There is a lot of optimism in much of the media at the moment, and not just from the more sceptical voices.
My hope is that their optimism is justified, that’s all.
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The German coronavirus emergency law explicitly grants the government to instruct mobile operators to text any phones that remain connected to the german towers for a certain period of time. Meaning even when one is roaming, German government can text information to people.
Can somebody check if the UK emergency legislation have similar provisions for contacting people?
From what I can see in the act, there is no provision for this.
But, it has been intertwined with the Public Health act, so now a lot of the 2 acts are almost indistinguishable, so there may be something buried deep in there.
I suspect it is a combination of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 (which has provisions for serving notices) and the contracts that we sign with our mobile operators.
If we consent to receive such messages when accessing a mobile network then the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 (section 60 and 60a) allows for message and notices to be published.
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Ps I’m not a lawyer and there may be other laws at play. I just found that one after a quick browse through the legislation website.
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I haven’t seen any suggestion from any legal source that the texts may have been illegal in some way, therefore I’m fairly convinced they aren’t.
No amount of googling is going to give you the legal background to know exactly where that legal justification comes from.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-59840634
Good to see the government finally heeding medical advice. This is what “learning to live with the virus” means…
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It’s kind of ‘least effort solution’, though. What many schools really need are HEPA filters so they can properly ventilate classrooms, especially where opening windows isn’t helpful (and at this time of year, that accounts for most all of them).
The reason that makes alone won’t be enough for schools is because of the combination of Omicron being more infectious and children being the lowest jabbed population group. 
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Some more encouraging news, especially for people like me who have long-term lung conditions:
(Hmm - why are my links not showing an image of the article?)
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Finally got a negative today, my actual isolation period ends tomorrow at midnight. I get to escape that early if tomorrow’s test in the morning also comes back negative, no reason it shouldn’t at least.
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Some excellent news to kick off 2022 there. Let’s hope it holds!
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Monzo cured my COVID 
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Is this a medical decision or are the Gov just giving in to the teaching unions? 
There have been many reports claiming that children are the least at risk from the virus, and that the masks are detrimental to their education and wellbeing.
It just seems to be a kneejerk reaction, especially given that you can still go an sit in the pub, dance away in the nightclub, etc all mask free.
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I think it’s a decision to prevent staff absences. Some schools are already saying entire year groups may not be able to study because of how many are isolating.
I do agree that restrictions should have been enhanced for adults not kids though, they seem like an easier target I guess
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Admittedly, staff absence is a problem, but the kids shouldn’t have to suffer just to try and keep the teachers at work.
Once again, that is the responsibility of the staff, not the pupils.
I know many won’t agree, but I do genuinely feel that children should not have any restrictions imposed on them in the name of protecting adults.
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Masking up in a classroom is not suffering.
Catching COVID, on the other hand…
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But as has already been said, children are the least at risk.
And try telling the poor kid who has a 25-30 min bus ride to school (masked up), has to spend 6-7 hours at school masked up, and then the same bus ride home that this is “normal”
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Children can still transmit covid to older relatives or get long covid which disrupts their education for longer.
Wearing a mask is a small thing to do to minimise this risk.
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And has already been said, they are spreaders. I currently know of six people without children with covid. All of them spent Christmas with families with children.
Where have you been for the last two years?
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This piqued my interest… So by the same standard, you wouldn’t expect children with other contagious diseases to be asked to stay at home? What would you prefer?
You seem to still be banging the drum that masks are only there to protect the wearer.
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