This is what Boris will announce tonight.

 

March 8 - Step 1

 

All students will return to schools and colleges, and wraparound childcare - such as after school clubs and school sports - can resume

Recreation with a maximum of two people from different households meeting in a public space will be allowed

Care home residents will be allowed one regular named visitor

England's Stay at Home order will remain in place

 

March 29

 

Outdoor gatherings of either six people or a larger group from up to two households will be allowed, including meetings in private gardens (Timed with school Easter holidays!)

Outdoor sports facilities - tennis and basketball courts - can reopen and people take part in "formally organised" outdoor sports, both children and adults

Stay at Home order will end at this point and will move to messaging encouraging people to stay local wherever they can

People will still be asked to work from home wherever possible and there won't be any overseas travel allowed apart from exemptions

 

April 12 (at the earliest) - Step 2

 

Non-essential shops will reopen

Personal care premises - such as hairdressers and nail salons - can also reopen

Public buildings - such as libraries and museums - can reopen

Most outdoor attractions and settings also reopen including hospitality, zoos and theme parks

Wider social contact rules will apply in all these settings, with no indoor mixing between households

 

PUBS. May be allowed to serve outside or do takeaway drinks in April but not open fully until late May/June at the earliest. That won't please the publicans.

 

EDIT. The Mail says takeaway drinks allowed from April 12th. Publicans are furious as they hoped to be fully open by Easter.

Edited February 22, 20214 yr by common sense

They just haven’t thought it through with schools-again.

 

Children’s education is very important but there were alternative solutions. A rota’d approach to keep numbers in school each day low whilst those not in school learn remotely that day. It wouldn’t be popular because children wouldn’t be in full time but it would have been more safe.

 

I’m on the other side of the border. We have only the foundation phase in for the next 3 weeks. Wales have hinted that on the 15th we could see the rest of primary schools return and Years 11 and 13 in secondary. Likely the rest after Easter. As Drakeford said, if you start small, it’s easier to reverse things if things go wrong.

 

I do worry that Wales will just copy England and order all students back on the 15th due to pressure from Welsh Tories.

 

After Easter so many more people will have had their first doses, some will have had their second. The weather will more than likely be better. Why rush to cram them all in now?

Wow I think today is the first time I've thought he's making sense.

I think the government would undo a lot of the, shockingly, good decisions they've made over the last few months sending all the schools and colleges back at once. It should definitely be phased from the 8th, probably Primary first, then Secondary final years and then gradually a full return. Don't think it's the worst idea for some year groups (providing they can work well online) to just start back after Easter.

 

It was too good to be true to expect they would have sense wouldn't it? :')

 

It's like they've learnt nothing from January, they are ignoring the science again for pure economic gains. Northern Ireland has it perfect - Younger year groups first two weeks from the 8th, Secondary/FE leavers next two weeks, all years after Easter. It's so god damn simple...

 

Just seems a purely political move with no regard for the implications, I hope that means school staff are prioritised for the vaccine...oh wait.

I do actually think the rest of the lockdown plan looks quite sensible, just baffles me they're going with recklessly getting everyone back to school when all of the other nations are taking the phased approach...

When even Common Sense is speaking common sense. :lol:

Oh yeah and edited to add:

 

 

Cases may be coming down but we're still at roughly TWICE the peak we were at in April last year. To get some perspective.

I agree with everything you said but this is slightly misleading, we’re testing over 10x as much as we were at the peak last year, so we’re arguably in a considerably better position than we were in April. Still too early to open schools though. Give it a month.

I wouldn't say it's misleading at all, in fact - that we're more familiar with the virus and how it works is less of an excuse to end lockdown prematurely because we know what will happen. My point was that it was enough to stay locked down then because it was "new" but the government is getting complacent because this has become normal and they can get away with it. Now we know that they're at a high level and we know the R rate has only just dropped below 1 so reopening schools will easily bring that up to 1.5, 2, 2.5 and those nearly 10000 confirmed cases (even with much more testing there will still be more unidentified) will quickly become 15000, 20000 etc.

 

That we're better prepared in regards to testing (which results in higher numbers) doesn't change the fact that we're at an unacceptably high level of cases that will exponentially increase the moment we open up schools rapidly. Not to mention that we were far better equipped to test in August/ September than we were in March/ April and we all know what happened to the numbers there. With barely 1/10 of the numbers we're seeing now it rose gradually to December levels of 50k+.

 

But obvs, we 100% agree this is too soon. x

So he's announced two sets of changes on specific dates. What happened to "data not dates"? The end of March is too far away to announce anything with any certainty.

I'm about to blow my top with all this 'households' thing still going on.

 

Over a year of utterly screwing over people who don't live with families or partners with no end in sight.

