Surprised at healthy people saying they won’t send dc to school until there’s a vaccination

[sunshineanddaffodils]

I absolutely understand that if your dc has a health condition there’s no way you would put in any situation where they could catch covid. Likewise if you or your partner have a health condition or other vulnerable dc. However I am baffled as to why you would not want your healthy dc getting back to school and their friends ASAP but want to wait for a vaccination. That could be years! As long as the vulnerable population remains safe self isolating I cannot understand why there is such horror at the thought of schools reopening.

I am worried though. Incase I have an unknown issue or my body can't fight it.

Also my son had pneumonia last year aged 14 months. 4 days in hospital. High heart rate. Grunting to breathe. Temp 39.5, lethargic, weak, sleepy. Antibiotics pumped into him every six hours through a cannula. Iv drip to hydrate him. He's a healthy 2 year old. But I don't know truly if he is prone to chest stuff. So yes I'm worried.

Oh, and then there is also the fact that one of the things that reduces risk on this situation- social distancing- is something it is more difficult for children to do than adults. Some of that is due to environment I.e. size of classrooms and corridors, some of it is down to level of emotional development, physical control.

There are differing levels of that in any class. So even if some children in a class are sensible and able to adequately practice social distancing, there will be some who genuinely aren’t able to. And then there’s always an idiot who’d do something daft for a laugh, or to scare/bully others.

With children, people do often literally have all their eggs in a small number of baskets too. People like to protect what is precious to them, and irreplaceable.

I voted yanbu by accident.
YABU

Until we start testing and the govt gets some actual data on the UK population I do not trust a thing they are saying. Made up data never ends well when used in policy.

EthelFleda,Sorry didnt mean to come across as bossy! Just meant so many of these threads and all hypothetical ATM anyway, unless we hear word from BJ and co as to the next steps!

YANBU but there are a lot of batshit people on this site.

I’m a student and work in a pub why should my children go back to school surrounded by 1000 other pupils and staff while I am safely tucked up at home?

Because schools and the education sector are much more important to society than pubs?

At some point restrictions are going to have to ease, presumably before a vaccine is found. We aren't going to go from lockdown on a Friday to normal life on a Monday, it's going to be gradual and possibly over a long period of time.

Every sector will have staff, clients, students, patients etc that are high risk and can't fully participate. Likewise, presumably we'll all still be required to isolate for every fever or cough until testing is more readily available, and so every sector is going to be hit by high sickness rates.

We're all going to have to take a balanced approach, and all employers are going to have to be flexible.

But I don't see why schools shouldn't be among the first tranche of workplaces to reopen.

I didnt think lock down was ever going to be in place until a vaccination / cure is found, I always understood it to be about allowing people who have it to access the relevant treatment. Key workers are the first wave, we all need to stay indoors so that treatment is available to them. Once they have had it / recovered surely then the next wave of people will be allowed back into society so that treatment will be available to them, and so on. This is just my understanding and I have no idea what timescales are involved but I never understood that schools would be closed until a vaccine is available.

I don't have any problems with sending my dcs in. They will go to school in a heartbeat when it reopens. I am comfortable with taking the risk, which is miniscule for a healthy family. We will continue to isolate ourselves from vulnerable relatives.

Getting in your car (if you have one) is THE most dangerous thing you can do. I find people's inability to assess risk really fascinating. Will you stop driving anywhere? Crossing the road? Eating food someone else prepared?

Over half the world's kids are out of school at the moment. For a fair number it's going to be fatal in one way or another. A lot will never go back.

It's completely barmy to think you can keep schools closed indefinitely. Of course anyone in the UK is entitled to home educate as you like, provided you let the LA know. You'll need to provide your own resources though.

There was a French study out this morning that tracked a 9yo boy who was infected early on. Despite mixing at school, on holiday etc he passed it on to no one, including siblings. It will be very interesting to see if that is replicated by other studies.

You cannot assess the risk on a new disease without data from testing. To suggest you know the risk is impossible. You are going on data from other countries and tests that are not 100% reliable.

And yes, I know not all tests are 100% reliable but why use data from other countries with other risk factors, different healthcare and education systems? Why isn't our govt doing proper community testing so we can see what the risks are for our own country and which areas may need to have longer in lockdown? We need to isolate this before lifting any lockdown and until they start acting as though they understand basic disease control principles I cannot trust their "guidance". Only a few weeks ago that included "herd immunity" and now we see immunity doesn't last, even that a secondary infection might be far worse than the first.

