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Coronavirus

Time to admit this virus affects some more than others.

(94 Posts)
trisher Fri 27-Nov-20 13:41:21

Current government attitudes on Covid present as"we are all in this together" but in fact there are huge inequalities in the figures, for all sorts of things, including deaths and long term health problems. Black people, men and women from poorer backgrounds suffer most www.health.org.uk/news-and-comment/blogs/inequalities-and-deaths-involving-covid-19
Isn't it time we admitted this is partly a result of a policy of not supporting the poor and we committed to stamping out inequality?

lemongrove Sun 29-Nov-20 10:50:28

Glad you had a good splutter trisher?
The answer is yes, many times as I live in a rural area.Haven’t seen any standing up going on, but being a school bus I haven’t actually sat on it to witness.There is standing up next to each other and leaning and jostling past going on in any secondary school setting though.
This preoccupation with school buses is perplexing.
Going back to the subject of cars ( you do seem to think only the better off have them) a good proportion of the UK are two car families, and in any case, this year with Covid and all the many people working from home means that even one car families can usually take children to school.

growstuff Sun 29-Nov-20 10:52:40

lemongrove

Doesn’t sound like what goes on at teenage DGS school ,and
With the best organised school in the world I think it won’t be any better than a sparsely used school bus.
We shall have to agree to disagree on this...otherwise it will bore the pants off other posters.?

Even a bus which is only half-full could hardly be described as "sparsely used". School buses are jam packed in normal times. Even if half those eligible don't use them, the children will still be less than a metre from the nearest pupil.

Have you actually been into your DGS's school? Have you seen for yourself what is going on? Headteachers have done their best to minimise risk, but there's a limit to what they can do without extra funding and resources.

In any case, school buses are an additional risk for those who can't avoid them.

growstuff Sun 29-Nov-20 10:56:02

So you've seen jostling in school settings since September, have you?

I've loaded more school buses over the years than I care to remember and I know how packed they are. There's also some poor behaviour.

The point is that using a school bus is a very real additional risk. I can't understand why you find that perplexing.

lemongrove Sun 29-Nov-20 10:57:23

I imagine that future generations, looking back will wonder why so many people, when presented with the facts chose to disobey by not wearing a mask, having parties, huge weddings, huge funerals and going on demonstrations, many of which were about curtailing their freedoms.

lemongrove Sun 29-Nov-20 10:58:51

growstuff

So you've seen jostling in school settings since September, have you?

I've loaded more school buses over the years than I care to remember and I know how packed they are. There's also some poor behaviour.

The point is that using a school bus is a very real additional risk. I can't understand why you find that perplexing.

Yes, I have. I even witnessed a fight in the school grounds, with many children all round and shouting and egging them on.

growstuff Sun 29-Nov-20 10:59:27

lemongrove

Glad you had a good splutter trisher?
The answer is yes, many times as I live in a rural area.Haven’t seen any standing up going on, but being a school bus I haven’t actually sat on it to witness.There is standing up next to each other and leaning and jostling past going on in any secondary school setting though.
This preoccupation with school buses is perplexing.
Going back to the subject of cars ( you do seem to think only the better off have them) a good proportion of the UK are two car families, and in any case, this year with Covid and all the many people working from home means that even one car families can usually take children to school.

You don't seem to get it. Working from home creates inequality because many of the people who can't work from home do jobs which require face-to-face contact. That's why there's been a high percentage of care workers and transport staff who have been affected. Delivery drivers and others on zero hours contracts are generally low paid and can't afford to take time off work.

There might very well be many two car families, but they won't be the lowest paid.

growstuff Sun 29-Nov-20 11:00:34

lemongrove

growstuff

So you've seen jostling in school settings since September, have you?

I've loaded more school buses over the years than I care to remember and I know how packed they are. There's also some poor behaviour.

The point is that using a school bus is a very real additional risk. I can't understand why you find that perplexing.

Yes, I have. I even witnessed a fight in the school grounds, with many children all round and shouting and egging them on.

What about inside the building?

trisher Sun 29-Nov-20 11:00:35

lemongrove

Glad you had a good splutter trisher?
The answer is yes, many times as I live in a rural area.Haven’t seen any standing up going on, but being a school bus I haven’t actually sat on it to witness.There is standing up next to each other and leaning and jostling past going on in any secondary school setting though.
This preoccupation with school buses is perplexing.
Going back to the subject of cars ( you do seem to think only the better off have them) a good proportion of the UK are two car families, and in any case, this year with Covid and all the many people working from home means that even one car families can usually take children to school.

I live just round the corner from a school with transport arranged. I sometimes watch the bus stopped atthe traffic lights. You don't need to be on it to see what the children are doing.
Here's a link to transport poverty lemon www.poverty.ac.uk/report-transport/transport-poverty-hits-15-million-people
It really is getting harder to survive in rural communities for the poor especially. And the evidence is that the better off have more access to cars. How can you "work from home" if you are an agricultural worker or employed in an abbatoir or chicken factory on minimum wage?

maddyone Sun 29-Nov-20 11:00:51

I think future generations will think how wonderful that medical scientists all over the world managed to produce effective vaccines so quickly.

lemongrove Sun 29-Nov-20 11:03:23

There are far more worrying things around the prevention and spread of Covid by well spaced out children on school buses, they are certainly not packed in this year. I shall have to leave the last words with you....Not only because I can’t be bothered but because whatever I say you will have your own ideas about it.Which is fine (by me).

trisher Sun 29-Nov-20 11:04:05

maddyone

I think future generations will think how wonderful that medical scientists all over the world managed to produce effective vaccines so quickly.

That may be so but that really isn't anythng to do with the epidemic, deaths and the way it impacted on the population is it? I suppose the better off Victorians looked on cholera as being mostly the fault of the poor.

maddyone Sun 29-Nov-20 11:11:16

No trisher it isn’t, but I think the pandemic will be remembered and go down in history like the Black Death did, and I think our efforts to contain the virus in various ways such as masks and hand gels will be remembered, but I think it will be remembered alongside the race to find to find a successful vaccine.

Galaxy Sun 29-Nov-20 11:36:02

People are now more than happy to just make up their own facts. It's really worrying.

Alegrias2 Tue 01-Dec-20 09:41:42

For the people who think "we're all in this together" is some call to the resurrect the spirit of the Blitz, and if only people would obey the rules.......watch this and remember that we are the 5th biggest economy in the world, and that this is the 21st Century.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-55133081

trisher Tue 01-Dec-20 09:57:07

Thank you for that Alegrias2 It made me cry but it should be on every news bulletin. It tells some truths and makes you appreciate what you actually have.

Alegrias2 Tue 01-Dec-20 09:59:31

trisher me too. It's also made me very angry.

Iam64 Tue 01-Dec-20 12:20:07

Yes, it made me cry as well. I'm still in touch with a man, who is almost 50 years old now, who I first met when he was six. He's politically active. Recently he responded in support of Marcus Rashford's campaign for school meals throughout the holidays. He recorded memories from when he was six years old and cold, hungry and scared. It distresses me that some people have no understanding of how hard life is for many children and adults of all ages. Many of those people are currently running our country

GillT57 Tue 01-Dec-20 16:42:07

I saw that too Alegrias2 and it brought tears to my eyes. How simply dreadful to see people living like this in the 21st Century. The worst of it is their lives will only be marginally better post covid. I don't know how some politicians sleep at night.