I have a daughter in year 6 so she is supposed to be returning on 1st June. I've talked to other parents and the consensus is that they should go back. We're comfortable that social distancing will be possible as they are old enough to understand, however, I can't see how they can make that work for Reception and Year 1. Locally aswell we have v few cases, there are only 60 people in all the Leeds hospitals with Covid.

I look at other countries where the kids have been back for a number of weeks now e.g. Denmark and Norway. There has been no spike in cases since they returned so I do believe the risk is low - it is certainly less risky than travelling on a packed tube every day.

If you a have low number of infections in your area, then yes, it probably is safe and why its worked in Denmark and Norway

But if I had a kid, I probably would still be reluctant to send them in until September. A lot we are still learning about the virus

Priti Patel's review of NHS surcharge paid by international healthcare staff working in the NHS, so they can access the NHS treatments they work to provide, seems to have concluded that it's a good thing and must stay.
And that the charge should increase.https://t.co/py9v69xxJx

— amelia gentleman (@ameliagentleman) May 16, 2020

This week, a govt minister promoted far right lies & went unpunished. The Prime Minister & the Health Secretary lied about care homes. Johnson was shown to have lied about customs checks in Northern Ireland. Teachers were maligned, lockdown chaos escalated & the R number went up.

— James O'Brien (@mrjamesob) May 16, 2020

O'Brien is a complete gobshite. A govt minister did not promote far right lies, she stupidly retweeted some fake news - that kind of thing happens and it is explained here:

https://order-order.com/2020/05/14/tory-mps-fall-doctored-starmer-video/

• who hasn't fallen for some crap on the internet believing it at the time?

Where have teachers been maligned? The teaching unions are bang to rights, but they are not the teachers at the chalkface.

Here in Western Australia we shut our borders in early March for international visitors and shortly after for other Australians from other states. The rules were so strict that even West Australians in the Eastern states were not allowed back unless under exceptional circumstances. Returning Australians were all quarantined for 14 days either in hotels in Perth or an offshore island. The results have been after 500 cases we are pretty much covid free. On Monday pubs and cafes reopen with social spacing. Some will no doubt not open due to these rules. Schools went back 2 weeks ago and attendance is compulsory. As this is Australia we will be looking at an economic reopening, which I would imagine is the case in the UK and concentrate on getting the economy pumping again. 

Thaat's good to hear.

If only the UK government had done something along these lines from the outset, the UK may well now have had a death toll very much lower than the one we now have. I know that the population of Australia is considerable lower than that of the UK and the Aussies were perhaps not so likely to be as badly affected as other countries as a result. That said, to me it is still a disgrace that there are now close to 35,000 people dead from Covid-19 in this country (that's just the official figure) and the second-worst death toll in the world despite having rather more warning of what was coming compared to many other countries.

 

Thaat's good to hear.

If only the UK government had done something along these lines from the outset, the UK may well now have had a death toll very much lower than the one we now have. I know that the population of Australia is considerable lower than that of the UK and the Aussies were perhaps not so likely to be as badly affected as other countries as a result. That said, to me it is still a disgrace that there are now close to 35,000 people dead from Covid-19 in this country (that's just the official figure) and the second-worst death toll in the world despite having rather more warning of what was coming compared to many other countries.

Just for context in WA there are around 2.5 million people in an area of around 2.5 million sq km and it is not a global travel hub.

Matthew Parris: 

Britain. I’ve always been sceptical about British exceptionalism. No longer. Our handling of this crisis has been exceptionally poor.

 

O'Brien is a complete gobshite. A govt minister did not promote far right lies, she stupidly retweeted some fake news - that kind of thing happens and it is explained here:

https://order-order.com/2020/05/14/tory-mps-fall-doctored-starmer-video/

• who hasn't fallen for some crap on the internet believing it at the time?

Where have teachers been maligned? The teaching unions are bang to rights, but they are not the teachers at the chalkface.

LOL you’ve just done exactly what Justin predicted you would do. 

Question: Do you think a government minister should be promoting fake news then.

And please, she knew exactly what she was doing!

There an article in The Times today saying that lung scarring is happening significantly in young people who recover from corona virus. The long term impacts are uncertain but scarring (as I understand) implies the damage is permanent. Impact on life expectancy and quality of life is uncertain. However, it throws another spanner into the works and calls into question the assumption that allowing young people to contract corona virus is a sensible approach. The young could pay a very high price later in life and come to see themselves as sacrificial lambs.

There an article in The Times today saying that lung scarring is happening significantly in young people who recover from corona virus. The long term impacts are uncertain but scarring (as I understand) implies the damage is permanent. Impact on life expectancy and quality of life is uncertain. However, it throws another spanner into the works and calls into question the assumption that allowing young people to contract corona virus is a sensible approach. The young could pay a very high price later in life and come to see themselves as sacrificial lambs.

Brian - it only applies to those who have a serious infection, which is a minority of younger people.

Anyhow, also from The Times:

"...

The children’s watchdog is supporting calls for pupils to be allowed back into the classroom as soon as possible and has urged unions and ministers to “stop squabbling”. Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, called the government’s plans “sensible”. She said the evidence that prolonged periods out of school was extremely damaging was “overwhelming”, particularly in the case of vulnerable and disadvantaged youngsters.

..."

 

LOL you’ve just done exactly what Justin predicted you would do. 

Question: Do you think a government minister should be promoting fake news then.

And please, she knew exactly what she was doing!

