To be terrified about the schools being back (Scotland)

[Kaylasmum53]

Our schools went back last week, my daughter is in S6 and my dd is in S2 although due to severe school anxiety and possible ASD he only attends school an hour a day with myself and a support teacher present.

The last two days when I have dropped my dd off I have been shocked to see the large groups of children congregating in the school grounds, absolutely no social distancing at all. There has been new coronavirus cases in my town at 2 schools and I am really starting to worry. I have severe health anxiety and have been struggling massively with all of this, I even took unpaid leave from my work for three months as I am so scared of my family catching the virus. I am overweight and prone to chest infections and feel that if I catch it I would become very ill.

Well it’s colder here at the moment than it is in America or South Africa! About 18-20 degrees in the day, down to 6-8 at night.

@Ozgirl75

Well it’s colder here at the moment than it is in America or South Africa! About 18-20 degrees in the day, down to 6-8 at night.

It's a lot warmer in SE England at the moment than that. But it won't be next term, I don't think...

@Kaylasmum53 I was very worried about a family member getting it, as he's very heavy, nearly sixty and very prone to bronchitis. He's even had pneumonia a couple of times recently.
He is also unfotunately in a country where it's rife just now.
Well it happened, he caught it at work, and.... he's fine. Has had much worse illnesses. Doctor told him to quarantine for a couple of weeks and he's back at work now. He said the cough disturbed his sleep a few nights and he had some fatigue and that was the worst of it.

I know that what happens to one person doesn't determine how anyone else will react but I just wanted to point out that certain risk factors are not some sort of inevitablity.

I don’t think the weather makes that much difference - we had similar numbers when it was much warmer in March/April.

That's why masks are only mandatory in indoor environments. Presumably when they are in classrooms, there is some distancing happening.

No distancing, no masks indoor or out in any of our schools.

It is ridiculous, gambling with our kids for political expediency.

I just want to correct ozgirls statements. I live in Melbourne and we had many outbreaks in schools in the few weeks our schools were open. One school was linked to over 100 cases and another school closed on two separate occasions. Numerous schools were closed at any given time they just stopped reporting it after a while. A quick Google search shows a news article about a day with almost 60 schools shut. I think that we need to accept some level of risk and get on with our lives but making up information does not help.

Ok so maybe there were a few more, but not compared to the numbers who get flu every year, and the numbers of children who have got Covid are really low - when you think how many schools there are, even when one child gets it, they close the school, clean it and everyone goes back.
I think the OP was concerned about Covid raging through schools in the same way that colds and flu do in winter, and that just hasn’t been the experience in Australia.

yes I do agree with your sentiment in general ozgirl. Particularly in the UK where eradication is not a realistic goal with borders remaining open. Melbourne needs to have very low to no cases because because that is what will allow us to open our borders with our neighbours but otherwise simply keeping numbers lowish would be a perfectly good strategy.

and the numbers of children who have got Covid are really low

Because the vast majority of children have not been out in the community since March.

We also need to draw a distinction between “children” and “teenagers”. Primary school children may not be an issue but secondary children, especially in the upper years are seeing an uptick in cases. Four schools have reported cases linked to them, albeit they were affected in the community just before schools were opened so nipped in the bud.

But after this week when schools have been back full time, expect the numbers to rise.

As I’ve said before, just because children and young people aren’t dying, doesn’t mean they aren’t facing long term effects.

@MintyMabel

and the numbers of children who have got Covid are really low

Because the vast majority of children have not been out in the community since March.

We also need to draw a distinction between “children” and “teenagers”. Primary school children may not be an issue but secondary children, especially in the upper years are seeing an uptick in cases. Four schools have reported cases linked to them, albeit they were affected in the community just before schools were opened so nipped in the bud.

But after this week when schools have been back full time, expect the numbers to rise.

As I’ve said before, just because children and young people aren’t dying, doesn’t mean they aren’t facing long term effects.

Helpful Minty

Children are out in the community. The playgrounds are busy and children don’t socially distance.

As the OP’s child is primary aged the greater risk to older years in secondary isn’t particularly relevant.

Children are out in the community. The playgrounds are busy and children don’t socially distance.

Now they are. But that is a relatively new thing. Sitting next to a child with Covid, in a classroom, for 6 hours, is entirely different to being in a playground outside for an hour.

As the OP’s child is primary aged the greater risk to older years in secondary isn’t particularly relevant.

Ooooh, goody, the thread police are here to tell people what they can and can’t talk about.

The relevance is there whether you want to see it or not.

But on a thread where the OP is ‘terrified’ of Covid irrelevance isn’t helpful.

Playgrounds are a lot more random than sitting with the same 29 kids all day.

We can reassure but we are (mostly) non-experts. The random nature of playgrounds don't make them less safe than schools necessarily, due to the short term nature of the interactions.

