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Coronavirus and its impact on schools etc. in UK


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Not to do with dance but I went to Tescos today ... unsurprisingly no toilet rolls but also no porridge oats of any description.  People are panic buying.  I don't need toilet rolls but I do want (as I've nearly run out) porridge oats (jumbo whole rolled).  I've bought a bag of muesli to tide me over.

 

To me that is a panicking population.

 

Earlier this afternoon I had an email from Northern Ballet.  The premiere for Geisha is still going ahead tomorrow night but the post performance reception has been cancelled.

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54 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

Not to do with dance but I went to Tescos today ... unsurprisingly no toilet rolls but also no porridge oats of any description.  People are panic buying.  I don't need toilet rolls but I do want (as I've nearly run out) porridge oats (jumbo whole rolled).  I've bought a bag of muesli to tide me over.

 

To me that is a panicking population.

Panicking but stoic? I’m rather heartened that the plan is to fight it on a hearty breakfast of porridge rather than one of  flimsy chocolate puffed rice or similar!! 

Hope for our nation yet! 

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I think you said in your post Lusodancer that they closed the schools in Portugal but then the students went to the beach😳

Not much point in closing schools if that is going to happen .....we would all be safer with the children in one place in schools on that basis.....even if one does sympathise a bit with them with the lovely temperatures you are having there! 

Advice has been confusing all round to be honest I imagine independent teachers of Dance running small Dance schools have to check they are insured to carry on teaching inspite of official advice? That is if other out of school activities are being cancelled🤔

Im not sure how you marry avoiding this virus as much as possible  with getting "herd immunity" 🙄

 

 

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13 hours ago, balletbean said:

Meanwhile our Chief Minister held a press conference yesterday. 
Message sent out :- 

Keep Calm and Carry on, including taking holidays. Yup they actually said that. 🤦‍♀️
But then added that they were ‘cancelling all non-essential Government business travel’🤷🏼‍♀️

 

ps. Even though airlines are cancelling flights right left and centre. As parents we are obviously concerned just like everyone else, how our children will get home should the UK start closing the schools. Can Boarders stay on the premises if they can’t travel home? 
 

I imagine if the students are minors they will expect named guardians to step up. 

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The confusion is illustrated here:

Bristol University is closing because ONE student has tested positive

Oxford University has SIX positive students and is not closing ‘unless instructed to do so’ 

How anyone works out how to respond in this scenario I don’t know basically it seems like every school/college has to make their own decision as to what to do. 

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21 minutes ago, LinMM said:

The confusion is illustrated here:

Bristol University is closing because ONE student has tested positive

Oxford University has SIX positive students and is not closing ‘unless instructed to do so’ 

How anyone works out how to respond in this scenario I don’t know basically it seems like every school/college has to make their own decision as to what to do. 

 

The media coverage, even from reputable sources, has alas been woeful. I truly wish that from the start, it had been presented as a *public* health issue rather than *personal* health issue, and focused on splashing the raw numbers from China - which were/are higher than one would expect in the west simply because (a) there are huge cities with dense populations; and (b) transmission has been mostly through family units and sustained contact - unfortunately coinciding with the New Year period which has much more widespread human migration patterns and larger gatherings than a Christmas. 

 

Instead, we saw a split between survivalists panicking and taking self-preserving measures, and those taking a flagrant disregard - see the NFL player who decided to rub every reporter's microphone during a press conference, and has now been diagnosed. The message about flattening the curve is an improvement, but perhaps too late after the panic had set in. A week ago, people were scoffing at the "wash your hands" advice, until scientists, initially through social media, explained just why its surfactant properties helped to break down virus proteins. Now it's been absorbed.

 

The reason you should be careful but not panic about the *individual* health aspect is that, unless you are elderly or otherwise compromised, the death rate is low. And luckily, evidence suggests that there is limited transmission in the incubation period - that is, people are the most infectious when they've already started to cough and will take the sign to self-isolate - unlike the regular flu, which is infectious before people show symptoms. Children especially seem to be almost unaffected by this virus, but the concern is that they may act as carriers, and especially where they mix in groups different from everyday.

 

BUT, the reason you should take the handwashing advice etc. seriously, is that very small differences in infection rates add up to much higher aggregate numbers, and one we pass a threshold, health services are overwhelmed, death rates go up because we can't cope (see Iran), we are more likely to lose frontline staff to illness, and it keeps spiralling. 

 

Yet we need to be able to pay for all of this and that can't happen with a complete shutdown. If schools close, do we limit the ability of workers on the frontline to detect and care for the seriously ill? If we encourage the elderly to isolate, do we lose more people to loneliness (which increases deaths by 25-30%) compared to those who are socially active? What about the correlation between unemployment and poor health if businesses shut down? If we lock down now but the virus is still out there, do the same vulnerable people we are trying to protect today, end up suffering next flu season? Has the government modelling already taken into account the likelihood of many events to self-cancel, and not want to cause further panic? It's easy to focus on immediate casualties and say that one is too many, but in the longer run it's much more complex. 

