#local lockdown

36 boroughs in England where coronavirus cases rose last week.

But more to the point these are pretty evenly distributed across the UK- you wouldn’t look at this map and point out a “safe” area easily- people will be moving from these areas to other places nearby.

Never mind local lockdowns, we should be putting a halt on reopening across the country.

Three counties in Ireland, including my own have been placed back in lockdown. We can’t travel outside our county but what they don’t know is that I am literally a fifteen minute walk from the next county that is not in lockdown and I can literally cross the bridge and escape.... *Insert evil cackle here...*

Just means all pubs/bars/cafes etc have to close again, sports are cancelled and we cant meet in groups inside larger than 6 or outside larger than 15. Good thing there are only 10 staff where I work and we can all meet next weekend for a BBQ! Hehe....

But yeah it’s madness. I am very lucky that my job didn’t have to close again and I can go to work for the next two weeks. (Was secretly hoping it would be but only cos I selfishly wanted to write to catch up...) But anywhoo...

Obviously the government should offer people financial support during the lockdown period, and the restrictions being put in place are illogical, but equally I'm not convinced keeping things like betting shops and soft play areas open right now is a good idea.

But I think it also doesn't take into account human nature - we are social animals but so many of us live alone, or rely on people outside the household for support. We need that community to survive.

For me, meeting family and friends in small groups should be the last thing to go, when every business, school and uni has already shut.

Because the reality is people are not following the rules - we do not assess risk in a rational way in a lot of cases. Instead, we think 'I've already been to work, so what's the harm in seeing my mum'.

It's very very clear from Leicester that the government's current strategy has only very limited effectiveness. So they need to change tactics.

It's so so clear what we are currently doing is not working. Local lockdowns are confusing and with schools and workplaces still open they just don't work.

At this stage, all we are doing is postponing inevitable national restrictions - and the longer we postpone them, the longer we will need to keep restrictions in place.

I understand why parents are keen to get their kinds back into school. I understand how stressful the past 4 months have been for people trying to homeschool and work. I know that some children are really struggling mentally. I desperately want to get kids back into school in September too.

But, here’s the thing.

If we plough on with the school reopening plan as is, schools won’t be open for very long- especially in secondary schools.

Kids in “bubbles” of up to 200, where if two people they are in contact with test positive for covid-19 need to self isolate for 2 weeks. Chances are it won’t be long before some children are self-isolating (and some teachers). We don’t know how many cases it will take to close a school, but I think it’s likely lots of schools will face short term closures at least.

If too many teachers are off (even if it’s just whilst waiting to get a test), and we can’t get supply, then schools have to close too. That’s what finished us off in March, and in March we could do things like double up classes, or teach big groups in the hall- that’s no longer allowed. So there will be closures and partial closures for this reason too, and things may change on a daily basis.

And then there will be local lockdowns- because if schools reopen fully with no PPE, cases numbers WILL go up, in some areas at least. So how long will schools even stay open for?

I honestly think this will be good for no-one. It’ll be unpredictable and unsettling for students. It’ll make things hard to plan for, for adults. It’s pretty unlikely to help anyone back into work, really. It’s certainly far from ideal educationally.

So, do we just keep schools closed?

No- be we reopen slowly, in a phased way. Maybe to start with we have each year group in for a day a week- spread out, socially distanced, wearing masks. Maybe if that works, we slowly increase the time each year group gets to spend in school, until we get to the level where cases start to rise, and then we dial back.

This gives children some face to face educational input, it gives them social contact, it’s reliable, and they know what’s going on. It’s easier to plan for as a parent as well- and maybe it won’t help people get back to work, but it might give people child free time for home working, and it’s better than nothing!

So what's the point in Deolitte doing testing if they don't share the data with PHE or local authorities?

Why not just use the money spent on this to enable a public body to do a good job?