Coronavirus (OLD)

I think we'll be compared to France, Italy, Spain and Germany.

We're not Asia so I think it's to be expected that we'll do worse than them given their previous experience with it. I don't see any reason why we should be amongst the worst, if not the worst, though. We actually had a head-start on Italy and France in preparing for it as well.

We'll see what the inquiry says in time. I suspect it will focus on the preparation before the virus arrived and the timing of the lockdown.

[tweetiepooh]

It's not just government but population too.

If you have a population that will obey the rules completely regardless the government may have an easier job that a population who obey when it's novel but get bored quickly then start "rebelling".

[Taf]

Originally Posted by Mr K

Or a Sunday?

They have always been updated every day. Also, the figures shown yesterday were LOWER than the previous day.

[jfman]

Excellent news that the schools aren't going back fully before September and the recognition by the Government that it's fundamentally too dangerous at a precarious point in easing lockdown restrictions.

Again I'm being consistent with my view on it - credit where credit is due.

[RichardCoulter]

Apparently, Pip was wrong and we can claim from the EU to help pay for the coronavirus (but we are being asked to pay into the fund too, so it may not be worth participating).

Johnson appears to think this way and it's further complicating the withdrawal negotiations regarding trade talks:

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/12...aYZESF695Fqo1M

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Damien

I think we'll be compared to France, Italy, Spain and Germany.

We're not Asia so I think it's to be expected that we'll do worse than them given their previous experience with it. I don't see any reason why we should be amongst the worst, if not the worst, though. We actually had a head-start on Italy and France in preparing for it as well.

We'll see what the inquiry says in time. I suspect it will focus on the preparation before the virus arrived and the timing of the lockdown.

Not sure if there's a link between how countries have managed the crisis and how their residents think they have. But from the countries you mentioned:
Germany 46
Italy 36
Spain -4
France -12
UK -15
I'm surprised by the strong rating Italy got and by the low rating France got. I wouldn't have placed the UK last in the surveyed world though.
https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1269931042728796161

[Pierre]

Infuriating news that schools aren't going back. Bad for the parents, bad for the kids. Really bad for kids that live in violent and abusive homes.

My youngest is in FR so I'm not concerned about him, my eldest is in Y4, as soon as he can he'll go back to his tutor over summer, so will hopefully catch - but not everyone can afford a tutor and they will have missed over half the school year and will now needlessly miss a at least a months schooling.

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by Pierre

Infuriating news that schools aren't going back. Bad for the parents, bad for the kids. Really bad for kids that live in violent and abusive homes.

My youngest is in FR so I'm not concerned about him, my eldest is in Y4, as soon as he can he'll go back to his tutor over summer, so will hopefully catch - but not everyone can afford a tutor and they will have missed over half the school year and will now needlessly miss a at least a months schooling.

It's the unions dictating stupid terms for teachers returning to work.

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by Pierre

Infuriating news that schools aren't going back. Bad for the parents, bad for the kids. Really bad for kids that live in violent and abusive homes.

My youngest is in FR so I'm not concerned about him, my eldest is in Y4, as soon as he can he'll go back to his tutor over summer, so will hopefully catch - but not everyone can afford a tutor and they will have missed over half the school year and will now needlessly miss a at least a months schooling.

I think you just want the kids out of your hair ! Maybe its good news for any grandparents asymptomatic kids might pass the virus on to...

It would make more sense to start the summer holidays now and restart schools in August. But that requires a little imagination from all concerned.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by Pierre

Infuriating news that schools aren't going back. Bad for the parents, bad for the kids. Really bad for kids that live in violent and abusive homes.

My youngest is in FR so I'm not concerned about him, my eldest is in Y4, as soon as he can he'll go back to his tutor over summer, so will hopefully catch - but not everyone can afford a tutor and they will have missed over half the school year and will now needlessly miss a at least a months schooling.

I understand it'll be personally frustrating, but the Government correctly can't be seen to take unnecessary risks with the R number close to 1 in so many regions and many schools unable to fully implement physical distancing.

Those in abusive and violent homes have been in them since March, and remain in them over the relatively imminent summer holidays. I'd be first in the queue to suggest we more adequately fund social services and deal with these families with the full force of the law. However an additional eight hours a day, for four weeks Monday to Friday, is a negligible risk and one that it's unfortunately necessary to take against the backdrop of an uncontrolled pandemic.

