Current Affairs

[towny44]

My sister works in a secondary school and they have taken every measure possible to make the school as safe as it could be. However once the children leave school all safety measures are thrown out of the window as far as they are concerned - masks, social distancing - forget it and seeing children in town out of school I see what she means. If you close the schools it just means some children will spend all day roaming the shops and streets and potentially passing the virus around. It appears the virus is more prevalent amongst the 11-19 year olds and until they take the dangers more seriously nothing the government come up with is going to work.
No tier systems or track and trace are going to work unless we all follow the guidelines and stop passing the thing on.

I know you won’t mind if I disagree with you Foxy but from what I have witnessed most school children are of a mindset/better educated in the prevention of passing on this virus than those who should know better .

At present its 2 to 1 against you Keefy, as Foxy says the older children will be out on the streets with their mates, and the younger ones will be out shopping with their parents, running their grubby germ ridden hands all over the produce you are about to buy.

[Jan Rosser]

My sister works in a secondary school and they have taken every measure possible to make the school as safe as it could be. However once the children leave school all safety measures are thrown out of the window as far as they are concerned - masks, social distancing - forget it and seeing children in town out of school I see what she means. If you close the schools it just means some children will spend all day roaming the shops and streets and potentially passing the virus around. It appears the virus is more prevalent amongst the 11-19 year olds and until they take the dangers more seriously nothing the government come up with is going to work.
No tier systems or track and trace are going to work unless we all follow the guidelines and stop passing the thing on.

I know you won’t mind if I disagree with you Foxy but from what I have witnessed most school children are of a mindset/better educated in the prevention of passing on this virus than those who should know better .

I am on Foxy's side in this matter - the school my son and daughter-in-law teach in are having exactly the same problems and the year 10s and 11s are the worse - completely disregarding the rules as soon as they are off school premises. They attended a "rave" one weekend which resulted in over 500 children isolating for 2 weeks - if that's being better educated in prevention well words fail me

[oldbluefox]

When the students all gathered together at universities suddenly there was an outbreak. Nobody else could have introduced or spread it. In their defence some could have been asymptomatic and unwittingly passing it on if they didn't follow guidelines.

[david63]

from what I have witnessed most school children are of a mindset/better educated in the prevention of passing on this virus than those who should know better

Sorry Keefy but I am another who would have to disagree with you on this.

I have mentioned this before that secondary school children can be seen going to/from school in groups of six or more with no face masks and no social distancing - and this has been going on since they went back in September.

I have said this before that masks should be compulsory for everyone of school age and above from the moment they leave their front door - no excuses. If you can't wear a mask then you don't go out - simples.

These tier systems have been a complete shamble

Again I have to disagree with you. Almost everyone is now saying that the infection rate is reducing in the North West, as is the "R" value (which for the last three weeks has been the lowest in the UK), and that is due to being in tier three before the lockdown. In effect we had a three week start over the rest of the country and it is now paying dividends.

Also we are better behaved than the rest of the country

as have the track and trace

Interestingly I was reading an article only yesterday from one of the case workers who was saying that although the Track & Trace isn't perfect many of the problems lie with the public.

One example quoted was when somebody who had been tested positive was called and the response was "Can you call me back later as I am in Starbucks at the moment".

Also people do not answer the phone - which I do have some sympathy with as I do not answer the phone if it is not a number that I know, or I am expecting a call. Apparently they are not supposed to leave a message.

[Onelife]

Living in sleepy Shropshire perhaps I don’t see the other side of things… and if Jan is disagreeing with me then I'm happy to go ….squeak! squeak!.

[david63]

Another comedian in the news today.

"But cabinet minister Stephen Barclay said people must "act responsibly".
...
"We've got to trust the British people to act responsibly and do the minimum that is possible for them in their family situation."

Erm - if some the British people had acted responsibly in the first place then we may not be in as bad a state as we currently are.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Funny that now London case are rising Sadiq wants Christmas relaxation scrapped nationwide. He didn't argue for a nationwide lockdown when Northwest cases were rising if I remember. Yes by all means scrap Christmas in London. But don't expect the rest of us to pay for your bad behaviour!