At least with his dates he’s included ‘at the earliest’. I must admit it looks quite promising except all the kids back in school on the 8th at once. If it were staggered a bit more, they could still all be back in by April 12th.

 

I hope Wales doesn’t just do everything two or three weeks later like last year. I’ll be annoyed if England can go for a swim when I can’t.

The only club I’ll realistically be seeing for the foreseeable future

 

http://www.simpleimageresizer.com/_uploads/photos/d1aef832/21683786-E7A1-48E8-84FA-79D5D0B1E3E8_55.png

 

 

I totally agree on schools, it seems illogical really and really does seem to be a populist move. I think it would have been much better with key groups going back before Easter and then after the holidays everyone returns. Apart from that, everything seems sensible enough in the proviso there are no mutations that take hold, as it does seem that vaccines have a big effect on transmission, even with a single dose.

 

Isn't the data telling us now the biggest infection rates are in 16-24 and 5-14?

I totally agree on schools, it seems illogical really and really does seem to be a populist move. I think it would have been much better with key groups going back before Easter and then after the holidays everyone returns. Apart from that, everything seems sensible enough in the proviso there are no mutations that take hold, as it does seem that vaccines have a big effect on transmission, even with a single dose.

 

Isn't the data telling us now the biggest infection rates are in 16-24 and 5-14?

 

What about the 15 year olds? :lol:

 

I think the other day they said it was 18-24 year olds and ‘primary school children’.

What about the 15 year olds? :lol:

 

I think the other day they said it was 18-24 year olds and ‘primary school children’.

 

The 15 year olds are obviously covid immune! :lol:

 

Yeah as I suspected and I'm sure that's what I picked up on the news too. Primary school would make sense as it does appear schools are already 50% full. The big worry for me is secondary school kids and the infection rates. That extra few weeks probably allows us to get in to the 40s age category. I think the proposal in itself is fine, but for it to work it really relies on schools being covid proof and I'm not convinced they are, or even taking the necessary steps to minimise the risks.

Thought these so-called anti-lockdown activists would be celebrating the road map out of lockdown :D

Edited February 22, 20214 yr by Hadji

It’s hard to get excited about any ‘roadmap’ that comes from Boris Johnson. I believe his last version said relative normality by November and all over by Christmas.

 

Also people are a bit wary about all 10 million children going back to school on the 8th.

It was too good to be true to expect they would have sense wouldn't it? :')

 

It's like they've learnt nothing from January, they are ignoring the science again for pure economic gains. Northern Ireland has it perfect - Younger year groups first two weeks from the 8th, Secondary/FE leavers next two weeks, all years after Easter. It's so god damn simple...

 

Just seems a purely political move with no regard for the implications, I hope that means school staff are prioritised for the vaccine...oh wait.

This plan confuses me tho because surely they’re not all in the same building? Like there’s no schools with 6 year olds and 17 year olds in the same building right? Like surely no?

 

Unless I’m grasping at the wrong end of the wrong stick.

 

 

 

 

Contrary to many, I think this announcement is the latest in a long line of dumb bullshittery. A phased reopening is fantastic but it should be done based on prevalence and vaccination rates rather than specific dates. Like I know that doesn’t please everyone but it’s the only sustainable way out of this to ensure that on 21/6 when everyone goes f***in feral theres not lockdown 4.0 by mid July. Because as we know from Sugababes line ups, the 4th iteration is always f***ing diabolical

 

Problem with dates is that people ignore the „no earlier than“ part and only see that date and it becomes impossible politically and PR wise to move it when the epidemiological situation says a firm no

21/06 is 2 days after Bojo's birthday. Coincidence? :')

This plan confuses me tho because surely they’re not all in the same building? Like there’s no schools with 6 year olds and 17 year olds in the same building right? Like surely no?

 

Unless I’m grasping at the wrong end of the wrong stick.

Contrary to many, I think this announcement is the latest in a long line of dumb bullshittery. A phased reopening is fantastic but it should be done based on prevalence and vaccination rates rather than specific dates. Like I know that doesn’t please everyone but it’s the only sustainable way out of this to ensure that on 21/6 when everyone goes f***in feral theres not lockdown 4.0 by mid July. Because as we know from Sugababes line ups, the 4th iteration is always f***ing diabolical

 

Problem with dates is that people ignore the „no earlier than“ part and only see that date and it becomes impossible politically and PR wise to move it when the epidemiological situation says a firm no

I love how you can take ANY topic and tie it with Sugababes somehow. :lol:

21/06 is 2 days after Bojo's birthday. Coincidence? :')

Not a coincidence at all!

I love how you can take ANY topic and tie it with Sugababes somehow. :lol:

It’s a real talent of mine. 💁🏼‍♂️