Of course not and of course she didn't.

 

Of course not and of course she didn't.

It was fake news and she re-tweeted it. So she did.

 

O'Brien is a complete gobshite. A govt minister did not promote far right lies, she stupidly retweeted some fake news - that kind of thing happens and it is explained here:

https://order-order.com/2020/05/14/tory-mps-fall-doctored-starmer-video/

• who hasn't fallen for some crap on the internet believing it at the time?

Where have teachers been maligned? The teaching unions are bang to rights, but they are not the teachers at the chalkface.

Dorries’s tweet described the smear as “revealing”. If she had done even 10 seconds of checking, she would have found out that it was a lie. She is a minister and so must be held to higher standards than the man in the street. It is also typical of this sh1t shower which pretends to be a government that she shoots her mouth off without even basic due diligence.

We knew you would defend the Tory Party come what may. If Johnson ordered all migrants to be put up against a wall and shot, you would find some way to justify that!

Calling you Comical Ali doesn’t begin to describe the ludicrous depths you have sunk to!

 

Of course not and of course she didn't.

She retweeted it with the comment ‘revealing’.

That is promoting a lie. You are a poltroon, Richard. We are all laughing at you.

 

Brian - it only applies to those who have a serious infection, which is a minority of younger people.

 

So what? Even in 80 year olds it is only a minority of people who will croak from C19. We can't just throw minorities into the garbage truck and be done with it. In my view that would put us in the same bed as many of the most grotesque regimes that have existed through the ages.

 

Just for context in WA there are around 2.5 million people in an area of around 2.5 million sq km and it is not a global travel hub.

I made a similar point to a friend yesterday - comparing the spread of a virus and ability to close borders/travel between the UK and a country 32 x larger but with only 2/5 or so of the population is a bit daft, particularly if you factor in that we're next to a large continental land mass and are more of a global hub.

The frustrating thing is the argument that we probably should have looked at quarantining visitors early on, screening etc. is a reasonable enough one, albeit I suspect no where near as simple as some like to portray, but using countries like Aus and NZ as an example is just daft as their situations are vastly different to ours. Using them as a comparison weakens the argument and seems to me to be cheap and inaccurate point scoring. Anyone who's travelled to Aus will know they already had very strict checks at the airport and a much harder attitude to travellers than the UK (or many European countries). Moving from that to quarantining all incomers isn't anywhere near as much of a stretch as it would have been for us, given they pretty much had the processes, staff and infrastructure in place already.

I think 'next' epidemic (assuming the disease is as nasty as the current one) countries will be looking at making sure:-

1) they control visitors in to the country, particularly from countries where the disease is present, probably by the 14 day quarantine at the airport (or nearby) method. 

2) They have the capacity to rapidly scale up testing once a test is available if it's a new disease and for contact tracing and quarantining/isolation.

3) They identify the most at risk groups and make a proper plan on shielding/protecting those as early as possible.

4) PPE stockpiles are maintained at a reasonable level in preparation for a new epidemic and industrial capacity is there and lined up to make more at short notice if required. I.E the kind of basic planning you'd expect in a company level business continuity plan.

5) Lockdowns - I'd expect them to stay as part of the arsenal if the disease spreads too widely.

 

So what? Even in 80 year olds it is only a minority of people who will croak from C19. We can't just throw minorities into the garbage truck and be done with it. In my view that would put us in the same bed as many of the most grotesque regimes that have existed through the ages.

Yes but Richard makes it his mission to defend grotesque regimes if there is even a whiff of ‘lefty’ disquiet.

Hurrah for the blackshirts!

 

I made a similar point to a friend yesterday - comparing the spread of a virus and ability to close borders/travel between the UK and a country 32 x larger but with only 2/5 or so of the population is a bit daft, particularly if you factor in that we're next to a large continental land mass and are more of a global hub.

The frustrating thing is the argument that we probably should have looked at quarantining visitors early on, screening etc. is a reasonable enough one, albeit I suspect no where near as simple as some like to portray, but using countries like Aus and NZ as an example is just daft as their situations are vastly different to ours. Using them as a comparison weakens the argument and seems to me to be cheap and inaccurate point scoring. Anyone who's travelled to Aus will know they already had very strict checks at the airport and a much harder attitude to travellers than the UK (or many European countries). Moving from that to quarantining all incomers isn't anywhere near as much of a stretch as it would have been for us, given they pretty much had the processes, staff and infrastructure in place already.

I think 'next' epidemic (assuming the disease is as nasty as the current one) countries will be looking at making sure:-

1) they control visitors in to the country, particularly from countries where the disease is present, probably by the 14 day quarantine at the airport (or nearby) method. 

2) They have the capacity to rapidly scale up testing once a test is available if it's a new disease and for contact tracing and quarantining/isolation.

3) They identify the most at risk groups and make a proper plan on shielding/protecting those as early as possible.

4) PPE stockpiles are maintained at a reasonable level in preparation for a new epidemic and industrial capacity is there and lined up to make more at short notice if required. I.E the kind of basic planning you'd expect in a company level business continuity plan.

5) Lockdowns - I'd expect them to stay as part of the arsenal if the disease spreads too widely.

 

Coronavirus: A 3rd of hospital patients develop dangerous blood clots.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52662065

 

So what? Even in 80 year olds it is only a minority of people who will croak from C19. We can't just throw minorities into the garbage truck and be done with it. In my view that would put us in the same bed as many of the most grotesque regimes that have existed through the ages.