|
Post by ssshrew on Sept 26, 2020 19:56:11 GMT 1
Well they could be writing about us or we could just change the names round and they could be talking about the USA!! People in glasshouses .......
|
|
|
Post by northwestman on Sept 26, 2020 19:59:43 GMT 1
Well they could be writing about us or we could just change the names round and they could be talking about the USA!! People in glasshouses ....... I'm afraid the parallels are there for all to see.
|
|
|
Post by staffordshrew on Sept 26, 2020 20:02:43 GMT 1
I bet nobody envisaged when this thread "O/T if Cornoavirus intensifys axing mass gatherings considered" started that we were heading for venues being fined £10000 for holding a wedding party, millions in lockdown and things looking worse if anything 6 months on?
Some may want to get back to normal, but if a Tory government limits business and runs up record debts then this is serious. Puts the futility of austerity into perspective.
|
|
|
Post by northwestman on Sept 26, 2020 20:39:02 GMT 1
A flaw uncovered by users of the app yesterday found that people living several miles away from the Welsh border in England are wrongly being referred to Welsh Covid-19 guidelines. Some of the instructions were also sent to them in Welsh.
There was also concern among NHS and social care staff since bringing their phone to their workplace could result in them erroneously being marked as “exposed” on the app despite wearing personal protection equipment. The Department for Health and Social Care said staff in such a situation should pause the contact tracing feature. But there were fears pausing it for a 12-hour shift could mean the app misses infected people that are not patients who staff come into contact with.
Concerns have also been raised that one in three people told to isolate will be a false positive, meaning the app reported wrongly that they were 2m or less from an infected person for 15 minutes or more.
The Times.
|
|
|
Post by northwestman on Sept 27, 2020 10:23:23 GMT 1
'Who would want to be a student in 2020? In Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has cracked down, banning student pub trips and weekend visits home. Freshers arrived on campus, tied in by non-refundable accommodation agreements, to be told that all their teaching is online, their only friends are their flat of 10 random strangers, and that if they break any of the authoritarian rules they may be expelled.
In England, things don’t look much better. Manchester and Newcastle Universities are operating nightly patrols to enforce social distancing, and students across the country have reported that no mental health support is on offer to the thousands forced to self-isolate in halls.
At Oxford, where I’m a studying, the authorities have forced students into signing a “Covid-19 student responsibility agreement”, tying us into accepting future lockdown measures that haven’t yet been specified. If the rhetoric emanating from the Government – not least Matt Hancock’s suggestion that students may be forced to stay at university over Christmas – is anything to go by, Scotland-style campus lockdowns could be coming sooner rather than later.
I don’t think many people outside the Cabinet find it difficult to understand that young people want to socialise, study or get back to work. Yet if this Government can be defined by one policy, it is for shifting the blame for their own mistakes on to anyone but themselves, with young people and students merely the latest group to be blamed by ministers for their own failure to tackle Covid.
Hancock set the scene last month when he blamed “affluent young people” for the rise in cases, and sent the message: “Don’t kill your gran by catching the coronavirus and then passing it on.”
In no other country has the government’s pandemic strategy been to blame the public for the errors of politicians. Nowhere else have those in charge used young people as scapegoats to shift the focus from their own mistakes'.
Daily Telegraph - Oxford Uni Student.
|
|
|
Post by Pilch on Sept 27, 2020 10:41:50 GMT 1
A flaw uncovered by users of the app yesterday found that people living several miles away from the Welsh border in England are wrongly being referred to Welsh Covid-19 guidelines. Some of the instructions were also sent to them in Welsh. There was also concern among NHS and social care staff since bringing their phone to their workplace could result in them erroneously being marked as “exposed” on the app despite wearing personal protection equipment. The Department for Health and Social Care said staff in such a situation should pause the contact tracing feature. But there were fears pausing it for a 12-hour shift could mean the app misses infected people that are not patients who staff come into contact with. Concerns have also been raised that one in three people told to isolate will be a false positive, meaning the app reported wrongly that they were 2m or less from an infected person for 15 minutes or more. The Times. are you suggesting a software has been released that has a few bugs in it ? so basically no different than about 100% off all software ever written ?