[Stephen]

My sister works in a secondary school and they have taken every measure possible to make the school as safe as it could be. However once the children leave school all safety measures are thrown out of the window as far as they are concerned - masks, social distancing - forget it and seeing children in town out of school I see what she means. If you close the schools it just means some children will spend all day roaming the shops and streets and potentially passing the virus around. It appears the virus is more prevalent amongst the 11-19 year olds and until they take the dangers more seriously nothing the government come up with is going to work.
No tier systems or track and trace are going to work unless we all follow the guidelines and stop passing the thing on.

I know you won’t mind if I disagree with you Foxy but from what I have witnessed most school children are of a mindset/better educated in the prevention of passing on this virus than those who should know better .

I am on Foxy's side in this matter - the school my son and daughter-in-law teach in are having exactly the same problems and the year 10s and 11s are the worse - completely disregarding the rules as soon as they are off school premises. They attended a "rave" one weekend which resulted in over 500 children isolating for 2 weeks - if that's being better educated in prevention well words fail me

I also agree Jan.

As soon as they are off school premises they just herd themselves home with no thought for other pedestrians and social distancing, as Mrs S witnessed the other day. No wonder the country is in the state we are.

Personally I think the five day relaxed Christmas rule is farcical and will only increase the rise in Covid cases and put more strain on the NHS as the majority will just not conform thinking, 'we'll be alright we're be getting the vaccine soon'. Good luck with that.

[david63]

Personally I think the five day relaxed Christmas rule is farcical and will only increase the rise in Covid cases and put more strain on the NHS as the majority will just not conform thinking, 'we'll be alright we're be getting the vaccine soon'. Good luck with that.

I tend to agree - no matter what is done there will be a spike, and possible lockdown, after Christmas.

I can see where the Government are coming from on this. Some people would be ignoring all the rules and "doing their own thing" so by laying down some ground rules there is at least an attempt to control the situation.

[Onelife]

I know you won’t mind if I disagree with you Foxy but from what I have witnessed most school children are of a mindset/better educated in the prevention of passing on this virus than those who should know better .

I am on Foxy's side in this matter - the school my son and daughter-in-law teach in are having exactly the same problems and the year 10s and 11s are the worse - completely disregarding the rules as soon as they are off school premises. They attended a "rave" one weekend which resulted in over 500 children isolating for 2 weeks - if that's being better educated in prevention well words fail me

I also agree Jan.

As soon as they are off school premises they just herd themselves home with no thought for other pedestrians and social distancing, as Mrs S witnessed the other day. No wonder the country is in the state we are.

I've seen more twenty to thirty year olds dancing in the streets than I have School children…just saying!

[Onelife]

Personally I think the five day relaxed Christmas rule is farcical and will only increase the rise in Covid cases and put more strain on the NHS as the majority will just not conform thinking, 'we'll be alright we're be getting the vaccine soon'. Good luck with that.

I tend to agree - no matter what is done there will be a spike, and possible lockdown, after Christmas.

I can see where the Government are coming from on this. Some people would be ignoring all the rules and "doing their own thing" so by laying down some ground rules there is at least an attempt to control the situation.

Government incompetence/dithering over lockdowns are the route cause of these ongoing spikes.

[Stephen]

I am on Foxy's side in this matter - the school my son and daughter-in-law teach in are having exactly the same problems and the year 10s and 11s are the worse - completely disregarding the rules as soon as they are off school premises. They attended a "rave" one weekend which resulted in over 500 children isolating for 2 weeks - if that's being better educated in prevention well words fail me

I also agree Jan.

As soon as they are off school premises they just herd themselves home with no thought for other pedestrians and social distancing, as Mrs S witnessed the other day. No wonder the country is in the state we are.

I've seen more twenty to thirty year olds dancing in the streets than I have School children…just saying!

I can't help it if you live in a rough area

[Manoverboard]

The cause is the underlying stupidity of the population .... just saying

[Stephen]

The cause is the underlying stupidity of the population .... just saying

Got it in one Moby

[david63]

Government incompetence/dithering over lockdowns are the route cause of these ongoing spikes.

