The UK prepares to work and school from home

It seems that today is the day that we find out if schools are closing and employers are forced to send staff home to work.  Boris Johnson is today chairing a COBRA meeting following the revelations that Tom Hanks and his wife now have the coronavirus.  The UK is expected to move the “delay” phase in the fight against Covid-19.

This is such a worry for us all.  I have a son in Year 11 who is due to take his GCSEs in two months, my other son is in Year 10 and his GCSEs are next year.  I know it looks like they will only be off until after Easter, but this all impacts their learning.  My son’s school have sent a letter home today saying that they will have assisted learning from home via online means.

My friend Annie is an intensive care nurse and is at work where there are currently two patients with coronavirus.  The nurses are wearing all over body suits, face masks and hats.  The nurses have so much extra work, are obviously worried about catching it themselves and are also very hot!

My friend Emma runs a very successful consultancy advising on business systems and implementations.  Emma is also worried that she will have to close both her offices and her staff will have to work from home.  All this having a big effect on business and profits.

My partner works in a stockbrokers and he has already set up office at home in preparation.  He is just waiting for the outcome of the government meeting and he may be sent home.

My friend Becky works in a school and does not get paid if she doesn’t go in.  Although I believe the government are putting plans in place to help people in this situation.  I know they are paying statutory sick pay from day one instead of day three.

Fingertips are a bit ahead of the game here and are already set up to work from home.  We are all set up and ready to transcribe as usual.  However, if business and universities are closed, people will not be carrying out their interviews and so we will not have a lot of work either!

This may instigate a new revolution of home working which has good and bad points.  Less pollution from transport, less running costs for businesses.  However, this is not so good for the local communities that rely on customers from the working world, for instance coffee shops and restaurants.

Hopefully they will find a cure soon and the world can return to normal.