|
|
|
Post by zenfootball2 on Sept 27, 2020 10:44:12 GMT 1
most of the problems this country has had with covid-19 is down to people behaving irresposibly and mainly the goverments utter failur to do the basics ,ppe , stoping flights into the country,not rolling out rapid testing, centralized testing which is still not delivering , wasting billions on out sourcing to private companies who have messed up,appointing ministers not up to the job apoointing people who have no relevant knowledge or expeience,failing to take this seriously early on, failing to ramp up services when they had a window to do so ,failling to implement a clear and choehrent approach.
|
|
|
Post by zenfootball2 on Sept 27, 2020 10:48:02 GMT 1
A flaw uncovered by users of the app yesterday found that people living several miles away from the Welsh border in England are wrongly being referred to Welsh Covid-19 guidelines. Some of the instructions were also sent to them in Welsh. There was also concern among NHS and social care staff since bringing their phone to their workplace could result in them erroneously being marked as “exposed” on the app despite wearing personal protection equipment. The Department for Health and Social Care said staff in such a situation should pause the contact tracing feature. But there were fears pausing it for a 12-hour shift could mean the app misses infected people that are not patients who staff come into contact with. Concerns have also been raised that one in three people told to isolate will be a false positive, meaning the app reported wrongly that they were 2m or less from an infected person for 15 minutes or more. The Times. are you suggesting a software has been released that has a few bugs in it ? so basically no different than about 100% off all software ever written ? i agree all soft**te has bugs but this was after it had been recalled to resolve the problems , if you are rolloing out a traking,tracing and monitoring app it is a huge flaw when people cant report they have been tested and dont have it as it distorts the data and people keep getting messages to self isolate and people wont use it as it is not fit for purpose. it has also been highly expensive when better systems are available.
|
|
|
Post by staffordshrew on Sept 27, 2020 10:49:59 GMT 1
A flaw uncovered by users of the app yesterday found that people living several miles away from the Welsh border in England are wrongly being referred to Welsh Covid-19 guidelines. Some of the instructions were also sent to them in Welsh. There was also concern among NHS and social care staff since bringing their phone to their workplace could result in them erroneously being marked as “exposed” on the app despite wearing personal protection equipment. The Department for Health and Social Care said staff in such a situation should pause the contact tracing feature. But there were fears pausing it for a 12-hour shift could mean the app misses infected people that are not patients who staff come into contact with. Concerns have also been raised that one in three people told to isolate will be a false positive, meaning the app reported wrongly that they were 2m or less from an infected person for 15 minutes or more. The Times. are you suggesting a software has been released that has a few bugs in it ? so basically no different than about 100% off all software ever written ? Absolutely right, but we could have taken advantage of software solutions that had been developed around the world and gone through the "bugs" stage, but pompous ass Boris had to stick with his plan to develop the "world's best tracing system" when what we needed was something that would do the job and was available months ago.
|
|
|
Post by northwestman on Sept 27, 2020 10:53:13 GMT 1
A flaw uncovered by users of the app yesterday found that people living several miles away from the Welsh border in England are wrongly being referred to Welsh Covid-19 guidelines. Some of the instructions were also sent to them in Welsh. There was also concern among NHS and social care staff since bringing their phone to their workplace could result in them erroneously being marked as “exposed” on the app despite wearing personal protection equipment. The Department for Health and Social Care said staff in such a situation should pause the contact tracing feature. But there were fears pausing it for a 12-hour shift could mean the app misses infected people that are not patients who staff come into contact with. Concerns have also been raised that one in three people told to isolate will be a false positive, meaning the app reported wrongly that they were 2m or less from an infected person for 15 minutes or more. The Times. are you suggesting a software has been released that has a few bugs in it ? so basically no different than about 100% off all software ever written ? Add these to that list: It emerged that tests taken as a result of the Office for National Statistics surveys, and all those taken via the NHS or Public Health England, cannot be shared on the app. On Friday, the day after the app launched, at least 61,000 people tested in England were unable to enter their results. As a result, thousands of other people who had been in close proximity to those with positive results will never be notified. People who test negative for coronavirus are also unable to share the result with the new app if they did not book the test through it in the first place. It asks for a code to register a test result but a code is only received if the test is positive. The flaw means that all those who tell the app that they have symptoms without entering a result find a self-isolation countdown begins even if they have tested negative. Millions of users are unable to download the app in the first place because of the age of their phone. The government believes that about 13% of smartphone owners in England and Wales have non-compatible technology. Many of these will be older people, who are less likely to have the latest technology but among the most at risk of coronavirus in society.
