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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder how schools can realistically reopen when there is still a killer virus about with no vaccine?

706 replies

JustCantShakeIt · 14/04/2020 12:11

I’m not talking about them reopening now, in May or June or even September.

Who is prepared to send their DC into a school with hundreds of other DC, where social distancing and keeping a germ free environment is literally impossible, even with the best wills in the world, when there is a life threatening disease floating about which is highly transmittable and you have no guarantee it won’t make your DC severely ill or die.

Social distancing just between parents will be impossible at my DC’s school of over 500 where we all have to wait outside the main gates at pick up time.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m desperate for schools to reopen before my DC turn completely feral, but I don’t see how that can happen until we have a vaccine. We’re being told to stay home and keep our distance now due to the risk, the risk will be the same next month or in 5 months won’t it?

OP posts:

opticaldelusion · 14/04/2020 12:24

I guess we'll need to see the actual evidence on whether schools being open actually affects the R factor of the virus that much. Apparently children aren't super-spreaders of coronavirus (like they are with flu) so that's something to consider.

No point speculating until data is actually available.

BrieAndChilli · 14/04/2020 12:27

The point of lockdown isn’t to stop EVERYONE from getting the virus. It was to limit the amount of people who got it so that the NHS wasn’t overwhelmed. I can see us having a series of lockdowns over the next year or so while they control the flow into hospitals.

mocktail · 14/04/2020 12:28

The risk is very low for children. You send them to school in winter despite the risk of flu. However the risk to other more vulnerable household members or family you have contact with is obviously a big worry.

TimeAintNothing · 14/04/2020 12:29

I know a fair few parents on the FB groups for my DC schools are saying they're not going to send their DC back until there is proof that it's safe or there is a vaccine.

BarbedBloom · 14/04/2020 12:29

I know it will be a problem for my local school as they won't have the staff to reopen. 80% fall into the shielding category for one reason or another. They had to close very early on

QueenofmyPrinces · 14/04/2020 12:30

Apparently children aren't super-spreaders of coronavirus (like they are with flu) so that's something to consider.

That may be so - but every child at Primary school will have an adult taking them to school and collecting them. That’s a lot of grown ups in close proximity, two times a day, five days a week.

The argument doesn’t really work unless the children are walking to and fro schools by themselves.

And the children may not suffer with the virus but they will be coming into contact with teachers, cleaners, lunch time staff etc, all of which may catch the virus and then spread it to other adults.

I don’t know what the answer is really.

As has been said, the virus will be no less dangerous in 5 months time than it is now.

Humina · 14/04/2020 12:32

Also, we have no proof yet that having had Covid19 actually gives you any lasting immunity or what the long term effects of it on your body might be.

Leaannb · 14/04/2020 12:32

Experts are saying we are a year to 18 months out from a vaccine. We don't know if this vaccine is going to be a one time thing or if it will be yearly. Yes when are schools open back up in late August my children will be there

Moonmelodies · 14/04/2020 12:36

Norovirus kills 200,000 a year and there's no vaccine, no-one is too worried about that.

Umnoway · 14/04/2020 12:39

The risk is incredibly low for children and even people in their twenties and thirties (so lots of teachers). The purpose of lockdown is to protect the most vulnerable and slow down the overall spread.

PepperMooMoo · 14/04/2020 12:39

Oh, calm down.

hiredandsqueak · 14/04/2020 12:41

Well my daughter is going back to school tomorrow when her school reopens. For me the risk of sending her to school and possibly contracting and bringing coronavirus back here is outweighed by the benefits to her mental health by returning to school and some normality.

Original poster

JustCantShakeIt · 14/04/2020 12:42

Yes Moon but the whole world hasn’t effectively been shut down to stop that. It also isn’t as transmittable as CV.

I know we are told that children are not as affected as older adults but who is prepared to put their DC in the firing line to be the 0.01% who die from it, when this is a clear and present danger we all know about. It also could mutate and as Humina says we have no idea on the long term effects on the body.

