This isn’t a real #Lockdown#PrimeMinister !The roads are busy, schools have far more “key worker” kids than in Mar & #earlyyears settings are open “as normal”.
In my local #Medicentre & @PostOffice ,9/12 in, #masks ARE OPTIONAL! A place countless people go, MASKS R OPTIONAL! 2/
These are today’s numbers #PrimeMinister, EVERY case, admission or death is a person with family & friends.
Our #NHS 💙is on its knees, staff are sick & exhausted, taking to social media for help. We are doing our very best but things are really bad.
REALLY BAD! @BorisJohnson
No amount of “fair wind in our sails” #PrimeMinister will change the tsunami of illness & death that lies ahead.
Your relentless over optimism is now dangerous!
The #CovidVaccine gives us hope but at current rates of #vaccination that chink of light is still a long way off. 4/
Your repeated failure to be proactive rather than reactive has turned #Covid19UK into a public health & economic catastrophe #PrimeMinister. 4th JAN 21🦠!
There appears to be little chance of steering our #Titanic#Covid liner away from the iceberg now, whatever you might say. 5/
After 9/12 we’ve got some form of border testing in place. 9 MONTHS! Hallelujah!
The #worldbeating#Serco#TestTraceIsolate limps on while support for isolators appears non-existent. Where is @didoharding we ask? It’s anyone’s guess!
“Move on” I hear you say, #PrimeMinister.6/
Advice to workplaces is woefully inadequate. “Keyworker” is a loose term. #Schools are struggling, #teachers & #earlyyears staff are the UK equivalent of the men kicking radioactive rubble off the roof in #Chernobyl.
Inadequate or absent #PPE for a deadly #airborne virus. 7/
Alas, it is w/ a heavy heart I must tell you #PrimeMinister that it’s going to get a WHOLE LOT WORSE before it gets better.
STOP the over optimistic nonsense & GET A GRIP!
Stop blaming the #Variant & accept that if you don’t change tack, our dead will fill 2 #Olympic stadia. 9/
@MattHancock says yet again that “Schools are safe”, because children are at low risk of serious disease.
With current v high disease prevalence (maybe 1 in 20 or 30 in #London ,#1in50 elsewhere) MORE children will catch #coronavirus & MORE children will become very ill. 1/8🧵
In itself that’s not good. There are some v sick kids around the country right now & because they often present differently they may not be diagnosed so quickly. Often with gastrointestinal & joint symptoms & odd rashes. Parents & educators may not be aware of this. 2/8
Families, especially those in large multigenerational or BAME households are already at increased risk of severe #COVID19. #Teachers & #earlyyears staff in JAN 21 STILL have virtually no #PPE. There will be many over 50s & others who are CV/CEV. This is not good. 3/8
IMO #teachers & #earlyyears staff settings are being SACRIFICED to give an illusion of “SAFETY”. The Gvmt know that if the majority of parents realise these settings are the places where they are likely to catch #coronavirus from, many will not want to their kids to go. 1/9
They’re keen to perpetuate the belief that there is “nothing to see here” in order to keep the work force working.
I’m not naive, I know the economic fallout from more things locking down won’t be good. But w/ so many children in school #Lockdown3 will go on for longer. 2/
Think #Chernobyl.
The men on the roof. Sacrificed to show the world that those in charge knew what they were doing. This is the same.
How many teachers have had #COVID19 ? How many have died? The full stats remain illusive. They are our family, friends & community members. 3/
NO ONE is accusing parents of being selfish!
BUT the situation in the UK is DESPERATELY SERIOUS!
The more kids in school & nurseries, the more healthcare workers will get ill or need to isolate due to #Covid impacting on #NHS staff levels. 1/5
AND the more vulnerable kids take #COVID19 home to families who’re already at increased risk of serious #Covid ,will result in higher demand for Critical Care/ITU beds & stop other care. #Dfe need to urgently change the access for parents from “key” to “ESSENTIAL” workers. 2/
No one is suggesting it is easy. I can see how hard it must be to supervise #remotelearning & work from home.
But IF you can manage your kids at home even for a couple of weeks it would make a big difference to this crisis, which is rapidly becoming a catastrophe!
Really! 3/
VERY IMPORTANT THREAD.
The @ONS stats on #COVID19 risk for teachers were based on cases in 53 teachers-2 nursery, 5 primary, 7 secondary & 39 unknown type. They were taken in the period 2 Sep-16 Oct BEFORE the surge in cases in <19s. 1/
We keep being told that #teachers are NOT at increased risk - “they” said that about drs & nurses in the #firstwave.
It simply does not add up that workers surrounded by children (esp teenagers) for many hours in crowded indoor spaces without #PPE are not at increased risk? 2/
As a non-statistician I’ll be brave & suggest that these stats were taken from too small a group, too early in the Autumn Term & should not be being used to claim safety for a whole profession now.
Stats on admissions, deaths & #LongCovid in #teachers appear scanty/absent. 3/
Please experts, could I ask-
We’ve repeatedly been told that @ONS stats say that #teachers aren’t at increased risk of catching #Covid than other key workers. I’m no statistician but I can’t work out how can that be true as they don’t wear #PPE & are surrounded by children....1)
....in the 2 groups with the highest number of cases.
There seems a rabbit off somewhere??
It doesn’t make sense.
Could the stats be wrong?
A recent thread highlighted that “maybe” they were based on quite dated figures & on small sample sizes? 2)
Couldn’t agree with you more @chrischirp!
Today in my local #Medicentre a pharmacist & 2 dispensary workers were chatting & joking w/out a #mask in sight! Then I saw several patients wearing those UTTERLY USELESS nylon #masks which slip/slide & they touch constantly. A 🧵...
And a Pt wearing a surgical mask that appeared to have been worn > 50 times it was so filthy!
We’ve had a whole term where kids haven’t worn #MasksInClassrooms & the anti #mask#keepschoolsopen AT ALL COSTS gang who don’t care 1 jot how many #teachers/families get ill w/ #Covid.
Just remember the vote on #FreeSchoolMeals in Oct!
Virtually EVERY @Conservative MP voted AGAINST this simple & low cost way to feed our most vulnerable children DURING A PANDEMIC!
Now they tell us it’s all about child welfare... I have my doubts!