|
|
|
Post by Pilch on Sept 27, 2020 10:59:18 GMT 1
the trouble is you can test software to breaking point and it works just fine
you release it and all of a sudden different scenarios pop up here and there , most big software releases have demos and betas, even the giants like microsoft always without fail release something new and then constantly for the entire lifetime of the programe have to keep fixing,ammending and updating it
but of course the bugs in the nhs are the first issue any software has even had, and presumably, boris wasnt up to scratch with his coding when he wrote it
|
|
|
Post by staffordshrew on Sept 27, 2020 11:08:24 GMT 1
'Who would want to be a student in 2020? In Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has cracked down, banning student pub trips and weekend visits home. Freshers arrived on campus, tied in by non-refundable accommodation agreements, to be told that all their teaching is online, their only friends are their flat of 10 random strangers, and that if they break any of the authoritarian rules they may be expelled. In England, things don’t look much better. Manchester and Newcastle Universities are operating nightly patrols to enforce social distancing, and students across the country have reported that no mental health support is on offer to the thousands forced to self-isolate in halls. At Oxford, where I’m a studying, the authorities have forced students into signing a “Covid-19 student responsibility agreement”, tying us into accepting future lockdown measures that haven’t yet been specified. If the rhetoric emanating from the Government – not least Matt Hancock’s suggestion that students may be forced to stay at university over Christmas – is anything to go by, Scotland-style campus lockdowns could be coming sooner rather than later. I don’t think many people outside the Cabinet find it difficult to understand that young people want to socialise, study or get back to work. Yet if this Government can be defined by one policy, it is for shifting the blame for their own mistakes on to anyone but themselves, with young people and students merely the latest group to be blamed by ministers for their own failure to tackle Covid. Hancock set the scene last month when he blamed “affluent young people” for the rise in cases, and sent the message: “Don’t kill your gran by catching the coronavirus and then passing it on.” In no other country has the government’s pandemic strategy been to blame the public for the errors of politicians. Nowhere else have those in charge used young people as scapegoats to shift the focus from their own mistakes'. Daily Telegraph - Oxford Uni Student. It was always going to be that after Fresher's week there would be loads of cases and learning would e on line, I posted as such weeks ago. For Christmas we have to have a plan to get students back home in November/December when there is a window of opportuniy at each uni with no one at that moment isolating. They can do the work and look it lectures on line. It's important as it's a mental thing, with students feeling marooned away from home there will be more mental illness, even suicides. Bear in mind that the concern about "taking the virus home" is a bit spurious as, if they hadn't gone to uni, a bunch of 18 yerar olds would just be "taking the virus home" from pubs and other venues.
|
|
|
Post by staffordshrew on Sept 27, 2020 11:10:41 GMT 1
the trouble is you can test software to breaking point and it works just fine you release it and all of a sudden different scenarios pop up here and there , most big software releases have demos and betas, even the giants like microsoft always without fail release something new and then constantly for the entire lifetime of the programe have to keep fixing,ammending and updating it but of course the bugs in the nhs are the first issue any software has even had, and presumably, boris wasnt up to scratch with his coding when he wrote it Yes, but, as I said before, other countries have gone through developing trace apps and we could have learned from them.
