Has it? When? I didn’t get the memo unfortunately 
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I liked your comment because it made me chuckle, but I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and presume they meant when instead of that.
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Retail workers have to wear masks now, that’s going to be hard for alot of people.
They should have had to from the start to be honest. Default should be on, with the option to remove as and when required (for example communicating with someone who needs to see lips moving to understand).
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Working from home where possible is also back.
I’m sooooooooooo hoping that I get to go work from home again but I’m not holding out much hope.
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my bad edit my sentence.
one of my employers sent out a memo this morning to explain they will not be following the advice unless you have someone vulnerable in your household, and everyone else will be expected to commute to the office daily.
It’s not as though they’re not suited to remote working, because they are. Higher ups work almost purely from home, and my contract is pure remote too, but I’m more of a consultant, than anything.
The government really need to start using stronger language than urge and recommend if they expect employers to play ball, otherwise we’re just gonna keep ending up back where we are now.
We have changed our position from being the “default” of in the office (ie, tell us if you’re working from home), to being default at home (ie. tell us if you’re coming into the office).
Ultimately, we think about 70% of our staff will work from home all the time from this point forward, with some doing 2-3 days in the office.
I’ll be doing some days in the office still, as I drive in to work, live alone, and don’t need to get public transport. I’m also confident our office is safe to work in. There are some others who will also be coming into the office, and we’ve agreed to match up days so that we have company/people in the office.
But we’re talking about 3 or 4 people being in at once realistically.
Why are the government being wishy washy and still allowing people to go to pubs when it’s not a necessity.
Full lockdown until the virus is under control in my opinion
Because people work in pubs, and providing them some sort of income and financial benefit of being open outweighs the supposed risks.
I get your point, but I don’t believe pubs are the main vector of this - if you look at when the increase started in cases it happened mostly around the start of schools going back. I don’t see Pubs/Restaurants as a huge issue - looking at cases in August.
But then again, I don’t have access to the data the government has.
Long & short - closing pubs + restaurants will ruin the economy, people’s lives, and push us further into a recession & debt. There’s a bit of a very fine balancing act to achieve here, and it’s tough.
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There’s definitely a correlation between schools going back and cases spiking, but I’m reluctant to presume causation. For starters, here in Scotland, the cases were starting too soon back into the school year for the return to school to be the cause, and the 15 new infections we’ve had in our area since August have been in adults. No new cases in children, despite a scare several weeks ago that turned out to be a bad cold.
The rise in cases seem to stem from adults not utilising best practices to keep themselves and others safe. Whilst children are icky, high schoolers and sixth form students seem to have blatant disregard for the issue, judging from all the non-socially distanced groups, wearing no masks, strolling round the streets and crowding entrances to Tesco. Tesco have complained to the schools and they’re finally starting to clamp down on it here, and students are no longer allowed to travel in groups larger than two.
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Schools and half-price Nando’s are the two biggest causes. But this has been coming, since the May Bank Holidays when the restrictions started to be lifted, we’ve been heading straight for this.
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I don’t think the schools restarting have led to an increase in Covid. What that has caused is the massive increase in demand for unnecessary tests as a result.
Neither has Eat Out to Help Out led to a increase in cases.
It largely seems to be largely teenagers and 20 some-things not following the social distancing rules that seems to be behind the surge in infections.
Is that based on any sources or research, or just a feeling? I’m just asking because most people I speak to, and some research from a different country, indicate that it’s the middle-aged and older that are the worst corona-rule breakers.
Of course, it’s still early days for research around behaviours, and nothing that relies on self-reporting is very accurate, but surely more accurate than what seems like ageist opinions floating around. (I’m not saying that that’s what you’re doing, as I don’t know, but I’ve seen a lot of people framing the young as the offenders.)
I think that both schools restarting and Eat Out to Help Out had a massive, negative impact on infection rates, but I have as much basis for that opinion as I think you do — nil.
Sources which I can’t necessarily share but have you actually listened to the briefing by the Chief scientist/medical officer yesterday and statements made in the House of Commons today?
I can’t comment on what is happening in other countries but in the UK, it is not the older people who are currently responsible for spreading Covid in the UK.
The UK government’s chief medical and scientific advisors disagree with you.
There are many reasons for why the 17 to 29 age group is rising most.
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Includes the subset of ‘university students’ which is a set that contains an exceedingly large number of people moving around the country and making many new contacts. Given that ‘Freshers Flu’ is a thing in any normal year, there probably shouldn’t be any surprise that this has undoubtedly accounted for some increase.
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Retail and hospitality staff are disproportionally from this age group, and working in this area puts people at increased risk through no fault of their own. If people want McDonalds and Starbucks and supermarket shopping and all the rest of it, these people are effectively on the frontline.
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The upper end of this age group will include people who are helping sheild older relatives, potentially putting themselves more at risk (ie doing extra shopping or picking things up, more contacts) to some degree.
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I’ve previously linked to deprivation being connected to hotspots. This is relevant in some degree to the 17-29 age group because at that age, a disproportionally large number of the group won’t have very much if anything built up in the way of independent savings. It’s much easier to social distance and self isolate when you can afford to do so; less so when if you don’t go out to work for money you can’t afford to live.
So while there are undoubtedly some people in that group who insist on having house parties and put having fun and getting their end away over anything else, I think it’s wrong to suggest that they represent everyone of their age group.
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In the south west it seems to have been families on holiday, and boomers telling us locals “we’re here to get away from all that rubbish”. Many members of the family, who work in hospitality and leisure, have been verbally abused most days during summer for asking folk to wear masks or use hand sanitizer. Ironically, it’s the demographics being blamed that mostly staff these businesses where older customers are refusing to take precautions.
There was absolutely zero social distancing in our town centres and on beaches. We even painted arrows on the pavements to encourage one way flows which were entirely ignored.
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People fleeing virus hotspots export virus to everywhere else! 
Less Darwin award, more Typhoid Mary award 
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We’ve just got the memo that because we operate a “covid secure work environment” it isn’t necessary for anyone to work from home.
Working in IT, I can literally just take my laptop and work at home. Less numbers reduces the risk, so it’s a no brainer for me 
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I believe that the Covid-secure guidelines are going to be upgraded to legal requirements, you can grass them up and drop them in the shitter if they aren’t actually being met.
If my experience is anything to go by, one can walk into work and see multiple violations of a Covid-secure risk assessment right away… 
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