 

I think the best message is still, "don't panic, don't shut down, but every little helps". I only wish that had been the message from the start. 

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Absolutely the voice of reason & sense Meetmeatthebarre....

And well expressed - thank you.

 

I personally fear that the curse of social media & the seemingly relentless trend for mainstream media to over sensationalise anything they can to be the ‘lead story’ has caused an almost self fulfilling prophecy of impending disaster. 

 

We all need to question our personal & collective decisions & responses to make these sensible, appropriate, timely & at correct level of action.

 

(I in no way wish to detract from the very real worry of an illness that we clearly do not want anyone to suffer or indeed lose their life from. But adding unnecessary collective anxiety will only increase the damage to society & individuals.)

 

 

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29 minutes ago, akh said:

And it would be helpful if media quoted numbers as a percentage of the population rather than a numerical number. 

And put into perspective with comparisons.... eg. How many typically get flu & how many deaths annually attributed to that in the risk groups especially. I think media is hyping up massive fear  

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22 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

Postponed to May.

The message I received from RBS Friends said that "access to our buildings to all but essential staff will be limited for the rest of the Spring Term. This sadly means there can be no external audiences at internal School events for the foreseeable future."

 

Presumably this will also affect the Ninette de Valois choreo performances originally scheduled for late March.

 

Sad but understandable to protect the students... Hoping everyone stays well.

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You can't really compare this virus to other flu types, as no one knows enough about it. Once you've had most flu types, you become immune for a year or so at least, but that might not be the case with this type. I will say some of the things being recommended sound ridiculous to me, for instance, wash your hands after handling money, not too easy. It does have a long way to go to reach the number of deaths ordinary flu claims every year worldwide, which is approximately half a million, which makes the approaching 6000 with this one seem small, unless your one of them of course.

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For accurate information look at the CDC and WHO websites. The UK are now only fully testing hospitalised patients so today it appears we have only 20-30 new confirmed cases. The severity of what this can cause is more than flu. I was a critical care nurse and now I am a critical care lecturer. No one should be scaremongering but precautions should be followed. Italian reports are also worthwhile reading. 

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May I draw everyone’s attention to this post by Sim Dixon yesterday in the “La Scala and other theatres closing” thread:

 

”Hi all.  In these extraordinary times, we mods understand that everyone is worried about the current world health pandemic.  As is always the case with social media, any big news gives rise to rumour, speculation and mis-information.  For this reason, we are asking that, going forward, any discussion of the Covid-19 virus be limited to its effect on cultural closures*.  Please don't discuss the medical or political aspects of this problem.  We have already had a couple of posts reported, and in order to stem anything further from snowballing we are curtailing inappropriate comments, even if they are made in good faith and with helpful intent.  We don't want to risk adding to anyone's worry or distress, or disseminating mis-information.

 

We wish you all well;  take good care of yourselves.  In the meantime, please keep sharing your thoughts about what gives us joy in this increasingly strange world:  ballet and dance.  Thank you for your understanding.

 

With best wishes,

Sim

Chair, BalletcoForum Committee”

 

* and, in Doing Dance, ballet school closures, audition and dance event cancellations etc.

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1 hour ago, Mummy twinkle toes said:

Apologies if my post offended in anyway. I was just pointing out reliable sources rather than social media 😏

 

Some posts on the thread were reported, Mummy twinkle toes - yours was not one of them; I just happened to post underneath yours. ☺️

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Hammond upper school show performances have gone ahead on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (and were fabulous) but we’re not sure if the graduate showcases will go ahead w/c 23rd March. Many auditions have been cancelled for the next few weeks too.  So disappointing for these fabulous dancers completing 8 years of training and seeking an agent and their first job. An uncertain time has been made even more uncertain for this group of young people. I do hope they will get their chance somewhere down the line. 

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22 hours ago, akh said:

And it would be helpful if media quoted numbers as a percentage of the population rather than a numerical number. 

I agree. It’s also reflected in the more tests done the more likely the positive results will increase . Not because there are necessarily more people infected in just a week just more tests done so the probable outcome will change. 
The authorities here have decided not to test anyone displaying symptoms of the virus just told to self-isolate, unless they have been in direct contact with the two residents who tested positive or a direct travel pathway from an infected country (probably easier to list those countries who haven’t got it).  
So at the mo we have no idea of numbers in the island. 
Ps. Considering how warm and sunny it is today it’s eerily quiet. 

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The crazy thing is how many would take even 1 day off school or work fir a mild cough or sore throat? And let’s face it, the majority of these will most likely just be one of the usual run of the mill regular winter sniffles/colds/viruses that lay us all a little low from time to time each year....

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Still continuing for now and current line is it will close as soon as schools do. We have one exam session a year (June) which is likely to be cancelled - fingers crossed everyone can still move to the next grade rather another 12 months of the same stuff...

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I walked by CSB earlier on and noticed someone practising overhead lifts with his partner in studio 1. No idea how long before they send the students home or what, but thank you for a moment of beauty.

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