|
|
|
Post by Pilch on Sept 27, 2020 11:14:40 GMT 1
the trouble is you can test software to breaking point and it works just fine you release it and all of a sudden different scenarios pop up here and there , most big software releases have demos and betas, even the giants like microsoft always without fail release something new and then constantly for the entire lifetime of the programe have to keep fixing,ammending and updating it but of course the bugs in the nhs are the first issue any software has even had, and presumably, boris wasnt up to scratch with his coding when he wrote it Yes, but, as I said before, other countries have gone through developing trace apps and we could have learned from them. and they didnt have any issues ?
|
|
|
Post by staffordshrew on Sept 27, 2020 11:17:56 GMT 1
Yes, but, as I said before, other countries have gone through developing trace apps and we could have learned from them. and they didnt have any issues ? Their issues, which happened months ago, are what we would have learned from.
|
|
|
Post by northwestman on Sept 27, 2020 11:26:01 GMT 1
It's not NHS test and trace.
It's Serco, Sitel, Mitie, Deloitte, Amazon, G4S, Sodexo, Boots, Randox test & trace.
That's why it's such a mess.
|
|
|
Post by northwestman on Sept 27, 2020 11:37:51 GMT 1
Matt Cartoon in the Telegraph:
Mother on phone to student - " don't come back from University with a mountain of dirty laundry! I'd rather you came home with coronavirus".
As someone who regularly did a round trip of 350 miles every 3 weeks from Bristol to Northwich to do just that rather than explore the delights of a launderette, I can identify with this.
Fortunately, the wife of one of my fellow students eventually over the responsibility.
|
|
|
Post by Pilch on Sept 27, 2020 11:37:55 GMT 1
and they didnt have any issues ? Their issues, which happened months ago, are what we would have learned from.
you think microsoft would release a bug free version of windows after 34 years development
|
|
|
Post by northwestman on Sept 27, 2020 12:00:06 GMT 1
And so the NHS track and trace scams begin:
‘Good afternoon I'm calling from the NHS track and trace service. According to our system, you are likely to have been in close proximity to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. This means that you now need to self-isolate for 7 days and take a COVID-19 test.' 'OK. Can you tell me who that person was?' 'I'm not able to tell you that. That is confidential information.' 'Right. Um... so ....' 'But you do need to be tested within the next 72 hours. So can I just get the best mailing address so that we can send a kit to you?' 'Ok (gives address)' I just need to take a payment card so that we can finalize this and send the kit to you.' 'Sorry - a payment card? I thought this was all free?' 'No - I'm afraid not. There is a one-off fee of £50 for the kit and test results. Could you read off the long card number for me, please, when you're ready.' 'No - that's not right. This is part of the NHS so there's no charge.' 'I'm afraid there is. Can you give me the card number please - this is very important, and there are penalties for not complying.'
This is how scammers work. And vulnerable people will fall for it.
|
|
|
Post by staffordshrew on Sept 27, 2020 12:12:14 GMT 1
Their issues, which happened months ago, are what we would have learned from.
you think microsoft would release a bug free version of windows after 34 years development Us taxpayers, the ones being taken for mugs, have a right to ask what exactly was the Isle of Wight trial all about? Why didn't these issues come to light when the software was released to the public in an area of Great Britain?
|
|
|
Post by staffordshrew on Sept 27, 2020 12:17:39 GMT 1
And so the NHS track and trace scams begin: ‘Good afternoon I'm calling from the NHS track and trace service. According to our system, you are likely to have been in close proximity to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. This means that you now need to self-isolate for 7 days and take a COVID-19 test.' 'OK. Can you tell me who that person was?' 'I'm not able to tell you that. That is confidential information.' 'Right. Um... so ....' 'But you do need to be tested within the next 72 hours. So can I just get the best mailing address so that we can send a kit to you?' 'Ok (gives address)' I just need to take a payment card so that we can finalize this and send the kit to you.' 'Sorry - a payment card? I thought this was all free?' 'No - I'm afraid not. There is a one-off fee of £50 for the kit and test results. Could you read off the long card number for me, please, when you're ready.' 'No - that's not right. This is part of the NHS so there's no charge.' 'I'm afraid there is. Can you give me the card number please - this is very important, and there are penalties for not complying.' This is how scammers work. And vulnerable people will fall for it. It's 14 days and I would use the "It's purely to verify your identity, no money will be taken out of your account" line.