No - it is people not following the rules

[Onelife]

The cause is the underlying stupidity of the population .... just saying

I agree with Onelife ...just saying!

[Onelife]

Government incompetence/dithering over lockdowns are the route cause of these ongoing spikes.

No - it is people not following the rules

If the rules had been applied properly and enforced without all this ‘you can, they can’t’ dithering then we would have all known where we stood.

[barney]

You couldn’t make this up.

We have friends who have a holiday let business down here in north Devon and they told my wife last night that both of their sons who live in London are coming home for Christmas.
Mrs B said “ oh, do you think that is wise “ and the reply was that it should be fine because the infection rate is really low down here.
What the hell goes through some people’s minds?

[Onelife]

You couldn’t make this up.

We have friends who have a holiday let business down here in north Devon and they told my wife last night that both of their sons who live in London are coming home for Christmas.
Mrs B said “ oh, do you think that is wise “ and the reply was that it should be fine because the infection rate is really low down here.
What the hell goes through some people’s minds?

Our daughter who works in Hampshire is coming home for Christmas but has been working from home this past few days (requested) as she wants to protect her Mom and Dad.

[towny44]

Personally I think the five day relaxed Christmas rule is farcical and will only increase the rise in Covid cases and put more strain on the NHS as the majority will just not conform thinking, 'we'll be alright we're be getting the vaccine soon'. Good luck with that.

I tend to agree - no matter what is done there will be a spike, and possible lockdown, after Christmas.

I can see where the Government are coming from on this. Some people would be ignoring all the rules and "doing their own thing" so by laying down some ground rules there is at least an attempt to control the situation.

But you have to ask what would have happened if there had been no relaxation for Christmas, in my view probably much the same as we are now expecting, and maybe even worse.

[towny44]

Personally I think the five day relaxed Christmas rule is farcical and will only increase the rise in Covid cases and put more strain on the NHS as the majority will just not conform thinking, 'we'll be alright we're be getting the vaccine soon'. Good luck with that.

I tend to agree - no matter what is done there will be a spike, and possible lockdown, after Christmas.

I can see where the Government are coming from on this. Some people would be ignoring all the rules and "doing their own thing" so by laying down some ground rules there is at least an attempt to control the situation.

Government incompetence/dithering over lockdowns are the route cause of these ongoing spikes.

If that was the only reason Keefie , then the same criticisms would have to be applied to every other western country.

[david63]

What the hell goes through some people’s minds?

You are assuming that they have a mind!!

[david63]

If the rules had been applied properly and enforced

I totally agree about the lack of enforcement.

The hospitality businesses are being hit the hardest with all levels of restrictions but they only have themselves to blame as some would not enforce the rules. I have said this before - any licensed premises that break the rules should have their licence immediately revoked and the licensee is banned from holding a licence for 10 years

[Manoverboard]

Our daughter who works in Hampshire is coming home for Christmas but has been working from home this past few days (requested) as she wants to protect her Mom and Dad.

Our eldest son and his partner live in the Hampshire rurals and they have worked from home since March but they do have a now and again need to venture into places where the risk is higher. As a family we all agreed that Christmas would be postponed until Mobietta and I have had the jab.

We are simply not prepared to take the risk, however small, and with this thought in mind we had a phone call last weekend to discover that one of our bestest chums had died of Covid. We had known them for nearly 50 years, it is thought that he got it from the surfaces in the car following an MOT .... you simply cannot be too careful.

[towny44]

If the rules had been applied properly and enforced

I totally agree about the lack of enforcement.

The hospitality businesses are being hit the hardest with all levels of restrictions but they only have themselves to blame as some would not enforce the rules. I have said this before - any licensed premises that break the rules should have their licence immediately revoked and the licensee is banned from holding a licence for 10 years

I feel sorry for anyone in the hospitality industry, it must be heartbreaking to see your lifes savings lost as your business dies. However the prophets of doom ponttificating that many businesses will never open again are also wrong, it is unfortunate for those people losing their livelihoods, but the premises and fittings will remain and, once the vaccine pushes covid into a winter flu type illness, there will be other entrepreneurs looking to restart a business in many of the same locations.