg

JL on the radio earlier talking about the cases not coming down fast enough to consider easing restrictions...he said we 'might' be in a position to have staycations in Scotland by summer though...

He needs to tell us why cases not coming down fast enough in certain areas. SG analyse all the stats every day. They have the answers but they're not telling us😬

Yes I think the SD is just for the small numbers going back soon, blended learning as was planned for last year has all but been abandoned as far as I can tell. @frasersmummy I agree and I don't even have children that are at qualification age, this is the first time I've been quite concerned about the amount of face to face teaching my kids are missing.

I thought the SD was only for the handful of secondary kids who were going back ie those doing exams in practical subjects.

Re stories of lots of people mixing households, or not. My experience (in a fairly well off part of East Dunbartonshire) is that hardly anyone seems to be breaking the rules.However, one couple in my street have a parent regularly visiting (support bubble?)and a young couple I know in Glasgow have siblings round for dinner once a week. All of them are working from home and not going anywhere else.

We're having someone in to fit a Virgin line next week, which is is hardly essential, but it's that or have a less competitive package from another provider so not allowing it would cause all sorts of problems I would think.
I feel the problem is lack of testing. As pps have said, only about half the Scottish testing capacity is used. And given that the dominant strain of covid is more transmissible than previous ones, it would make sense to remove people who have tested positive to quarantine on their own in a hotel. Wouldn't that reduce the R?

In other news, a band DS plays in has been offered a gig in Newcastle in April!! I can't see ot going ahead.

Phew! I had hoped blended learning had been filed in the skip where it belongs, but I was a bit nervous reading about the 2m thing that it could be brought back out again and wiped down.

And I totally agree frasersmummy. There doesn't seem to be much urgency at all, which is so worrying. I appreciate things need to be done safely, but this whole "mid February" thing apparently meaning "maybe some at the end of February, and the rest at some point after then, but definitely not less than 3 weeks after, and even then, probably not all at once..." doesn't suggest they are pulling out all the stops at all. How is it magically going to be "safer" in mid March?! I have a P5, and in many ways I'm glad as he's at the sweet spot of not" needing" to be in school for any particular building block learning like the infants, or to prepare for transition to high school, or exams. But to have missed all but a term in the past year is really really bad, and as others have said, his socialisation seems to be going down the toilet (and he was already a bit reticent/ shy so really needs that interaction). He needs to be back with his friends, but I'm not confident he will be until August frankly, despite what the SG are trying to get us to think . I think they'll focus on infants/ exam years, then p7 and younger secondary, and then the years in the middle, which is firmly where we are...