Cambridge goes on-line next year

The COVID Diaries – 53 20th May

Cambridge University has announced that lectures next academic year will be on-line, with none being face to face, although smaller teaching groups might be conducted in person if they meet social distancing requirements.

All university campuses have been closed this term due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

A statement from Cambridge University read: “The university is constantly adapting to changing advice as it emerges during this pandemic.

“Given that it is likely that social distancing will continue to be required, the university has decided there will be no face-to-face lectures during the next academic year.

“Lectures will continue to be made available online and it may be possible to host smaller teaching groups in person, as long as this conforms to social distancing requirements. 

“This decision has been taken now to facilitate planning, but as ever, will be reviewed should there be changes to official advice on coronavirus.”

Huge rise in unemployment

The COVID Diaries – 52 19th May

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has warned that we are facing a recession “the likes of which we haven’t seen”, after new figures showed a huge increase in unemployment due to the impact of the Covid-9 lockdown.

More than 2.1 million people made new benefit claims in April – the highest level since 1996. The chancellor also told parliament it was “not obvious that there will be an immediate bounce back” when the pandemic has passed.

Meanwhile in the Unites States Donald Trump has revealed he is taking malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to protect himself, despite warnings from his own government that it should only be administered for the new coronavirus in a hospital or research setting due to potentially fatal side effects. Trump has also threatened to permanently stop funding for the World Health Organisation (WHO).

How long can Boris survive?

The COVID Diaries – 51 18th May

It’s taken time, but it’s increasingly clear that Boris Johnson is not up to the job of being Prime Minister. He never was, but his opportunistic bid for the Tory leadership and an election fought against the hopeless Jeremy Corbyn enabled him to seize the reins of power, not that he was ever particularly interested in doing very much with them.  His Eton boy posh accent and clever classical allusions provided a disguise to hide behind, but the mask has slipped. How long can this hopeless Prime Minister survive?

He has centralised power around himself, but faced with the worst pandemic to hit this country in living memory, he seems powerless to take effective decisions and implement coherent policies.

As Michael Gove said in 2016: “I have come, reluctantly, to the conclusion that Boris cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead”. Subsequent opportunism led to Gove “changing his mind.” He was right first time.

Zoom crash

The COVID Diaries – 50 17th May

Technical problems with the video conferencing platform Zoom affected Downing Street’s daily coronavirus briefing today. Journalists are usually able to ask questions live on screen, but instead they had to submit written questions to be read out by the business secretary, Alok Sharma, who was hosting the briefing.

Users of Zoom reported many outages, with people unable to host or join meetings and thousands having issues with the service.

Sunday church services experienced problems across the UK and the US. Zoom’s popularity has rocketed since the start of the coronavirus epidemic, but concerns have been raised with the platform’s lax security, highlighted by “Zoombombing” incidents where trolls enter meetings uninvited.

Roads closing

The COVID Diaries – 49 16 May

London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has announced he is closing some of the busiest roads in the city.

His plan to close large areas of London to cars and vans will create one of the largest car-free areas in any city in the world.

“Many Londoners have rediscovered the joys of walking and cycling during lockdown”, Sadiq Khan said. “By quickly and cheaply widening pavements, creating temporary cycle lanes and closing roads to through traffic we will enable millions more people to change the way they get around our city.”

He confirmed that the changes would cause disruption for many Londoners but said he had no choice but to rapidly redesign London’s streets for people.

“By ensuring our city’s recovery is green, we will also tackle our toxic air, which is vital to make sure we don’t replace one public health crisis with another.”

BMA backs teaching unions

The COVID Diaries – 48 15th May

The controversy continues over government plans to reopen primary schools for some year groups on 1st June. The British Medical Association is now supporting teaching unions opposing the reopening for children in reception, year 1 and year 6 in two weeks’ time.

The doctors’ union says that the number of coronavirus infections remains too high to allow schools to run safely. The latest official estimate places the national R value – the rate at which people are passing on infections to others – at between 0.7 and 1. An R value above 1 means the epidemic will start to grow exponentially again, which would result in a new surge of cases.

Meanwhile the World Health Organisation has warned that Europe could face a deadly second wave of infections this winter, warning countries beginning to ease their lockdown restrictions that now is “time for preparation, not celebration”.

Missing the target?

The COVID Diaries – 47 14th May

How realistic is the government’s aim of hitting their lockdown easing date of 1st June? There remain serious worries about the prevalence of the virus in care homes and hospitals, different levels of infection throughout the country, and whether the contact-tracing and testing regime needed to facilitate easing will be fully up and running.

One of the key deciding factors is will be the daily COVID-19 infection rate and whether this falls below 5,000, although some experts believe below 4,000 would be better. Another is whether the reproduction “R” rate remains substantially below 1.

Currently experts suggest the current rates of infection remain “some way off” what would be needed to lift the lockdown.

Madness

The COVID Diaries – 46 13th May

We can’t visit relatives, but we can visit the Estate Agent. Meanwhile people are crammed into the London Underground like sardines. There is no logic to the “eased” lockdown rules.

Except, of course, the logic of a desperate government that has found its plans in tatters and doesn’t really have a clue as to what to do next. So they’ve ended up trying to ride two horses that are galloping off in opposite directions. Stay safe by maintaining social distancing, but go to work despite the fact that you cannot travel safely to get there (and it will be your fault if you catch the virus!).

Beaches, country parks and beauty spots across England were busy today as people were free to drive as far as they wanted for the first time since the coronavirus lockdown started, with police warning it may become more difficult to enforce the regulations.

Madness!

Asking the impossible of schools?

The COVID Diaries – 45 12th May

National Association of Head Teachers head Paul Whiteman has told Members of Parliament that, based on his union’s understanding of the official guidance, it would not be possible to reopen primaries as the government planned – many schools would not be able to accommodate the advised 15 pupils in their classrooms.

He told MPs “School leaders and teachers are in a position that they are not quite sure of the basics of the return, and the amount of risk that’s being assumed in the school setting, and all of the survey data that we are getting at the moment is that the vast majority of children’s parents at the moment don’t have the confidence of a return around the 1st of June.”

“If we are going to fill that void, we need to understand the underpinning science, we need to understand the medical advice that goes with it so we can then determine whether it’s possible in that setting or not,” he added.

Confusion rains

The COVID Diaries – 44 11th May

First thing today, we had to send a message to all our staff saying nothing has changed – we need you to work from home whenever possible! Thank you Boris for making such a hash of things and leaving everyone so confused with your stupid and ill-advised (if it was advised at all) new slogan.

Simon Jenkins summed it up well in today’s Guardian:

“Boris Johnson says we can be a little less careful while still being extremely careful. What that means remains unclear.

“What looks like being Europe’s longest shutdown has not prevented one of the worst death rates in Europe. In the long run, we’ll know whether an earlier lockdown or a full embrace of the Swedish model would have been more effective. He should at least acknowledge that others did not follow his route, and have not had to pay his price.”