Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Steven W]

Few Covid-19 thoughts

1 - Does furlough through to the end October suggest that the government think this will all be over by then?

2 - Seems to me the teachers union are enjoying being off just now. Doesn't seem to be any appetite for going back from them and offering no solutions on how to overcome this.

3 - Now that Northern Ireland has given out a rough path out of lockdown, leaves just Wales and Scotland. I wonder if we (if tomorrow's weekly death stats drop again) might get one before too long (end of the week maybe?)

4 - Am I right in thinking Sunak hasn't given any details on furlough for August onwards, so we're all left to speculate how it'll work from then on?

[Forest_Fifer]

At least you agree it's ineffective

That's not what he meant and you know it.

[MrWorldwideJr]

1 minute ago, madwullie said:

Flu is nowhere near as contagious as this is. This has spread about while there is a lockdown on. That we're even still talking about this in May is utterly bizarre

To be fair 'we're' not really talking about this in May.

One poster who has clearly been set on the conclusion of 'there was no need for a lockdown' since about March is talking about it. Its been very obvious from their posts over this whole period that they were going to come to the same conclusion regardless of what actually happened.

[Todd_is_God]

2 minutes ago, Steven W said:

Seems to me the teachers union are enjoying being off just now. Doesn't seem to be any appetite for going back from them and offering no solutions on how to overcome this.

I have a friend who is a teacher. He's fairly confident the union won't allow a return in Scotland before the end of the summer holidays, as well as demanding extra pay if teachers are asked to come in to schools over the holidays

[mizfit]

There’s zero point in schools going back now. How it’s even being discussed is beyond me.

[Steven W]

Just now, Todd_is_God said:

I have a friend who is a teacher. He's fairly confident the union won't allow a return in Scotland before the end of the summer holidays, as well as demanding extra pay if teachers are asked to come in to schools over the holidays

Good grief. Now is surely not the time to be demanding extra pay. I thought we were all in this together?

(Does this hint at there's a train of thought that the schools might possibly return early?)

[Gaz]

3 minutes ago, Steven W said:

2 - Seems to me the teachers union are enjoying being off just now. Doesn't seem to be any appetite for going back from them and offering no solutions on how to overcome this.

I'm the EIS rep at my school, so have a bit of knowledge on this. Two things:

1) No, we're not. I myself am having to juggle the equivalent of working a full-time job, under circumstances quite different and quite more difficult than what I've been trained for, whilst caring for my own three children. I don't know any teachers who are enjoying being off. I would far rather be back at school, as would my colleagues both in school and within my union.

2) That's just not true. There is plenty appetite for going back. What there isn't appetite for is going back under a 'business as usual' model. Just this morning we canvassed all staff to ask for their opinions on how going back could be best managed and what precautions could be taken.

Please don't fall for the spin that teachers are enjoying being at home right now. We're not. We're trained to teach kids, and that's what we want to be doing.

[Granny Danger]

3 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

I have a friend who is a teacher. He's fairly confident the union won't allow a return in Scotland before the end of the summer holidays, as well as demanding extra pay if teachers are asked to come in to schools over the holidays

Now you’re at it!

[Gaz]

Just now, Steven W said:

Good grief. Now is surely not the time to be demanding extra pay. I thought we were all in this together?

(Does this hint at there's a train of thought that the schools might possibly return early?)

Why wouldn't we demand extra pay if we are forced to come in over the school holidays?

Do you work for free for your employer?

[superbigal]

Well, the 'guidance' now is to wear masks in certain circumstances.
Just to recap somewhat....
On 12 th March, the government decided against tracking and tracing. They'd been asleep
at the wheel, and it was too late for that.  In addition, there ideology had spent years chipping away at, and privatising
public services, so there were no resources immediately available to them anyway.
Me ? As soon as the lockdown was announced, I looked at what I had.
My hobby is messing around with cars, so I had some disposable gloves that mechanics use. Typically these
cost £5 at most, for a box of 50 pairs. I also had a couple of face masks that I use, with protective glasses, when
I'm scraping around under a car. 
So  I had some kit , and wore them for shopping right from the get go.
Couple of weeks in, time to get some more. 
With health workers crying out for PPE, where to find some ?
Only place I could see was eBay.  
Ordered a pack of 10 masks from an eBay seller that seemed to have better feedback rating than others.
That's the light blue coloured ones that you see around. Price £11.45. 
8 days later the gloves arrived. Package fitted in 'Large Letter' envelope,
so postage relatively small.  The 'real' price' of these masks in normal circumstances, retail, I'd guestimate to be about £2, £3 max.
The first one I tried , the elastic earband separated from the main mask as I put it on.
Gloves....   The best I could find on eBay was a box of 50 pairs.  £11.99.
Gloves arrived within 3 or 4 days. Quality OK.  I go for Nitrile gloves, non allergenic.
 
