Coronavirus

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Pierre

If Liverpool council want to lock down Liverpool that’s their prerogative, crack on. But leave the rest of the country to do what’s best for them.

England is highly-centralised and a council can't close down schools at its own will.

If you remember back in mid-December:

The leader of Greenwich Council has said he has "no choice" but to ask schools to remain open after threats of legal action from the government.

The authority wrote to head teachers asking for classes to move online from Tuesday amid rising Covid-19 cases.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson ordered the council to keep all schools open until the end of term.

Council leader Danny Thorpe said he could not justify using public funds to fight the decision in the courts.

In a statement, the Labour councillor said he did not agree that it was right to keep schools open but he had "no choice but to ask our schools to keep their doors open to all students, rather than just continuing with online learning".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...yside-55520939

[jfman]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

England is highly-centralised and a council can't close down schools at its own will.

If you remember back in mid-December:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...yside-55520939

The good news is with schools closures in Tier 4 London but not in the rest of England when the data confirms that school closures have a significant impact on transmission the North can once again ask why they were abandoned by the Government who are managing the pandemic to suit London.

London gets 80% furlough, (often) national restrictions, left in Tier 2 despite having figures above Manchester going into Tier 3 and now school closures.

If London returns to Tier 2/3 while the North are left to Tier 4 I'm sure that'll go down well.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by jfman

The good news is with schools closures in Tier 4 London but not in the rest of England when the data confirms that school closures have a significant impact on transmission the North can once again ask why they were abandoned by the Government who are managing the pandemic to suit London.

London gets 80% furlough, (often) national restrictions, left in Tier 2 despite having figures above Manchester going into Tier 3 and now school closures.

If London returns to Tier 2/3 while the North are left to Tier 4 I'm sure that'll go down well.

BoJo is stuck between trying to please the misnamed Covid Recovery Group in his own party and taking the hard but necessary measures the public is happy for him to take. That's why such measures inevitably happen too late.

It's not playing out well for him with the public though:

Boris Johnson would lose majority and seat in election tomorrow – poll

Results suggest public are deeply unhappy with the government’s handling of Covid and Brexit

The public are deeply unhappy with the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the Brexit negotiations, a damning new poll suggests.

The poll predicts that if a general election were held tomorrow neither the Conservatives nor Labour would win an outright majority. Disturbingly for Boris Johnson, the survey says the Conservatives would lose 81 seats, wiping out the 80-seat majority they won in December 2019.

It gives the first detailed insight into the public’s perception of Johnson’s handling of the Brexit talks and the pandemic, amid fears that Britain is heading into a third national lockdown.

The prime minister is on course to lose his own seat of Uxbridge and Ruislip South, if the insight is accurate....

The survey forecasts that the Conservatives would cling on to just eight of the 43 red wall seats that they won at the last election – Bassetlaw, Bishop Auckland, Colne Valley, Dudley North, Great Grimsby, Penistone and Stocksbridge, Scunthorpe, and Sedgefield...

Tory supporters were quick to point out on social media that the survey period ended before news of the Brexit deal was announced and claim there is evidence of a swingback to the Conservatives in the few days since.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...-tory-majority

[GrimUpNorth]

A friend at work lost one of their neighbours to covid recently. He and his wife were very careful and had been isolating as much as they could since March as they looked after grandchildren before & after school. Anyway a couple of days after the school year group bubble was sent home because of an outbreak at the school he became unwell, followed a few days later by a ride in an ambulance, followed a couple of weeks later by a ride in a hearse. Apparently, one of the grandchildren was very upset just before Christmas - some of the other children in the class were telling him how he'd killed his grandfather.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by GrimUpNorth

A friend at work lost one of their neighbours to covid recently. He and his wife were very careful and had been isolating as much as they could since March as they looked after grandchildren before & after school. Anyway a couple of days after the school year group bubble was sent home because of an outbreak at the school he became unwell, followed a few days later by a ride in an ambulance, followed a couple of weeks later by a ride in a hearse. Apparently, one of the grandchildren was very upset just before Christmas - some of the other children in the class were telling him how he'd killed his grandfather.

