Get back to the office! But why?

I read somewhere that the virus is now more prevalent in working age people.
Can't be more specific, or post a link, but it doesn't bode well, you're right.

AC rang 119 at 7.15 am and could have had a drive through appointment 40 miles away for GC, the person on the phone was concerned that the test was for a child told AC to ring back at 9am when new slots were available. Brilliant service new drive through appointment 8 miles away, results within 16 hours.

Friend had home testing kit within 24 hours, results within 4 days.

Yes there are some mistakes in the system but there are lots more tests and results working well........as per normal it’s only bad news that travels?

Great for your friend! So the people who can't access tests don't matter? According to Serco's own data, people are having to wait longer for the results and over 5% of people last week didn't receive any result at all. But - hey - let's celebrate the successes and forget about the losers!

Whitewavemark2

It doesn’t bode well for the winter does it?

Talk about a perfect storm.

Covid
Economic depression
Unemployment
The Brexit economic effect. Shortages etc.

We will be lucky to be still afloat come February!

Don't panic! It won't wipe out the whole of the human race - just the weak ones. Who needs them anyway?

It’s totally unacceptable for people to be given tests so far away but I’m still waiting for the media to broadcast interviews with the hundreds of people who have had easier access.
Oh - but that wouldn’t make good news and would take far too much time.
It seems as if we only want to celebrate failure-and that isn’t good for the mental health of the country.

Of course the story is about the problems people are having accessing tests - we’re trying as a country to reduce infections. What an absolutely pathetic response by some posters. It is a serious problem - even the Head of T and T has apologised.

It's not good news for the mental health of the country if the government isn't honest either. I really object to problems like this being glossed over and being told that we have a "world class" system and everything's just fine, when it clearly isn't. We're not toddlers being told that an injection won't hurt!

It's good that so many people are having the test without problems, but what about those who have experienced/are experiencing problems? If you're one of the minority who can't get a test for whatever reason, it's no consolation to know that most people can.

We've been told time and time again that successful return to school for all pupils needed to go hand-in-hand with efficient testing. The same is true if most people are to return to travelling by crowded public transport and working in offices. We don't have efficient testing and the government seems to have forgotten its promises and obviously thinks the public is too stupid to remember too.

It needs sorting. The government has had months to get it right and has had other countries it could have copied. It's run out of excuses. The country needs a coherent, transparent strategy which people understand.

Mollygo

It’s totally unacceptable for people to be given tests so far away but I’m still waiting for the media to broadcast interviews with the hundreds of people who have had easier access.
Oh - but that wouldn’t make good news and would take far too much time.
It seems as if we only want to celebrate failure-and that isn’t good for the mental health of the country.

I celebrate efficiency and thoroughness.

The test and trace system has been neither.

I will not under any circumstances say something is working well when it clearly isn’t.

Hancock has admitted problems right from the start. Every now and again he witters on about a world class system, but when challenged admits it isn’t.

All we want is the truth.

Not much to ask is it? But obviously truth and the government have never been partners.

We don't have efficient testing and the government seems to have forgotten its promises and obviously thinks the public is too stupid to remember too.

Some responses incline me to think that the government might be right in its assumption. ?

MaizieD

^We don't have efficient testing and the government seems to have forgotten its promises and obviously thinks the public is too stupid to remember too.^

Some responses incline me to think that the government might be right in its assumption. ?

Ahem! I didn't want to be insulting.

JenniferEccles I used to work part home/office/on site. Home working was more efficient for me, no 15 minute chats about TV, sport, social life etc, no moving from office to meeting room, or another building, no hunting for stationary, waiting for the loo, lunch queues, ‘extended’ lunches and so on. Yes, I may have taken a minute or two to put a wash on at home, but I didn’t sit in traffic for 20 minutes in the morning either. I liked working from home, it made sense and I was more flexible, but it wasn’t 100% of my time, whatever made sense to get the job done.

@ growstuff

???

Jaxjacky

JenniferEccles I used to work part home/office/on site. Home working was more efficient for me, no 15 minute chats about TV, sport, social life etc, no moving from office to meeting room, or another building, no hunting for stationary, waiting for the loo, lunch queues, ‘extended’ lunches and so on. Yes, I may have taken a minute or two to put a wash on at home, but I didn’t sit in traffic for 20 minutes in the morning either. I liked working from home, it made sense and I was more flexible, but it wasn’t 100% of my time, whatever made sense to get the job done.

Absolutely my experience too (except my drive was 45-60 minutes in the morning and the same again getting home) wasted hours.

Agree about ‘getting the job done’ too. As a professional (don’t mean that to sound elitist, just the best way of putting it perhaps) it was swings and roundabouts. Days when I might complete early, others when I had to work on.

But it’s not as simple as some office workers preferring to work from home is it?
There is the bigger picture of the demise of businesses which rely on trade from offices, sandwich bars, coffee shops, pubs, restaurants and other businesses in town centres normally frequented by the office workers.

A great deal of businesses are under threat if too many people refuse to return to the office.

Couldn’t it also cause resentment from those who don’t have the option to work from home?

I think that we all need to recognise that, even when we get a vaccine, we will never return to the old normal.

It never did make sense for so many people to have to endure hours of commuting. They did it because in the twentieth century that was what people expected to do if they wanted a good job in a city.

We are now twenty years into the 21st century and our response to the pandemic has shown that commuting is just so last century.

There will be job opportunities in the future, which do not involve making coffee and sandwiches for city workers.

Redundant sandwich makers should start to look at the opportunities in other sectors - creative, health and care, green technology, digital.

The opportunities will be there and if we had a decent government, the re-training opportunities should be there.

I can't work from home, but I don't resent those who can.
I think they've a golden opportunity to have a better work/ life balance, save money, and help the environment. lucky sods!

Those who work from home are helping to protect these who cannot work from home by limiting the contacts they may have on public transport and other places where they may contract the virus.

MissAdventure

I can't work from home, but I don't resent those who can.
I think they've a golden opportunity to have a better work/ life balance, save money, and help the environment. --lucky sods!--

??

I think when the idea of resentment is brought into the discourse, it says so much about the person introducing the concept.

suziewoozie

I think when the idea of resentment is brought into the discourse, it says so much about the person introducing the concept.

Can you explain please?

Isn’t it obvious WW?

suziewoozie

Isn’t it obvious WW?

Yes what you suggested is obvious, but I think it is a tad ungenerous. Sometimes it is better to take people at face value don’t you think?

But there is resentment around, for instance from those furloughed on reduced pay toward those who have been on full pay throughout, but are believed not to have been really working (we have seen some really acid accusations of that on Gransnet, aimed at specific occupations) It would not be surprising if those who face the possible complete loss of their jobs felt resentful that many who have jobs to return to are saying they would rather do them from the comfort of their own home than face long commutes.

Bitterness against those who are viewed as having more than others is nothing new.

And resentment.