|
|
|
Post by Pilch on Sept 27, 2020 12:46:40 GMT 1
you think microsoft would release a bug free version of windows after 34 years development Us taxpayers, the ones being taken for mugs, have a right to ask what exactly was the Isle of Wight trial all about? Why didn't these issues come to light when the software was released to the public in an area of Great Britain? you've obviously not ever dabbled in writing software, i have albiet on a small scale, its never perfect, there is always a new problem, they can nearly always be fixed or at least have a work around but the job is never finished and can always be improved, something on this scale is extraordinary, on the other hand the easiest thing in the world is to critisize it . I used it several times yesterday, fortunalty not had any alerts yet, but one thing i learnt is it saved me wrting my name and details in a book everywhere i went
|
|
|
Post by staffordshrew on Sept 27, 2020 12:54:54 GMT 1
Us taxpayers, the ones being taken for mugs, have a right to ask what exactly was the Isle of Wight trial all about? Why didn't these issues come to light when the software was released to the public in an area of Great Britain? you've obviously not ever dabbled in writing software, i have albiet on a small scale, its never perfect, there is always a new problem, they can nearly always be fixed or at least have a work around but the job is never finished and can always be improved, something on this scale is extraordinary, on the other hand the easiest thing in the world is to critisize it . I used it several times yesterday, fortunalty not had any alerts yet, but one thing i learnt is it saved me wrting my name and details in a book everywhere i went I have specified what the idiots writing the software are writing it for. I have also had my team tell me that a new version of the software had gone back to having the same bug as a previous version. When the software "genius" came back from his dinner I asked him how this could happen? "Oh, I forgot to reapply the patch on this memory stick in my desk drawer" was the reply.
|
|
|
Post by AlisonS on Sept 27, 2020 13:39:53 GMT 1
Matt Cartoon in the Telegraph: Mother on phone to student - " don't come back from University with a mountain of dirty laundry! I'd rather you came home with coronavirus". As someone who regularly did a round trip of 350 miles every 3 weeks from Bristol to Northwich to do just that rather than explore the delights of a launderette, I can identify with this. Fortunately, the wife of one of my fellow students eventually over the responsibility. Failed to master the basic skills of rigging up a washing line in the corner of a bed sit??
|
|
|
Post by The Shropshire Tenor on Sept 27, 2020 13:43:45 GMT 1
'Who would want to be a student in 2020? In Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has cracked down, banning student pub trips and weekend visits home. Freshers arrived on campus, tied in by non-refundable accommodation agreements, to be told that all their teaching is online, their only friends are their flat of 10 random strangers, and that if they break any of the authoritarian rules they may be expelled. In England, things don’t look much better. Manchester and Newcastle Universities are operating nightly patrols to enforce social distancing, and students across the country have reported that no mental health support is on offer to the thousands forced to self-isolate in halls. At Oxford, where I’m a studying, the authorities have forced students into signing a “Covid-19 student responsibility agreement”, tying us into accepting future lockdown measures that haven’t yet been specified. If the rhetoric emanating from the Government – not least Matt Hancock’s suggestion that students may be forced to stay at university over Christmas – is anything to go by, Scotland-style campus lockdowns could be coming sooner rather than later. I don’t think many people outside the Cabinet find it difficult to understand that young people want to socialise, study or get back to work. Yet if this Government can be defined by one policy, it is for shifting the blame for their own mistakes on to anyone but themselves, with young people and students merely the latest group to be blamed by ministers for their own failure to tackle Covid. Hancock set the scene last month when he blamed “affluent young people” for the rise in cases, and sent the message: “Don’t kill your gran by catching the coronavirus and then passing it on.” In no other country has the government’s pandemic strategy been to blame the public for the errors of politicians. Nowhere else have those in charge used young people as scapegoats to shift the focus from their own mistakes'. Daily