Poll on if you would send your (primary) aged dc back to school on 11/5

[THATscurryfungeBITCH]

Would you be happy to send your primary aged dc back to school on 11th May?

Yes - YABU
No - YANBU

Yes I would if mine were still thatxage ( my youngest is a teen)

I wouldn't possibly be able to say right now. It would depend on lots of things. They only think we're at the peak now, they don't know so who knows what the figures will look like in a few weeks? It would also depend on what my work and dh's work decide to do. We're working from home now but if they call us back in we may have no choice but to send them to school.

Mine is in pre school and I'd let her go back

My DC is already at school because I’m a keyworker. If schools went back it would make life easier for me immensely with wrap around care etc and would make her life a bit better too as she’s miserable in the current environment.
Regarding the risk, I don't know high It would be, I don’t think anybody does that’s the problem. I do know a lot of people will be struggling even more than now if they don’t go back soon.

That’s the French date - we’re a little behind France in terms of response and our lockdown has not been as robust.

The level of virus within the country is significantly higher now than before lockdown. Releasing lock down anytime soon will surely cause a second larger surge. I would refuse to send my kids if they reopen in May.

No, toddler is shielding until mid June so the older kids won't be going back before then (not that its an option as our school has confirmed an "at least 12 week" closure)

I also wont be going back to work before Mid June, but I am part time and can WFH.

If Schools reopen then would there be fines if children were not sent in I wonder? For young primary school aged children it would be a worry I think .My friend has little ones, and it would be worrying .For older DC too .I think we need to consider this carefully .

Yes, I'd have no problem with it. The risks to children are very very low.

I would, I've talked about with OH before. The second wave of the Spanish flu is worrying me if the same happens with Covid-19, that it mutates and starts attacking people that would have had it mild in the first place (is under 16s).

I mean children have a 99.998% chance of getting it mild or asymptomatic but they could develop antibodies that get them over the second wave next winter. I'd rather risk my own health than lose my kids... but that's my train of thought right now.

I don't think they will be open then anyway will they? Where has 11/5 come from?

No way as dh shielding

Yes.

Yes...but as a key worker mine is already there.

People need to work and kids need to learn.
The majority of teachers are women, who are lower risk, often younger (20s to 50s). Low risk. I understand that's not universal, there is no offence intended to those teachers who are high risk, but as an industry it is fairly well placed to withstand COVID.

We need to take hard but reasonable decisions to get the country working again and shield only those who need it, as opposed to, effectively, everyone. There are already stories appearing in multiple mainstream newspapers warning us of food set to rot in the fields for want of staff to pick it. This situation will be replicated worldwide.

If we don't get back to work we will have actual food shortages and other critical service failures.

The UK economy is about to enter the worst financial catastrophe in over 300 years. Think how many will die as a result of that.

The risks to children are very very low

It’s the risk a mass gathering poses to the rest of the community that it the issue.

Anyone unwilling to take that risk could make a personal decision to continue shielding.

Won't it still be around in September though? - in reply to PP saying it would still be around in May

DH Nd I are both teachers. At the moment we're only in school itself on a rota and have been able to manage it so that it's not at the same time. When schools reopen obviously our DC will be in by necessity. I'm just hoping they reopen the breakfast and after-school clubs at the same time as otherwise there is no way we can drop off/pick up our own kids from their school.

A small artificial,peak in the summer would be pointless. It would kill a few people but still leave us way short of any kind of herd immunity

I don't currently know enough - or have enough certainty that there would be minuscule risk, so I'd err on the side of caution. It could change in another month - if it did, I'd go with whatever felt right at the time. Right now, I can't say yes.

I don't for one minute think they will reopen until September or mid June at earliest but mine won't be going back as dh shielding.
Would be interesting to know whether their would bd implications for non attendance though.

Absolutely. Mine are going back the second they open the gates.

I going to go against most of the answers here and say yes I would. My children do not have any underlying conditions so are in a very low risk group.

The death rate for the age group is all ready well below 0.5%, and that's from recorded case so it will actually be much much lower.

I'd be far more nervous about them near the roads or travelling in a car.

Unfortunately life is full of risks but is short and should be lived, all we can do is take sensible measures such as teaching them hand hygiene.

I’ll send mine back as soon as possible. If children (or their family) and teachers / other school staff are shielding then I think they must be able to protect themselves however they need, but we are not in that category.

It will still be around in September, but we may have better processes in place by then

To my mind, the questions would be how under control is it and do they have testing and tracing mechanisms in place to keep it under control ...seems unlikely in a month's time

Of course, with children you may decide to split the population into high and low risk (is the boundary the shielded or the vulnerable) and try to get as many of the low risk back to normal wherever they do not impact on the shielded and/or vulnerable groups. Tricky, especially as vulnerable is such a huge group, and I'd like to understand the different death rates and infection probability before sending people out.