RandoEFC

Iain Duncan Smith demanding increased benefits the apocalypse really is here.

Is there a link anywhere to a simple description of some sort as to how China managed to stamp this thing out?

We all have to make judgements on students throughout their time at school but they don't care until it's an actual GCSE or A Level grade. A lot of them think that we can just "give them grade X" now and we won't if they don't deserve it because we're professional. The same kids and most of their parents will kick off and we'll be legally obliged to let them appeal and provide evidence and it's going to be a total nightmare.

For the first point, I don't think I have to explain how much things have changed since the 60s, you're seriously underestimating the entitlement of modern day students and their parents. If I fairly award a B grade to a student and they think they have an A, we could hear about it for months on end. The days of being trusted as a professional are long gone. As for the younger/older argument, you're totally stereotyping. I'm one of the youngest teachers in my setting and also one of the calmest. Anyone who is anxious has every reason to be for the reasons I've stated in the previous post. To suggest that the silly young teachers will appreciate the calming influence of older teachers just because they're older is patronising because the majority, like me, aren't panicking, they're simply trying to do everything they can to get organised and limit the damage to the kids education.

I have only sympathy for my colleagues across the UK. The message to schools has been that we're staying open to keep kids out of the house until too many teachers get sick to keep going. The message we've had is "when enough of you get sick to close the schools down, then we'll close the schools down". We've been made to feel as if giving the government a bit more time to make a plan of some sort is more important than our health. I'm calm about it, but I can understand why it's caused such an overwhelming anxiety for some people. There isn't even a confirmed case on the Isle of Man yet, but I'm still getting questions every lesson from the younger ones about what's going to happen when I don't have any answers for them. The rest of today I'm teaching all GCSE and A Level classes who have been told that their exams are cancelled and the government haven't yet settled on what to do about their grades. Many of them have places at colleges, universities, jobs depending on their exam grades this summer. I've personally never been in a position to not be able to offer any help or guidance to students in this scenario. There's even talk of teachers having to assign grades themselves which puts us under incredible pressure and potentially drives a wedge between schools and their students and their families. None of this is anyone's fault. The government certainly should take their time to find the right solution and there are more immediately urgent matters at hand, but for those of us who care about all of the above, yes this is causing us a huge amount of anxiety. I can't imagine what it's like for schools in England where teachers are dropping like flies and there's still an expectation for some sort of work to be provided for the kids.

Yeah great finish to that last episode.

Exams delayed or cancelled as well.

Scotland closing schools from Friday as well. Johnson says a decision on English schools is 'imminent'. If so, that sounds like they'll be announcing closures because keeping them open is a lack of a decision.

I thought she seemed high when I first watched it but I've barely heard of her so she could just as easily be that air headed normally.

The UK government has just committed £330bn in guarantees to compensate individuals and companies who will be compromised financially over the coming months which is good.

From yesterday they've instructed two weeks of self-isolation for anyone who arrives on the island. Hopefully if people stick to that we won't get hit as bad, but if this thing takes off, we live in a place with one hospital. Reportedly we have 8 ICU beds which is absolutely terrifying.

Our school is already sending kids home if they have a cough, and we still have no confirmed cases on the island and are at least a week behind the UK in this process. School closures will be sooner than they're saying.

There's a lot of pressure coming to close the schools. It'll come this week I'm sure. It's simply ridiculous to suggest that avoiding pubs and stuff will help when you've got hundreds of households sharing germs through their kids on a daily basis. This argument that shutting schools down will disrupt the NHS because workers will have to stay at home and look after their kids doesn't wash. Also the argument about grandparents having to look after kids and being vulnerable to their germs. If we're going to assume the kids have the virus why is it better to send them to school to share them with all of their classmates and teachers and increase the spread even more? And how many families with kids of school age have two parents who both work for the NHS or can't work from home, and not a single auntie, uncle or under-70 grandparent that can help them out with babysitting? It also goes to highlight how teachers and schools are perceived more as daycare than a place which exists to provide an education to young people. Two solutions could be to close the majority of schools and keep just a few open so that kids of NHS workers have somewhere to be looked after. This is far from ideal logistically but at least it gets most of the kids in isolation. Or the government could fund more childcare for these families in some way, even if it means redistributing teachers temporarily to look after kids. None of this is ideal but it's absolute madness keeping schools open for much longer. As a teacher, I already catch some sort of mild cold or bug at least once every term. It's incredibly uncomfortable if you, for example, live with your elderly parent as a primary caregiver, and are asked to go and expose yourself to germs from hundreds of different households on a daily basis. I can't believe people are actually buying the fact that closing schools would cause more harm than good. Once again, the rest of the world has been forced to go down that route. Why do we think we know better and wait until we have no choice instead of being proactive?

I enjoy the claim that "new data" is driving this change in strategy. It isnt new data. The data was there in the first place, the WHO told us we were being reckless as did most other developed countries. We really are an idiotic country these days aren't we? I actually had half a hope that we might make sure we have an idea what we're doing now that we're dealing with an actual global disaster instead of the identity crisis that was Brexit. Now I just feel stupid and the voice in the back of my head is reminding me that this is the government that's in power because of a massive lie they printed on the side of a bus 4 years ago to trick idiots into voting to make their own lives harder. Oh well, all you can do now is hope they get it right from here.

I just read this thread on Twitter. Can somebody please convince me that we haven't wasted almost a week of thinking we know better "cause we're British something something Blitz spirit" when even us spanners with no medical expertise were looking at other countries and questioning why none of them were taking the same approach as us and sending us messages to do the exact opposite of what we've done? Because that's where I'm at right now.

Lewis is too woke to get coronavirus. Idris eats too much meat and probably doesn't wash his hands because he doesn't understand how #blessed he is to be alive. Still we rise.

Idris Elba the latest famous person to be diagnosed.

Leaves far too much open to interpretation there. Meanwhile on the Isle of Man they have finally confirmed that the TT is cancelled.

It's painful that the intersection between people who are stupid enough to think they won't be able to go shopping for the rest of their lives for some reason, and selfish enough to respond by buying everything themselves and fuck everyone else, is so large.

I'm actually disgusted by the "every man for himself" panic-buying that has happened across the UK this weekend. It's even happened where I live where there are still no confirmed cases. There was a picture doing the rounds on Twitter yesterday of a pensioner stood alone in an empty aisle in Sainsbury's peering down at his shopping list. What's actually wrong with people? How fucking thick can you be to think that self-isolation means you'll be locked in a bunker for months. Get enough food to survive for the next week and let everyone else get what they need as well.

I did as well after I posted it here but too lazy to look up whether or not it's true. The video is helpful and makes more sense than the initial reasoning which talked about getting immunity into the population. I still have an issue though with the idea that you can only quarantine once. If it's explained properly why it's necessary to quarantine for longer or go back into quarantine then people will just have do it. People are dumb, selfish and sometimes reckless but when it comes to life and death, we are ultimately wired to survive and perpetuate the existence of the species.

Isn't it a bit insane to be getting on planes to Spain though? If you're going for a week even, you really think you'll be able to get back next weekend?

It's good practice for when school closes and I have to try and teach students through a computer .

Number of deaths ÷ number of confirmed cases x 100.