Unfortunately statistically a school age child is the most likely person to bring Covid into a household which is why there was significant concern around closing schools early prior to household mixing on Christmas Day.

[Carth]

Andrew, you must have blisters the size of dinner plates, please stop digging* before the UK runs out of shovels.

Can you fly a kite or something?



* not just applicable to this thread

Originally Posted by GrimUpNorth

A friend at work lost one of their neighbours to covid recently. He and his wife were very careful and had been isolating as much as they could since March as they looked after grandchildren before & after school. Anyway a couple of days after the school year group bubble was sent home because of an outbreak at the school he became unwell, followed a few days later by a ride in an ambulance, followed a couple of weeks later by a ride in a hearse. Apparently, one of the grandchildren was very upset just before Christmas - some of the other children in the class were telling him how he'd killed his grandfather.

Which is why BoJo was very careful with his words this morning on the Andrew Marr show.

Mr Johnson told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show the risk to children was "very, very low"

But no mention of the risk to those around the children...

[GrimUpNorth]

Originally Posted by jfman

Unfortunately statistically a school age child is the most likely person to bring Covid into a household which is why there was significant concern around closing schools early prior to household mixing on Christmas Day.

Originally Posted by Hugh

Which is why BoJo was very careful with his words this morning on the Andrew Marr show.


But no mention of the risk to those around the children...

And they don't live in the middle of a town/city, this all happened in one of the small communities in the Pennines between Halifax & Burnley - hardly a covid hotspot.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Which is why BoJo was very careful with his words this morning on the Andrew Marr show.

But no mention of the risk to those around the children...

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...-december-2020

Of course he can't ignore published data on it. Which as you say is why he is selective.

[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Which is why BoJo was very careful with his words this morning on the Andrew Marr show.

But no mention of the risk to those around the children...

Today's story in my redtop is very illustrative:

Quote from The Sunday Sun:

A daughter has revealed her heartbreaking ordeal as she said goodbye to her mum after Covid ripped through her family.

Anabel Sharma, 49, laid in the hospital bed next to her mum Maria Rico, 76, holding her hand before she sadly died from the virus.

The 49-year-old has now given a harrowing warning to people - "Don’t let this be you."

The family, who live in Whitwick, Leicestershire, fell ill after Anabel's 12-year-old son caught coronavirus following his return to school in September.

It wasn't long before Maria, Anabel, her husband Bharat, and their other sons Jacob, 22, and Noah, 10, all became ill.

Maria and Anabel were both taken to Leicester Royal Infirmary and were placed on oxygen in October.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Agreed.

Old Boy this is simply not the case. There is no hospital capacity to handle extra patients as things stand.

That’s why we are inoculating the vulnerable first. Do that, and the hospitals will no longer be creaking at the seams.

[mrmistoffelees]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

That’s why we are inoculating the vulnerable first. Do that, and the hospitals will no longer be creaking at the seams.

That logic holds true so long as you are vaccinating considerably more people than those contracting the disease.

Well, that and the fact that to my knowledge it’s still not known if the vaccines prevent transmission in the first place.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

England is highly-centralised and a council can't close down schools at its own will.

If you remember back in mid-December:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...yside-55520939

I know that, the point I was making is that Liverpool, as much as I love my home town, cannot force their will onto the nation, and shouldn’t try.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by Pierre

I know that, the point I was making is that Liverpool, as much as I love my home town, cannot force their will onto the nation, and shouldn’t try.

At what point does it reach the threshold that it's what the nation wants and those against lockdown "shouldn't force their will upon the nation"? A majority of local authorities? A majority of the population by local authority?

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Pierre

I know that, the point I was making is that Liverpool, as much as I love my home town, cannot force their will onto the nation, and shouldn’t try.

If the leadership in Liverpool feel a national lockdown is in the best interests of their city, then surely it makes sense for them to advocate for it?