One thing that would help reassure me in the OP's position is risk of catching covid is lower in Scotland than England and I think the systems seem more effective with regard to identifying outbreaks.

I have been thinking how much less worried I would be in Scotland!

As I’ve said before, just because children and young people aren’t dying, doesn’t mean they aren’t facing long term effects.

I'm sorry but where is the evidence that children and young people are facing long term effects?

My son, my DH and I have all had it. Our only symptoms were mild runny nose and sore throat. My son didn't even have a sore throat.

Can I point out that OPs dc are in secondary - S2 is 2nd year of high school so around age 13 and S6 final year do 17 - 18.

My children aren't at primary school, they are at secondary school and I think the school should be enforcing social distancing in the classrooms at the very least but they aren't. The teachers are socially distancing from the pupils so it should be the same with the kids.

@TeaInMyStoneCup

As I’ve said before, just because children and young people aren’t dying, doesn’t mean they aren’t facing long term effects.

I'm sorry but where is the evidence that children and young people are facing long term effects?

My son, my DH and I have all had it. Our only symptoms were mild runny nose and sore throat. My son didn't even have a sore throat.

Lots/most people had it mildly, doesn't change the overall picture.

I am glad you were all mild cases, but that doesn't mean anything for the next person.

@haggisaggis

Can I point out that OPs dc are in secondary - S2 is 2nd year of high school so around age 13 and S6 final year do 17 - 18.

Fair point, thank you.

Nevertheless I think Minty is being alarmist

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/18/children-covid-19-english-schools-virus-safe-reopening?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1597743372

This may help

My son, my DH and I have all had it. Our only symptoms were mild runny nose and sore throat. My son didn't even have a sore throat.

Oh well, if you only had it mildly (and bizarrely with unrelated symptoms, sore throat, runny nose are not typical) then I guess nobody died of it, eh?

Nevertheless I think Minty is being alarmist

Alarmist by stating the actual facts that four high schools have cases linked to them in the last week? That the number of children affected is rising as children are put in the community more. This is absolute fact.

There is a risk to the OPs daughter in S6. But this is her last year of school she deserves and needs a proper education.
The daughter and can do as much as possible to keep distance when she can, use the hand sanitiser, wipe desks etc and can also clean hands etc on returning home.
As I say, it’s a risk but if I had an S6 I’d consider it worth it for my child’s qualifications.

@Kaylasmum53

My children aren't at primary school, they are at secondary school and I think the school should be enforcing social distancing in the classrooms at the very least but they aren't. The teachers are socially distancing from the pupils so it should be the same with the kids.

I’m a secondary teacher in Scotland and there is literally no way for me to make sure my classes socially distance. I’m lucky because my largest class is 25 pupils, but there are only 28 seats in my classroom. They’re seated in rows in pairs of desks, but it means that seniors are sitting shoulder to shoulder. I am reminding them to sanitise hands and to stay apart and I am keeping 2m away when I can (lost new S1s approach with timetables outstretched at alarming speed!). I really hope the message that this won’t spread in schools is correct, but when you have health officials making statements about teenagers contracting the virus at house parties where there are large groups not socially distancing and then you look at our corridors, I cannot see what the difference is.

Op I'm very overweight and have asthma. Also have health anxiety. Kids are s3 and P6. You need to get a handle on your anxiety more than anything else - at the start of this I was a wreck but I'm feeling much better now. Yes being overweight (and I'm VERY overweight) is a risk factor but even if it doubles your risk your risk was tiny to start with. I've been losing weight since last year via an NHS course and I've been trying not to get Into the vicious cycle of crash dieting again which has been a temptation.

There will be cases, some of them will be in schools. That's just how it's going to be now. Honestly you need to do a risk benefit thing and see why your anxiety is so bad.

Children were out & about completely as normal in February & for most of March, when we now know the virus was busily spreading throughout the population. If children & teens were genuinely at risk we would have seen it in the stats. We haven't...to the point that the Cambridge statistician David Spiegelhalter (whose specialisation is medical risk assessment) has described the risk to children & teens as "miniscule". Kids weren't showing up in the testing stats back then because testing was pretty much confined to hospitalisation cases & kids weren't being hospitalised. Now we're carrying out 160k tests a day & there are testing teams literally going door to door in places considered hotspots, so yes, amazingly enough some children are testing positive.

I honestly have no idea why a tiny minority on here are so eager to go against the overwhelming statistical evidence on this one. Its almost like they want a great apocalyptic pandemic & Covid isn't exciting enough.

Anyway...

Just an idea OP, but have you tried to arrange an appointment with your GP to discuss your potential risk level? It might be that they can reassure you - if they can't, at least they can talk through the risks with you.