My question is...., if guidance now is to wear masks, are we supposed to buy everything
from eBay profiteers ?    Where are we supposed to obtain the things ?

Look for my previous post on this thread very early About ebay profiteering.
As a buyer you hold all the cards and dubious sellers can be easily made to refund. That's all I'm saying.

[madwullie]

13 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

At least you agree it's ineffective

Only if you think it wouldn't have spread more with no lockdown. Effective isn't black or white. But of course you know what I meant 

Edited May 12, 2020 by madwullie

[Thereisalight..]

47 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

It's only 80% if your employer agrees to contribute to bring it up to that amount, govt will not be paying 80% beyond July.

There seems to be mixed messages in regards to that (there’s a surprise). 

Edited May 12, 2020 by Thereisalight..

[pandarilla]

Good grief. Now is surely not the time to be demanding extra pay. I thought we were all in this together?
(Does this hint at there's a train of thought that the schools might possibly return early?)

As gaz mentioned, this wasn't extra pay - this was just pay.

We get a long summer holiday because the job is pretty stressful, and I'd you want kids taught in an effective way, then you want to try and minimise the stress of teachers.

Councils are going to keep hubs open over the holiday. But they'll pay the cheapest workers to do this (after school club staff, support staff etc).

[Crùbag]

 

[ayrmad]

30 minutes ago, Honest_Man#1 said:

Are you seriously suggesting that if we had not gone into lockdown then excess deaths would be the same as they are now?

Starting to?

Like J Cole earlier, he has posted some stuff with merit, might just be reverting to the mean now. 

[Todd_is_God]

11 minutes ago, mizfit said:

There’s zero point in schools going back now. How it’s even being discussed is beyond me.

Someone on twitter essentially boiled it down to them wanting a break from looking after their kids. Now I get that, but that isn't really the primary point of a school.

Even if kids did go back, they'd be back for about 3 weeks before summer.

Trying to get in to any sort of routine and useful learning in that time would be a struggle.

I remember when I was at school. Once it hit June you were counting down the days till summer

Edited May 12, 2020 by Todd_is_God

[Steven W]

8 minutes ago, Gaz said:

I'm the EIS rep at my school, so have a bit of knowledge on this. Two things:

1) No, we're not. I myself am having to juggle the equivalent of working a full-time job, under circumstances quite different and quite more difficult than what I've been trained for, whilst caring for my own three children. I don't know any teachers who are enjoying being off. I would far rather be back at school, as would my colleagues both in school and within my union.

2) That's just not true. There is plenty appetite for going back. What there isn't appetite for is going back under a 'business as usual' model. Just this morning we canvassed all staff to ask for their opinions on how going back could be best managed and what precautions could be taken.

Please don't fall for the spin that teachers are enjoying being at home right now. We're not. We're trained to teach kids, and that's what we want to be doing.

I'm glad to hear there's an appetite for getting them back ASAP. Thats good news.

Obviously when they do go back things will need to be a bit different. Do you know if any head teachers / teachers have been back into school to look at ways of implementing change?

[Crùbag]

3 minutes ago, pandarilla said:

As gaz mentioned, this wasn't extra pay - this was just pay.

We get a long summer holiday because the job is pretty stressful, and I'd you want kids taught in an effective way, then you want to try and minimise the stress of teachers.

Councils are going to keep hubs open over the holiday. But they'll pay the cheapest workers to do this (after school club staff, support staff etc).
 

Agree. Teachers work long, long hours and are paid for a 35-hr week. Most exceed that. Knew an older teacher a few years ago who calculated that she'd worked a 54-week year given the extra hours she worked during term-time and to some extent during holidays.

Teachers, nurses, care workers, refuse collecters, postal workers all deserve more.

[Honest_Man#1]

30 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

Yes

Christ.

19 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

At least you agree it's ineffective

So a lockdown is only effective if it leads to 0 deaths then? I think you must be intentionally being dense now to troll.

[RiG]

9 minutes ago, Thereisalight.. said:

There seems to be mixed messages in regards to that (there’s a surprise). 

It's as things stand until the end of July (80% of wages up to £2,500 covered by Government) but after that there will likely be changes. Sunak has said that they will look for employers to make some kind of contribution.

 

Edited May 12, 2020 by RiG