@Davincitoad
I’m afraid we’ll have to agree to disagree re risks to teachers and to children. I don’t want a “race to the bottom”- I want the g’ment, education authorities and teachers unions to be acting on evidence. And considering all the risk factors, not just the virus. There is a very real risk that the damage to children- in terms of their mental health, social development and their education (not to mention the risks to vulnerable children for whom school is their place of safety and refuge, many of whom are being lost in this situation)- is far greater than the risk from the virus itself. You could be looking at many, many damaged children and children who are put off education or whose educational attainment is damaged in the long term- possibly permanently. Now, if there were no option because the risk to the children were too high, that would be one thing. But as it’s not, I don’t view it as acceptable. I’m not blaming individual teachers for the situation. I hold the government primarily responsible for the lack of clarity and leadership. But the teaching unions are also not acting well, in my opinion.
I agree track and trace is important and needs to be done well- abd should never have been halted in the 1st o place.
I heard one representative suggest that he knew better than WHO re safe social distancing- he said WHO advice was “wrong”. All he demonstrated was lack of understanding.
The data is actually quite clear on terms of risks to children. Children are highly unlikely to become seriously unwell in the event they do contract coronavirus, they are even less likely to die. One epidemiologist has put that in context- it is as likely that you will have a serious car accident both on the way to school and have the same serious accident on the way back. Put in context, weighed against the risks of schools not going back, I think you’d have to agree that from the point of view of the best interests of children they should be back at school as soon as possible. There will be some children- those with certain medical conditions or who live with a shielding parent or sibling, for instance, for whom that risk vs benefit analysis is quite different.
When it comes to risk to teachers, there is again very little evidence to suggest schools will lead to teachers becoming very unwell or dying in their droves. There is growing evidence that children seem less likely to pass on the virus- the debate is now more about the exact rate- but I will grant not as robust as data regarding the fact that children rarely become unwell. They do not, on the evidence so far, appear to be “super spreaders” as they so often are with other viral illnesses. Furthermore, when schools have opened up in other countries there has not been a massive rise in transmission rates. There has been a modest rise, which is short lived. There are, of course, individual schools where there was an issue but even then often the index case was not a child, it was frequently an adult working in the school who passed it on to others. There is no evidence from these countries that teachers have become disproportionately affected by the virus after schools returned. So, the risk to teachers is also not so significant that it is too dangerous for schools to return. If teachers want to use PPE if they have to be in close contact, thst is fine. There is, however, greater risks of transmission between adults so social distancing will be important.
There is no evidence from other countries that schools going back is going to cause a sustained population level rise in infection rates. Transient rise, yes- long-term and sustained? No. I don’t see why the UK would be alone in bucking that trend- provides infection rates are sufficiently low when schools return. Currently, that would seem to be the case.l in most areas. I would support decay to return in areas where that is not the case.
So, if it’ll schools going back is better for children, the risk of going back is low to both children and school staff, and risk of kicking off a second peak of infections is also low, I see no reason schools cannot start to open.
I’m not suggesting it will be easy l, or that all schools can open to 100% of pupils on day 1. There will need to ge additional help abd support, including financial, provided to schools to allow them to have all pupils back safely, especially if social distancing is to be maintained at 2m. But there is a lot of focus on what teacher’s can’t do by the unions- or at least that is what is coming across- even if that is not the intent.