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Coronavirus - how is it/has it affected you?

ColchesterFC said:
Whilst that is true, look at the praise that the New Zealand PM is getting for how she's handled it. They've been massively successful in supressing the virus but as soon as they open up their borders again it will return. Yes, we could have locked down hard for 4 weeks in March/April and pretty much eradicated it in the UK, but we would still need to have the borders closed now (no flights, boats or trains in or out of the country) to keep it out. I'm not sure we could have survived if we were still in that sort of total lockdown.
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But hasn't NZ got strict isolation protocols for those arriving in their country? We on the other hand let every Tom, Dick and Harry swan off doing as they please
 
Interesting that according to sky news this morning the vaccine companies arw saying there is no problem with supply and should be sending out 2 million doses a week buy the middle of january, despite what the CMO said yesterday. A case of the government trying to not raise peoples hopes too much?
 
Tashyboy said:
Do we have to wait til the whole country is struggling, and then close schools.
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No, primary schools should be closed for the first two weeks of term, now isn’t a time to bring back mixing.

I think we should leave terms like “U-Turns” out of this discussion as they are subjective and too political. It’s not a bad thing to be changing the rules as the situation changes in my opinion, I will leave it at that for this forum.
 
ScienceBoy said:
No, primary schools should be closed for the first two weeks of term, now isn’t a time to bring back mixing.
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My issue with this is that I honestly can’t see anything changing in two weeks so if the decision is made to close primary schools for that period then that might well be it for more like two months. This would be a disaster for those missing such a long period off coupled with the 3 months that they missed last year.
 
IainP said:
Did anyone really say the bit in bold? I don't recall it, and if they did I would have disregarded it as nonsense.
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The point of salvation started as Esater, then early summer, then late su
SaintHacker said:
Interesting that according to sky news this morning the vaccine companies arw saying there is no problem with supply and should be sending out 2 million doses a week buy the middle of january, despite what the CMO said yesterday. A case of the government trying to not raise peoples hopes too much?
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Assuming all goes well, they can make the stuff, but getting it to the right places and having adequate numbers of staff to call patients at the right rate and administer it adds further risk. It would be a miracle if eligible people on the current guidelines got done by Easter. With the numbers of cases of this new strain, that is going to feel like a long time.
 
Me and Mrs SILH went to a local spot we often go for walks...it was rammed, cars jammed together and groups and individuals doing there best to keep separate...but just insanely busy - we didn’t stop and headed back home - and on the way every car park used by walkers was jammed. I’ve no idea how well those out walking fared keeping their distance from each other - but we couldn’t imagine any walk being a lot of fun. On the contrary - it would appear to be very stressful...

We ended up having a walk in and around our little town. It was almost deserted and we had a lovely walk - with the few folks we encountered quite easily making way and waiting to pass. What an irony.
 
road2ruin said:
My issue with this is that I honestly can’t see anything changing in two weeks
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Then at least close them for two weeks in the south east areas, I think this should include where I live.

Two weeks of closed schools isn’t great, every day missed has an impact. With some home learning the gap can be partial bridged but nothing beats going to actual school:

I do agree 2 weeks won’t change much but it will certainly help if all guidance is followed to reduce mixing. These things never work in isolation, they need to be part of wider measures to prevent spread.
 
Funny how life puts things into to perspective sometimes. Ive had a pretty low few weeks, couldn't be bothered with xmas at all, just want to pull the covers over my head and not wake up until april really. However watched a NHS emergency service documentary last night. A woman on it had 3 teenage children, all had been diagnosed with an ultra rare genetic condition, so rare that only 6 people in the country had it. The oldest had already passed, the middle one didnt have long left,and the youngest was beginning to show symptoms but was still quite well enough to watch her older brother slowly die knowing she was next. All the mother could do was care for her children as best she could as they faded and died. Wife and i were both sat there with tears running down out cheeks thinking how lucky we actually are. What the hell right do i have to feel sorry for myself?
 
road2ruin said:
My issue with this is that I honestly can’t see anything changing in two weeks so if the decision is made to close primary schools for that period then that might well be it for more like two months. This would be a disaster for those missing such a long period off coupled with the 3 months that they missed last year.
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At this stage, lockdowns are to buy time. The chance to end this through a NZ style lockdown is long passed. We heard recently that if the advice offered by SAGE in September, to lockdown a week earlier, had been followed, it would have saved 20k lives. With the rates around at the moment, a week is still probably worth at least that. It is basically a race between vaccination arrangements and cases. Holding back the cases for a week or two could make a big difference IF we use it well to move vaccination forward. It won't stop the pandemic, but it might give us a leg up.
 
Been off work since 23rd Dec. Haven't left the village at all except for 2 visits to Tecso for a "click & collect!" Only left house for walking the dogs. No visitors to our house, no golf due to Welsh Lockdown.

The Press Coverage is really annoying me as I've said before. Everything reported as wrong or negative, even news of vaccine focuses mainly on logistical challenges.

Much of the reportage provides folk with an excuse to ignore controls.
 