OP posts:

Rosebel · 14/04/2020 12:42

There was a,suggestion but not sure how reliable it was that closing schools hadn't been as effective in stopping the spread of coronavirus as was thought.
We can't keep our children off school for a year though.

KaronAVyrus · 14/04/2020 12:43

What if they never find a vaccine? Are you just planning on never sending them back to school?

Itoldyouiwasill · 14/04/2020 12:48

The government will need children to return to school before they encourage the workers to return to work. We need people back in work so that the damage to the economy will be decreased.
At the end of the day it'll boil down to money, not lives.
The virus will still be a killer in 3/6/9 weeks
My children are grown but I know my DD will find it a difficult decision to make about my GS.

Pamelaandthepinecones · 14/04/2020 12:50

*I guess we'll need to see the actual evidence on whether schools being open actually affects the R factor of the virus that much. Apparently children aren't super-spreaders of coronavirus (like they are with flu) so that's something to consider.

No point speculating until data is actually available.*

This, with bells on.

chickedeee · 14/04/2020 12:52

Perhaps we should stay in forever, we won't catch coronavirus but will die of- depression/suicide
Heart disease

It is a deadly virus for some people but not everyone and the 'lockdown' is to stop it spreading so quickly that the NHS cannot cope.

We will need to go out at some point in a sensible way continuing to take sensible precautions. However most people need to be exposed to this virus for us to be able to return to anything like 'normal'.

A vaccine is a year to eighteen months away .

We need to learn to live with this like other viruses & protect ourselves and the VERY vulnerable as best we can.

Lycidas · 14/04/2020 12:52

Even if there’s no vaccine, there may be other treatment options soon that will help us manage the virus more effectively.

flumposie · 14/04/2020 12:52

The problem will be staff in schools. We could not run properly in the week before Boris closed them. Once staff catch it we will have the same problem of not being able to have a schools fully functioning.

Kastanien · 14/04/2020 12:52

We’re being told to stay home and keep our distance now due to the risk, the risk will be the same next month or in 5 months won’t it?

We are being told to stay at home to slow and spread out the infection rate of the virus so it won't overwhelm the NHS. There was never any suggestion that we would stay under lockdown until a vaccine was found. Once the peak is over and the NHS is deemed able to cope with treating those affected then we will have to come out of lockdown. Probably a lot of people will end up getting it but what else can we do?

MigginsMs · 14/04/2020 12:56

Well the risk was there and presumably still quite significant when most of us were still sending our kids to school before they closed so what will actually be different?

It’s completely unrealistic for schools to stay closed until there’s a vaccine.

PicsInRed · 14/04/2020 12:56

If we stay in lockdown until a vaccine is found we starve to death and the country is bankrupt.

That never was, nor would it be, the plan.

Deux · 14/04/2020 12:57

Everything can’t stop until a vaccine is available and furthermore there is no guarantee that there will be a vaccine. A cold is a Coronavirus and there’s no vaccine. So it’s by no means guaranteed.

The economy needs to get going to generate money and taxes. How many people can realistically be out of work for 18 months? Right now, we're not really seeing or experiencing the effects of a shrunken economy as everyone is at home.

The best we can hope for is that the rate of infection drops. I think it’s Norway where the rate of infection has dropped to 0.7. Also if there is an effective antibody test and that will tell us how many people have had it. Some estimates of asymptomatic infection put it as high as 50%.

PineappleDanish · 14/04/2020 12:57

That may be so - but every child at Primary school will have an adult taking them to school and collecting them. That’s a lot of grown ups in close proximity, two times a day, five days a week.

Perfect opportunity then to either let your kids walk themselves or with their friends, or come up with some sort of "walking bus" system which parents can take it in turns to supervise.

People saying "oh well I'm keeping my children off until there's a vaccine" - fine. You do you. And deal with whatever the government decides to make compulsory or non-compulsory. But I want my kids back in school, being educated and mixing with their friends again and will send them off with a cheery wave on the first day schools are back, whenever that may me.

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