Telegraph - Oxford Uni Student. It was always going to be that after Fresher's week there would be loads of cases and learning would e on line, I posted as such weeks ago. For Christmas we have to have a plan to get students back home in November/December when there is a window of opportuniy at each uni with no one at that moment isolating. They can do the work and look it lectures on line. It's important as it's a mental thing, with students feeling marooned away from home there will be more mental illness, even suicides. Bear in mind that the concern about "taking the virus home" is a bit spurious as, if they hadn't gone to uni, a bunch of 18 yerar olds would just be "taking the virus home" from pubs and other venues. One of my granddaughters is a fresher at Manchester Metropolitan University and is literally being held prisoner there. The university authorities have behaved disgracefully and acted without any concern for the welfare of students, these are young people away from home for the first time who have already had to go through the stresses of the A level fiasco and the difficulties of school life during a pandemic. A flatmate of hers tested positive 12 days ago and the 8 of them who share accommodation have been isolating, they should be due to come out of isolation on Tuesday. We were having a Zoom chat with her on Friday when she looked out of her window and was surprised to see the gates being locked and being guarded by security men. Later she got an email from the uni stating that because of the number of positive cases the accommodation blocks were being locked down for 14 days, this would effectively mean that her flat would be locked up for a month. The email was sent after 6 pm on Friday, after all admin and support staff had gone for the weekend, so the students had no one to provide advice or support. The uni has since said that they made arrangements for food deliveries, this consisted of a link to the local ASDA! The only information the students have received is to state the sanctions they will receive if they don’t accept their imprisonment. Unlike prisoners they can’t have visitors, can’t take exercise and don’t get fed or have their laundry done. The only communications from the uni are punitive. Students have been threatened with expulsion for displaying a poster saying HMP MMU in a window, they have been told that anything displayed in a window will invoke a punishment. Like most others, my granddaughter is paying her way through uni by working part time, she’s already had a fortnight off due to isolating and fears she will now lose her job. Obviously this is a live situation and I doubt whether the uni will be able to justify its position morally or legally. They will have to back down through pressure, but it makes me cynical about the sort of people in authority when I see this type of behaviour.
|
|
|
Post by staffordshrew on Sept 27, 2020 13:50:50 GMT 1
Matt Cartoon in the Telegraph: Mother on phone to student - " don't come back from University with a mountain of dirty laundry! I'd rather you came home with coronavirus". As someone who regularly did a round trip of 350 miles every 3 weeks from Bristol to Northwich to do just that rather than explore the delights of a launderette, I can identify with this. Fortunately, the wife of one of my fellow students eventually over the responsibility. Failed to master the basic skills of rigging up a washing line in the corner of a bed sit?? Found a diamond who was prepared to wash his dirty pants. How times have changed, it's time men protested and burned their pants!
|
|
|
Post by martinshrew on Sept 27, 2020 13:51:10 GMT 1
Us taxpayers, the ones being taken for mugs, have a right to ask what exactly was the Isle of Wight trial all about? Why didn't these issues come to light when the software was released to the public in an area of Great Britain? you've obviously not ever dabbled in writing software, i have albiet on a small scale, its never perfect, there is always a new problem, they can nearly always be fixed or at least have a work around but the job is never finished and can always be improved, something on this scale is extraordinary, on the other hand the easiest thing in the world is to critisize it . I used it several times yesterday, fortunalty not had any alerts yet, but one thing i learnt is it saved me wrting my name and details in a book everywhere i went Unlike at least half of the thread you seem to be following the rules, utilising the technology to save you writing your name and messing about and generally just getting on best you can. The other half or more of the thread are just being awkward, obstructive and moaning about absolutely everything. It's a bit sad really.