Ethan said:
At this stage, lockdowns are to buy time. The chance to end this through a NZ style lockdown is long passed. We heard recently that if the advice offered by SAGE in September, to lockdown a week earlier, had been followed, it would have saved 20k lives. With the rates around at the moment, a week is still probably worth at least that. It is basically a race between vaccination arrangements and cases. Holding back the cases for a week or two could make a big difference IF we use it well to move vaccination forward. It won't stop the pandemic, but it might give us a leg up.
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If they said “We’re going to close schools for 1/2 weeks but at the end of that period we guarantee that they will open again” then I would be supportive if they think it’d help. However, based on previous experience, once closed there will always be reasons why they shouldn’t open again and so 1/2 weeks becomes a month which in turn becomes 6/8 weeks.

Despite the cheeriness of the vaccine we know that it’s likely to take longer to roll out than has been suggested and closing schools (especially primary) for a longer period will have life long implications for children.
 
IanM said:
Been off work since 23rd Dec. Haven't left the village at all except for 2 visits to Tecso for a "click & collect!" Only left house for walking the dogs. No visitors to our house, no golf due to Welsh Lockdown.

The Press Coverage is really annoying me as I've said before. Everything reported as wrong or negative, even news of vaccine focuses mainly on logistical challenges.

Much of the reportage provides folk with an excuse to ignore controls.
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Totally agree, very annoying, frustrating that thousands ignored the rules to party/gather on New Years Eve for example. But miliions more obeyed the rules.

Focus on the positives to keep people engaged and upbeat.
 
road2ruin said:
If they said “We’re going to close schools for 1/2 weeks but at the end of that period we guarantee that they will open again” then I would be supportive if they think it’d help. However, based on previous experience, once closed there will always be reasons why they shouldn’t open again and so 1/2 weeks becomes a month which in turn becomes 6/8 weeks.

Despite the cheeriness of the vaccine we know that it’s likely to take longer to roll out than has been suggested and closing schools (especially primary) for a longer period will have life long implications for children.
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How can anyone guarantee anything at the moment?
If they said " we guarantee schools will be open in 2 weeks" and things keep getting worse...what do they do?
Open them because they said they would?
 
road2ruin said:
If they said “We’re going to close schools for 1/2 weeks but at the end of that period we guarantee that they will open again” then I would be supportive if they think it’d help. However, based on previous experience, once closed there will always be reasons why they shouldn’t open again and so 1/2 weeks becomes a month which in turn becomes 6/8 weeks.

Despite the cheeriness of the vaccine we know that it’s likely to take longer to roll out than has been suggested and closing schools (especially primary) for a longer period will have life long implications for children.
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How can they possibly guarantee reopening schools when that depends on the rate of virus spread, which in turn depends on the behaviour of our 60+ million population, no small number of which seem to think that none of this applies to them?

When the public guarantee that they will all play by the rules, those who are in charge might be able to guarantee when schools can reopen.
 
I’m fully aware that they cannot (and won’t) guarantee anything however those calling for a two week break and have the schools reopen after that are living in cloud cuckoo land if they think that’ll actually happen. Once schools close for remote learning that’ll be it until the Spring imo which would have a devastating impact on most primary school children, especially those in the younger years.
 
SaintHacker said:
Funny how life puts things into to perspective sometimes. Ive had a pretty low few weeks, couldn't be bothered with xmas at all, just want to pull the covers over my head and not wake up until april really. However watched a NHS emergency service documentary last night. A woman on it had 3 teenage children, all had been diagnosed with an ultra rare genetic condition, so rare that only 6 people in the country had it. The oldest had already passed, the middle one didnt have long left,and the youngest was beginning to show symptoms but was still quite well enough to watch her older brother slowly die knowing she was next. All the mother could do was care for her children as best she could as they faded and died. Wife and i were both sat there with tears running down out cheeks thinking how lucky we actually are. What the hell right do i have to feel sorry for myself?
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I really hope that everyone in this forum reads this , and takes time to absorb what is really being portrayed here. Then, think of this poor family, when we start to moan about how our golf, pubbing with mates, shopping trips, only speaking to relatives without touching them, is affecting our "mental health", even though we know that these impositions are to save lives.

This story is one of the most horrendous accounts I've read.
 
road2ruin said:
I’m fully aware that they cannot (and won’t) guarantee anything however those calling for a two week break and have the schools reopen after that are living in cloud cuckoo land if they think that’ll actually happen. Once schools close for remote learning that’ll be it until the Spring imo which would have a devastating impact on most primary school children, especially those in the younger years.
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It’s more guesswork though! What would be the better option?

Schools closed until Spring and they return to a safer World and a Country in recovery.

or

Keep them in school, more risk of or illness, World, Country staying in turmoil for longer, maybe Summer/Winter.

The younger kids can recover best of all if the process’s are put in place and resourced, ie, increase the school day by 1hr, reduce School Holidays by half etc, these measures could be put in place for 3-5 years. Older kids given guarantees of retakes or repeating school years if requested.

I fully get we worry about our Children and it doesn’t stop when they leave school, but neither does education.

I firmly believe it’s more important to save lives at the moment than worrying about how a child will turn out as an adult in 10-15 years because they missed 3 or 6 months of school work.
 
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