Lockdown easing in England

[mazi]

https://news.sky.com/world

Worth a read, it can’t all be made up.

Mike

[LizzieL]

The graph for daily infections is here
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/

If you place the pointer on each column you get the number of new cases per day. I added them up for the last 14 days.

Using population number from here
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

and calculating for 100,000.

[jillruss]

That would only work if all children went back to school - at the moment parents have the choice whether or not to send them. My feeling (as a retired teacher) is that it will be very much child minding for the next few weeks with less than half the children back. Until social distancing is either reduced or relaxed completely, there just won't be the room in schools for all the children - one "normal class" would need to be split into at least two, so where are you going to put them all?

Don't you think that the government was more aware of the childminding advantages of sending the little ones back to school than the educational? Free up the workers to keep the economy going .As for the room for social distancing - there are always ways around these problems. How about half the class do an extra month after the summer term and the other half go back early and do it before the next autumn term?


I would favour all children repeating this school year, starting September, but that probably isn't possible. Failing that, especially in Primary schools, the children staying with their present teacher and just carrying on next year. That way time wouldn't be wasted getting to know children and learning what they can do. Plus I think a lot of children, especially the younger ones, are going to find it very difficult to adjust to school life again, so having a teacher they know, would make it easier. Its an idea but is repeating the whole year necessary? They've only lost a couple of months. Surely it would be better to make up for those lost months by extending the final term?

" a lot of teachers have had a rest during lockdown"  Not true. In fact a lot I know have worked harder. They have had to adapt to finding, planning and presenting lessons on line, marking work that has come in, writing reports, making sure that children who don't have access to computers have paper copies, delivering the work to children etc. My great nephew's teacher has also visited all the children in her class once a fortnight, to make sure they are alright (staying at a distance of course) Most schools have also worked a rota with teachers going into schools a couple of days a week to cover the classes of key workers. Plus of course home schooling their own children. In fact a lot of my ex colleagues have said they will be glad to get back to normal.

I'm sure there are a lot of dedicated, hard working teachers, just as there are in any profession. There will also be those who sit back and kick their heels whilst others do the work - again, as unfortunately there are in any profession. The thing about teachers is: every single one you talk to (or to their family) says how hard they work and how they spend their many weeks of school holidays with their noses to the grindstone. That's why I expected to have to dip my head below the parapet! I have known a few teachers and have lived near a few - and, when I was getting up at 6am to get to my (non teaching) job, their curtains were still drawn! Great stuff, if you can get it, but don't then try to convince me that they're working their socks off night and day because it just doesn't wash That's why successive education ministers have come up against the brickwall of the teaching unions. I think Gove called them The Blob! All I'm saying is that, with a bit of flexibility on the part of the teachers, it could work. After all, if, as they tell you, they're working all the time anyway, what difference will it make to do it in the classroom rather than on a sun lounger in the back garden (joke!  )?

[Maiden Stone]

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester on "PM", Radio 4, now - public need clearer, localised information so they can decide what level of risk they want to expose themselves too. Asked about whether GM transport system can cope with increase in passengers while maintaining adequate distancing, replied that it would be a challenge when more shops opened in a couple of weeks.

[candleflame]

I had a problem with my car during lockdown and today it went into the garage to be repaired.
Have to say I was very impressed with their service and planning. On arrival at a prearranged time - all spread out to avoid too many people in at once - I was asked to put my car keys in a plastic zip lock bag. They phoned later to advise cost of repair and I agreed. They phoned  again when it was ready and I paid over the phone. Went through to pick it up and the keys were still in the bag. What they'd done was press the button on the key fob through the bag and then because my car needs a key to start it, they'd pushed the key end through the plastic bag , so at no time did they touch the keys, only the bag.
When I got in the car ( armed with my own antibacterial wipe) there was a large sticker on the steering wheel that said with the garages official logo, ' this vehicle has been sanitised.' I was very impressed and I also have a repaired car too!

[LizzieL]

Yesterday at the Downing Street briefing we were told that there were 111 daily confirmed deaths.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000jtkf/briefings-downing-street-coronavirus-news-conference-01062020

This morning on BBC Breakfast a figure in the 500s was mentioned. Did anyone else hear that?

Now I have found 556 mentioned in the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/01/coronavirus-uk-map-the-latest-deaths-and-confirmed-cases-near-you

Makes me very worried about believing what the politicians tell me at 5 pm every evening. Where did these extra 400 plus people come from?

[Mike in Cumbria]

Where in that article does the figure 556 come from? I can't see it, but maybe the whole article isn't loading for me.

Edit. Found it elsewhere.

1,570 new cases and 111 new deaths in the United Kingdom. "Additional deaths, identified from Pillar 2 testing in England, have been added to the data over the last week. In total 445 deaths have been added, with dates of death back to 26 April 2020" 
So the extra 445 deaths occurred over a 35 day period, ie about 13 extra deaths per day.

[LizzieL]

Thanks, I hadn't seen that they were backdated over the preceding month or more.
Adding them all to yesterday's figure distorts the graph somewhat.
Several countries who were sensible enough to close their borders to all but a very limited amount of traffic are now planning to open them more widely in mid June. Some, quite understandably, are restricting them to countries where the infection rate is similar or less than their own. Using measures like cumulative number of infections in 14 days or 7 days per 100,000 of population. If they started to look at our published death numbers, with distortions like this, we could be banned from anywhere for a long time.

[groom]

Posted on wrong thread, sorry.