Now if we had a fully operational and reliable test, trace and isolate system we could mitigate the risk of the pandemic. It's vital that this is in place for September.

---------- Post added at 14:21 ---------- Previous post was at 14:03 ----------

Originally Posted by Mr K

I think you just want the kids out of your hair ! Maybe its good news for any grandparents asymptomatic kids might pass the virus on to...

It would make more sense to start the summer holidays now and restart schools in August. But that requires a little imagination from all concerned.

It doesn't make sense if you want to use the time in August to try out easing other lockdown restrictions or evaluate existing ones.

The country are, falsely, are under the illusion that the indicative dates are fixed or that this is a one way street. This isn't helped by the barrage of idiot questions from the media who ask the most irrelevant questions on timing - pubs opening, holidays abroad, etc. and set additional arbitrary and unnecessary "targets" in an increasingly fluid situation.

It's not failure for the Government to push something back a few weeks, or reverse a change, if the data suggests we need more time to evaluate what is happening on the ground. Given the time someone can experience onset of symptoms from infection can be around two weeks it can take 3-4 weeks to fully evaluate changes. Which makes changes in that period inherently riskier than waiting.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Pierre

Infuriating news that schools aren't going back. Bad for the parents, bad for the kids. Really bad for kids that live in violent and abusive homes.

My youngest is in FR so I'm not concerned about him, my eldest is in Y4, as soon as he can he'll go back to his tutor over summer, so will hopefully catch - but not everyone can afford a tutor and they will have missed over half the school year and will now needlessly miss a at least a months schooling.

Maybe the schools will run some Summer classes in August? I suspect most families won't be going very far this Summer!
According to the Government today, having all primary schools was an aspiration, not a firm target.
I think the problem here was that the Government went in all guns blazing to the schools saying just do it. They pushed back citing capacity issues if safe-distancing. The Government did not believe them at first but has now come round.

The issue was parents, and media induced paranoia.
Most just didnt send them, so its pointless many being open.
My wife works at one, and barely 15 out over over 100 are in atm.
I'm sure half of them think their kid will die if they go back to school.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by Paul

The issue was parents, and media induced paranoia.
Most just didnt send them, so its pointless many being open.
My wife works at one, and barely 15 out over over 100 are in atm.
I'm sure half of them think their kid will die if they go back to school.

This will be a challenge for non-essential retail, hospitality and other small businesses going forward. Even if a small minority of customers - 5 or 10% - aren't confident enough to go out and purchase then that's profit margins significantly reduced.

People need to be confident they can go about their day to day lives and have a low risk from the virus.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Maybe the schools will run some Summer classes in August? I suspect most families won't be going very far this Summer!
According to the Government today, having all primary schools was an aspiration, not a firm target.
I think the problem here was that the Government went in all guns blazing to the schools saying just do it. They pushed back citing capacity issues if safe-distancing. The Government did not believe them at first but has now come round.

Ha, well all I can say is Labour run Calderdale Council are a joke.

Two weeks ago when the Govt said to open schools - the LA told schools not to open.

Now when the Govt have said don't open schools (or don't if you don't want to) they are now saying open the schools.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy about it, and at least one of kids will be going to school Monday.

But it shows that the councils decision not to allow schools to open on the 1st was pure politics at play.

They said then that only 2 of of the 5 tests had been met, now they're saying ALL five have been met. When nothing has changed since the end of May, in fact in some places R has gone up.

Anyway time to get the school uniform out the box.

[1andrew1]

With an independent group of scientists today stating that the UK government’s test and trace strategy is “not fit for purpose” the travails of the UK's app solution continue.

Boris Johnson and his senior Downing Street advisers are growing increasingly impatient at delays to the launch of the NHS’s coronavirus tracing app, pressing health officials for a rethink even as a new trial is set for next week.
According to two people with knowledge of the situation, pressure from Number 10 has been stepped up in the past few days with one telling the Financial Times that the prime minister wants serious consideration to be given to a different version of the app developed by Google and Apple.
...However, the main stumbling block for the UK app team is that Google and Apple will not allow their technology to be used in any app that attempts wholesale collection of data — which NHSX regards as essential in tracking the spread of the virus.
...But just switching to the US technology companies’ version may not be straightforward. "[It] isn’t just this existing technology that we can copy and paste for an app to be ready tomorrow. It’s just as complicated,” said the government official.

https://www.ft.com/content/5ba7dc0a-...4-e12dcf9ed286