Stay Alert

I just feel that too many people are just refusing to think for themselves this evening. From all that has been said, I find it perfectly clear what is required and I am content to wait for more detail going forward.

There are some very loud voices are refusing to even countenance the idea that there may just be some thinking going on in government. This is really not the time to be playing politics with all this. It is the time to share ideas, ask serious questions and listen to what is being said. And that is what is not going on from some very prominent and loud voices in politics, the media and showbusiness.

This is going to be a long slow progress. There will be mis-steps along the way - because we don't have a set of guidelines to follow. We have to accept that people are actually trying to do their best on our behalf. All this nonsense about conspiracy theories, assuming that any tory is determined to kill as many poor people as possible so that they can make money out of it and so forth is pure poison.

No country has got this 100% right. Everyone is trying to do their best with what resources and information they have to hand. That means different approaches for different countries with different demographics and conditions.

All we can do as individuals is keep ourselves as isolated as possible and be personally responsible.

Ignore the noise tonight on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere. It is noise from people playing politics - not making a serious contribution to national life.

Wouldn’t mind if the Government was honest, we need to open the economy and understand this decision will lead to unnecessary deaths.

We cannot have lockdown and a functioning economy and in the end everything comes down to the creation of money.

The Government is trying to get the best of both worlds which is impossible and leads to mixed messages which are open to interpretation dependant on your viewpoint.

The least I would expect is a clear concise definition of a safe place of work if we are expected to return tomorrow, both employers and employees are taking a risk without at least knowing the minimum requirements be it PPE, distancing, and cleanliness requirements.

Lawyers will be thinking Christmas has come early as they advise people being dismissed or becoming ill at work without some legislation in place laying out the requirements of a safe place of work in an environment where there is an above average risk of catching an infectious disease.

It's not remotely contradictory. You can go to a park, but you have to stay away from other people. I've been doing that already when I go for a walk: there aren't so many people where I live that we're packed shoulder to shoulder so I simply go where the other people aren't. If I walk along a path and someone comes the other way we step aside to maintain separation. If I sit on a bench I sit on one that isn't occupied. If someone else wants to sit there I get up and let them have their turn. This is just what people have already been doing but now we can do it a bit more. How is that contradictory?

but.....but....but.....why do we have to wait til WEDNESDAY!?!?! i want unlimited exercise NOW!

Having been back at work ( I work in a lab) for a few weeks now since the lockdown was started, our lab management team has brought in a few changes to current working practices. These include all non-essential staff to work from home where possible. Prior to returning to work, we had to sign the COVID19 risk assessment that was carried out by our Health and Safety dept.  All of us who work in the labs have been split into two groups who work alternate mornings and afternoons on a weekly basis with a 30 minute buffer zone between the shift changes to ensure that the two groups don't mix. A maximum occupancy has been introduced into all rooms in order to ensure the social distancing can be applied. Our 2 canteens now resemble a school exam room with single tables, again to ensure social distancing can take place. Regular deep  cleaning by onsite facilities staff is also taking place.

With regards to PPE, what is interesting is that whilst face masks are available to everyone, only around 50% of staff on site are currently opting to use them. 

Certainly in the early days of returning to work, there was concern raised by a number of us about whether it was too early to return to work with the lockdown still in its infancy. Though a few weeks down the road, and as far as I can tell and speaking to a few of my colleagues, most of us are glad to be back and get into some sort of normal routine and have that social contact with people again.

From my own perspective, returning to work has not been an issue for me (it has certainly improved my own well being and mental health as I am able to interact with other people).

Not sure where you get that from given the message clearly is still to stay at home as much as possible, given people are being asked still to work at home and not meet anyone outside their household. Stay at home in substance, if not name.

That isn't a lifting of the stay at home restrictions, in fact absolutely nothing has changed at all for the vast majority of people who live alone as there was never a limit on only going out once per day anyway...

While everyone else gets to have picnics and play sports with people from their household, we get continued solitary confinement, except maybe unless we get a sunny day where we can sit in a park and yell at a friend from over 2m away. Not much comfort at all, that. If we still have to stay isolated then how is it safe to lift any restrictions?

I'm just concerned about the knock on effect in schools. If we are asked to reopen in June, then that means we have to have sufficient staff in. This then means that their children need to go somewhere, so I would assume that is their local school. Now if I offer the same to the parents of the children that I have who need to go to work, then where does this stop? I can see that before too long we will have the majority of children in across all year groups. And this is before we start talking about social distancing etc.

talkingheads condemned is a bit harsh but understand your frustration as the message this morning is all over the place and people will make it fit their personal narrative, we all have choices even though for some it could end up with the choice of penury or working in the knowledge they are risking their health.

The thing that irks me the ones calling for the lockdown to ease are primarily the ones able to work from home or have the resources to live comfortably for the duration, need to confirm but heard reported this morning, we expect construction workers, cleaners and shop floor staff to come in whilst the managers are expected to work from home.

As david points out safe workplaces are possible and this should be the benchmark that all companies should strive for and us to expect, we can go into work safely only it needs to be in a safe and controlled manner and not what seems to be an ill thought through knee jerk reaction and david employer has shown we can get through this with well thought out solutions.

I think we're definitely seeing the start of a distinct gap in privilege and freedom between those with cars and those without. If you can drive, as far as I understand it, you can head out into the country for a walk or drive to meet your mum with the usual SD caveats. If you can't, public transport is still going to be essential journeys only, so you remain limited to how far you can get by foot from your front door. I do hope public transport becomes more possible before the summer is out - the prospect of not being able to see my mum in the foreseeable future or being able to get out into the countryside for a day's walk is really terribly depressing.

As a lifelong non-driver, I am starting to consider whether I want to own a car.

I'm fortunate - I work for myself, mostly at home, and I live in a place where most things I need (supermarket, chemist etc) are available within easy walking distance. Visiting my parents is no longer an issue - they're dead - but I don't know when I'll feel comfortable using buses and trains again, and I think it may no longer be a good idea to be entirely dependent on public transport.

sf Yeah, my smugness at saving all that money and not contributing to air pollution has worn off a bit - not sure learning to drive is an option any time soon though! That must be a profession where it's hard to social distance.

I live in a built up bit of London, there is nowhere to park and nowhere I would normally drive to. I would actually feel pretty comfortable on the tube/bus/train from a health risk point of view, but if it's illegal/heavily frowned on I don't really want to do it. Though the rules seem to be getting greyer and greyer so in a couple of months I may well interpret getting on the train to at least be able to sit 2 metres away from my mum as an essential journey.

Not just from coronavirus either. But I've said all I need to say on mental health and access to medical services for reasons other than coronavirus in previous threads and nothing the government has done has changed the position on either of those things.

I am also reliant on public transport as I haven't driven in years and don't have a car. I live 3 hours' walk away from my nearest relative and that just isn't feasible in terms of meeting up in a park 2m apart when that would be at least a 7 hour round trip and there are no public restrooms open anywhere. So either I pay for a taxi or I get on public transport or I continue to live in a state of isolation that is slowly eroding the little mental health I previously had. What a cheery set of options. I'd almost be happier if I was being told to go to work, but I'll be working from home for many more months I suspect.

I appreciate my problems are nothing compared to some, and I'm fortunate I'm not ill, but they do show the rather haphazard nature of how the restrictions are disproportionately affecting different types of people compared to others. And it takes me back to my original question, which is why is it safe to lift restrictions for some but not all?