|
|
|
Post by staffordshrew on Sept 27, 2020 13:58:33 GMT 1
you've obviously not ever dabbled in writing software, i have albiet on a small scale, its never perfect, there is always a new problem, they can nearly always be fixed or at least have a work around but the job is never finished and can always be improved, something on this scale is extraordinary, on the other hand the easiest thing in the world is to critisize it . I used it several times yesterday, fortunalty not had any alerts yet, but one thing i learnt is it saved me wrting my name and details in a book everywhere i went Unlike at least half of the thread you seem to be following the rules, utilising the technology to save you writing your name and messing about and generally just getting on best you can. The other half or more of the thread are just being awkward, obstructive and moaning about absolutely everything. It's a bit sad really. That fine old British tradition of muddling through with stuff that isn't quite up tp scratch. But are we not entitled to know why a full scale test on the public in the Isle of Wight didn't show up the problems months ago?
|
|
|
Post by Pilch on Sept 27, 2020 14:03:24 GMT 1
Unlike at least half of the thread you seem to be following the rules, utilising the technology to save you writing your name and messing about and generally just getting on best you can. The other half or more of the thread are just being awkward, obstructive and moaning about absolutely everything. It's a bit sad really. That fine old British tradition of muddling through with stuff that isn't quite up tp scratch. But are we not entitle to know why a full scale test on the public in the Isle of Wight didn't show up the problems months ago? for starter someone mentioned borders of wales causing problems, IOW wouldnt have encounted this, for those that know their postcodes Abersytwyth for example has an SY postcode and has caused havoc with no end of business's once they went online, our local Asda, not sure if its still the case but very recentlly delivered to Aber for home delivery, seems madness but its true
|
|
|
Post by davycrockett on Sept 27, 2020 14:09:48 GMT 1
It was always going to be that after Fresher's week there would be loads of cases and learning would e on line, I posted as such weeks ago. For Christmas we have to have a plan to get students back home in November/December when there is a window of opportuniy at each uni with no one at that moment isolating. They can do the work and look it lectures on line. It's important as it's a mental thing, with students feeling marooned away from home there will be more mental illness, even suicides. Bear in mind that the concern about "taking the virus home" is a bit spurious as, if they hadn't gone to uni, a bunch of 18 yerar olds would just be "taking the virus home" from pubs and other venues. One of my granddaughters is a fresher at Manchester Metropolitan University and is literally being held prisoner there. The university authorities have behaved disgracefully and acted without any concern for the welfare of students, these are young people away from home for the first time who have already had to go through the stresses of the A level fiasco and the difficulties of school life during a pandemic. A flatmate of hers tested positive 12 days ago and the 8 of them who share accommodation have been isolating, they should be due to come out of isolation on Tuesday. We were having a Zoom chat with her on Friday when she looked out of her window and was surprised to see the gates being locked and being guarded by security men. Later she got an email from the uni stating that because of the number of positive cases the accommodation blocks were being locked down for 14 days, this would effectively mean that her flat would be locked up for a month. The email was sent after 6 pm on Friday, after all admin and support staff had gone for the weekend, so the students had no one to provide advice or support. The uni has since said that they made arrangements for food deliveries, this consisted of a link to the local ASDA! The only information the students have received is to state the sanctions they will receive if they don’t accept their imprisonment. Unlike prisoners they can’t have visitors, can’t take exercise and don’t get fed or have their laundry done. The only communications from the uni are punitive. Students have been threatened with expulsion for displaying a poster saying HMP MMU in a window, they have been told that anything displayed in a window will invoke a punishment. Like most others, my granddaughter is paying her way through uni by working part time, she’s already had a fortnight off due to isolating and fears she will now lose her job. Obviously this is a live situation and I doubt whether the uni will be able to justify its position morally or legally. They will have to back down through pressure, but it makes me cynical about the sort of people in authority when I see this type of behaviour. Can understand your frustrations BUT the number of positive results since students returned shows they’re not taking social distancing seriously (wouldn’t have expected them to). Some will be being very responsible like your granddaughter but the majority are partying.... There was a student on the radio this morning saying since they’d been forced to ‘isolate’ it was one long party with no social distancing of those with from those without hence the locking of the gatesAt Halls I guess... Sending student back (and scold kids come to that) was always going to cause a massive surge which was obvious to everyone, in fact many cancelled the Uni year knowing what was going to happen.. Must be awful for families unable to help with no prospect of an early ‘release’ But what would happen if they were all sent home?
|
|