Continuing the discussion from London going into Tier 3:
Sainsburys is going to be a war zone tomorrow.
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Why? Demand for small turkeys?
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London is usually abandoned over Christmas, everyone who had planned to go away is now stuck in London with no festive food and no delivery slots available. Plus people just love a little panic buy, donāt they?
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Bell Green was very busy about an hour ago with long queues.
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Every cloud has a silver lining folks. At least the aggressive beggar (TAB) will not be able to approach anyone outside of his support bubble.
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This may be far more hassle than itās worth, but is there anyone who now canāt have a planned big gathering and has a load more food than they need for Christmas? If so, I (and possibly lots of othersā¦) might be able to buy any surplus to avoid wasting anything/having to battle it out at Sainsburyās. Let us know!
Or any businesses that canāt open too, would be happy to avoid waste and offset businessā losses as much as possible.
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I can assure you that London is not usually abandoned over Christmas, Estelle. Iām always here, and Iām never alone. Lots of people at midnight mass - though probably not this year. Perhaps youāre thinking of young people who would normally go home to stay with parents?
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If people suddenly have extra, is there a charity that would take it and distribute to poorer families?
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The Foodbank on Malham Road - if itās non-perishable. When I was taking my donation during the week, the queue to collect was going down the street.
Iām sure they would be grateful for anything you could offer.
Merry Christmas!
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Was in Bell Green Sainsburyās earlier today - plenty of stock on the shelves, no queue to get in. Even the car charging spots were available, which I was pleasantly surprised by.
Feeling quietly smug that we made no plans to see anyone over the festive period, despite previously being āallowedā to.
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Demand for everything imported. now thereās a blockade of Britain.
As you may have heard in the media, we declared an internal incident at Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) on Sunday 27 December as a precautionary step due to the high number of Covid-positive patients we are seeing at the hospital. We have been following our plan to cope with a second wave of Covid-19 and are working closely with hospital and healthcare partners in south east London.
All our patients have received the treatment they need, including intensive care treatment for Covid-19 and oxygen therapy as required. We are continuing to monitor the situation to ensure that this remains the case.
Someone we know who works in the NHS said they were unable to get ambulances yesterday to move patients - I think yesterday was particularly bad for ambulance demand in London.
The next few months (or more) before enough people get vaccincated look like they are going to be very difficult.
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On Monday primary schools in Lewisham will be open (secondary schools will be closed). Schools in Bromley and Southwark will be closed.
Good job the virus sticks to borough boundaries otherwise we would all be in trouble.
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I think these decisions may be based on current and predicted hospital pressure, which is more of a geographic thing.
Still, if the new variant(s) are so contagious, I agree that delaying opening of all schools would be sensible - though it should be coupled with a commitment to reduce summer holidays so education isnāt lost. Make hay while the sun shines as it were.
Those primaries that do open could easily be self-limiting though; a few confirmed cases can easily put a class or year into self-isolation.
Interesting also is the profile of cases by age in London (though maybe it should be compared against number of tests and population at each age bracket):
Source: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/coronavirus--covid-19--cases
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Indeed.
Lewisham and Greenwich are surrounded by the following boroughs, all of which will have primary schools closed initially:
Croydon
Bromley
Southwark
Lambeth
Bexley
Barking and Dagenham
Newham
Tower Hamlets
Greenwhich as we may remember wanted to close schools before Christmas due to high numbers of cases but were threatened with legal action if they proceeded.
It seems only a metter of time before Lewisham follows suit.
My personal preference would be for all primary schools to give children the opportunity to do online learning where possible. So key workers, vulnareable children still go in, as do those who canāt be home schooled for various reasons, which if done for 3 months or so you would hope would significantly reduce interactions and tranmission and we would come out at the other end with many more people vaccinated, and hopefully all those working in schools.
I think extending the school term would make sense. Of course this would be additional work for teachers but might be something that has to be looked at.
Iām unsure what factors are taking into consideration in these decisions, and suspect some will be ājudgement callsā. Seeing that as per my link above it seems there is already stress in Lewisham and Greenwich hospitals, and in view of the issues in surrounding areas, it does seem surprising Lewisham (and Greenwich) have remained open.
I will admit an elelment of hypocracy on my behalf, whilst I am on one hand suggesting schools might consider closing (well educating from home) I am also considering sending my son back to his football training and matches which are due to start up again in early January (though of course you canāt remote train those and itās all outdoors etc).
No easy decisions, but with the vaccine at hand, youād think at least some flexibility for schools and pupils in them would be a step forward and would reduce the tramission rates in view of the new variant.
EDIT - I should add Iām talking primarily schools here, secondary schools I imagine are more difficult especially for those expecting to take exams this year.
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Just to add a couple of things:
Iām not sure how much notice should be paid to the desires of Greenwich council in this. As far as I can tell Greenwich did not have particularly high incidence in December, just a different attitude to it.
Many of these children have low attendance during normal times, a problem which is exacerbated whilst school is optional.
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That may be true but it is also a stupid way to look at it. Kings and St Thomas are in Lambeth, Guys is in Southwark, Lewisham in Lewisham. People in south of Southwark are more likely to go to Kings than to Guys. If this really was based on hospital capacity then it should be arranged by postcode not borough in high population density areas.
I think Lewisham and Lambeth should follow the advice given to Southwark.
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Stupid or not, lines have to be drawn somewhere if thereās to be any attempt to balance education and welfare of pupils with infection control, noting itās only the return of primary schools which are being selectively delayed.
I donāt however think the remote learning stuff is a good substitute for the classroom. Itās certainly better than nothing, but even if a school and teachers have done their best to adapt (and arguably not all have), practical lessons donāt necessarily translate into a remote approach, and depending on the home situation, and Iām not sure remote teaching gives the same opportunities to each child either.
Iād favour extending Christmas and Easter holidays for all education, but taking the lost time back out of the summer holidays - assuming the situation is improved by then (which it definitely should, given the vaccination programmes together with less seasonal pressure on healthcare).
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Consider yourselves lucky that itās not a London-wide decision, and that some schools are open.
The situation in Kent with Swale (Covid hotspot) causing lockdown miles away in Tunbridge Wells (low rates) was very frustrating, and people rightly called for more granularity in Government modelling.
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