Because healthy people are dying ?

Two 'healthy' hospital staff at hour very small, general hospital are now dead due to covid. And this was after lockdown. Imagine if this thing was left to run rampant. Who would nurse then ?

Some of us want to keep our children alive

You're suggesting some of us don't?

The reason is the government have been a step behind at every turn so far and I don't trust their advice. The crowds that stand around waiting for the kids to come out puts you at risk. I'd rather wait longer and see if any other cases crop up which they will. I want DD safe.

@Pumpkinpie1 do you have any actual evidence about those twitter accounts as I have been searching all morning and can't find anything. The only info comes from that one guy's twitter thread and he has a history of some very questionable political views.

If you were able to look through some of the fake accounts they seemed more like they were from someone with a far right agenda.

My kids' school are posting pictures of the stuff they have key workers' kids doing on Facebook. No attempt at social distancing at all. Kids baking with three or four of them clustered around one mixing bowl, or drawing around each others' bodies and breathing in to their faces.

I kept mine off a week before quarantine kicked in because a vulnerable family member was going to need to stay with us. On the last day they had an assembly with every child in the school hall and dancing (again posted to facebook).

The last 4 weeks would be entirely pointless if I sent them back into that. .

I passed my case on to no one too bread and I am far from 9.

I did, however, get it in all likelihood from a teen who had been skiing.

I think some people are either going along with peer pressure (because nobody wants to be the one saying "Yes, I'm happy to take some really tiny risks in exchange for not having to homeschool badly while doing my paid employment equally badly and getting fired")

I think other people believe that a vaccine will be available soon without fail and do not really get that it could take some time and might be less than perfectly effective when it arrives.

These threads inevitably end up with the 'I love my child too much' posters, as if everyone else here doesn't love their children just as much. Everybody wants their children to be safe, but everyone also assesses risk differently. Realistically, the risk of a healthy child dying from Covid-19 is incredibly, incredibly small, given the numbers we have so far. But for some people, the fact that risk exists at all is reason enough. Other people will look at that risk and make the decision that their child is actually more likely to be harmed by other things and that the risk is so small statistically speaking that keeping children off longer than 'necessary' would be more damaging.

As to who is right, neither is right and neither is wrong, necessarily. It's just one of the many decisions we make about child-rearing and approaching risk, such as letting them walk to the shops alone, what kind of car seat we use, etc etc. Everyone's opinion and assessment of those risks will differ.

Some parents are shielding, some are high risk.

The OP said HEALTHY people.

@Devlesko

8 under 19 have died in England

2 I think in Italy

5 under 14s in the US

However sad and awful each one of those were they are low numbers. And are consistently low across all countries.

We need to get a balance - schools in my opinion shouldnt be open certainly this side of half term. and if they do before September it needs to be well thought out.

However we simply cannot stay in this forever. We cant hide away at some point we are going to have to move forward. The current risk level is high yes. But that doesnt mean it going to be like that until there is a vaccine

The crowds that stand around waiting for the kids to come out puts you at risk I think your response depends on so many things. If my kids were still primary age and the home schooling required was a bit of reading and writing practice with some basic maths and half an hour of Joe Wicks then I'd probably be happy to write off the end of this year and keep them at home. With older kids - my son is doing the equivalent of A level maths - it's not quite so straightforward. Also he can get there and back under his own steam (he's planning to cycle rather than take the metro) so you don't have the issue of crowds at the gates. Interestingly here in France they've just announced a phased return which will start with the youngest primary age classes - ie those who are learning to read and write along with the top year primary (who are preparing to transfer to secondary school), then the exam year secondary pupils, then everyone else. My son looked at the order of return and immediately saw the logic. There's no obligation - we are waiting to see what his school announces. He will be going back as soon as he can.

It is all about risk assessment. My teens are probably more at risk from their daily cycle ride than from the virus.

Herd immunity takes several generations to develop

??? Source, please?

Most countries that have tested widely are suggesting that 3-4% of their populations have already got antibodies, after just a couple of months. It might be longer than we first anticipated but why on earth would it take "generations" to develop?