Are our kids being thrown under the bus

[Pixxie7]

Chris Whitney has said that children are safe to go back to school because they are at low risk of complications from Covid.is this another case of politics being more important than lives?

No it proves our children were badly let down by the government by the schools being shut in the first place.

Fair point, that’s another way of looking at it.

Schools should never have shut

Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn’t it........

Of course they had shut. You can't have a lockdown with parents moving around taking DC to school.

No. our school (independent) was fully back mid June, and its been so good for the kids. Closing schools was pretty bad for most kids

What Bunny said.

Of course children can catch covid. They can get sick and they can die from it. Anyone saying otherwise is lying, maybe for political reasons, maybe because they're stupid.

I assume that the people saying schools should never have shut aren't teachers. As a teacher I'm delighted that for a time we were seen as important enough to try and protect by keeping schools shut. That's obviously over now. I teach in Scotland and as the cases in schools keep creeping up I'm becoming more and more anxious. Having a child with covid in my poorly ventilated, overcrowded classroom is becoming more and more a possibility.

@letsghostdance I've never been a fan of strikes, but I can't understand why teachers aren't striking over this?

You've been let down by your government and by parents. No safety measures is shocking.

No he's saying with the data we have now the risk to children is minimal but there is still a risk to the adults involved with school and the school run and so shutting down was a good call at the time.

Of course children can catch covid. They can get sick and they can die from it. Anyone saying otherwise is lying, maybe for political reasons, maybe because they're stupid.

Chris whitty didn't say they couldn't. He said the risk was low for children. This, by itself, is not inaccurate.
Obviously it ignores important factors like the school staff, and family members the children go home to. But what he said is not untrue.

The risk to children IS minimal though. That's not inaccurate. Yes, they can get sick and die but the odds of that are extremely tiny.

School staff are the ones most at risk.

The children aren’t, but the teachers are.

I took it as education having to take priority

@ReefTeeth just one of many professions being let down, but absolutely. The idea of only needing to distance "where possible" is another slap in the face. I'm already fatigued from it as I'm sure retail staff, hospitality, transport, etc etc are. The two primary schools nearest mine now have had confirmed cases this week.

@frazzled13 yes, and Chris Whittey has political reasons for making that statement. Children might die. Adults in schools almost certainly will. Parents and relatives of children at schools almost certainly will.

People spout all sorts of statements about transmission from/to kids without any evidence. This is a new disease. Not much is known about it yet. There's been lots of school outbreaks. Schools all over the world seem to have better safety procedures than UK schools (which have hardly any). Teenagers pass it on as adults do.
www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/21/coronavirus-iurope-dozens-schools-report-infections-berlin-germany-spain?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
Lots of cases in USA
www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/14/school-reopenings-covid-19-coronavirus-us

Hardly anyone is now at risk. Even in Aberdeen - look at the hospital admissions. The north of England is the same.

uk.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-europe-dozens-schools-report-162425875.html

This is after two weeks of SD, voluntary wearing of masks in classrooms (explicitly not recommended by the government here), compulsory mask wearing in hallways (see above) and generally a far less touchy-feely attitude towards interaction with others.

Of course the re-opening of schools will allow the virus to spread like wildfire, look at what happens when noroviruses are around.

Anyone who thinks that social distancing in schools will work - bearing in mind that the whole concept of year group/ key stage bubbles is flawed owing to sibling relations, public transport, staff across bubbles in relationships with each other and support staff who will see all children across bubbles regardless (such as kitchen staff) seriously needs to evaluate how they think schools work.

Of course their is a risk to teachers, and to children.,Howerver, on average the risk of keeping schools closed is much, much higher.
Early years professionals have been back since June, with no social distancing whatsoever to children (and often on minimum wage).
Independent school teachers in primary have been back since mid June.
Its time for the rest of teachers to be back now. Yes, there is a risk. But that is there for many many other professions as well.

@Pixxie7
That's not quite what he said.
He said that having to balance not going versus going when there's research about the former. Unlike Boris et Al he acknowledged it will impact families because of the mixing with households.

Likewise, you've missed out that the World Health Organisation has said children aged 12 and over should wear masks when they cannot guarantee social distancing of at least one metre to limit the spread of the virus and children between six and 11 should use them on a "risk-based approach".

Who also advise this in relation to school reopening :

Physical distancing: Physical distancing of at least 1 metre between people should be implemented in the school premises and in the classrooms. This includes increasing desk spacing and staging recesses, breaks and lunchbreaks; limiting the mixing of classes or age groups; considering smaller classes or alternating attendance schedules, and ensuring good ventilation in classrooms.

Remote learning: Tele-schooling and distance learning options such as delivering assignments, broadcasting lessons on radio or television and frequent follow-up support should be adapted to the situation.

Kids and teachers have died of this.
"Surge in Covid cases among children fuels fears over US school reopenings" | Coronavirus outbreak | The Guardian

"Experts challenge ‘myth’ that kids are not at risk as new study adds to worrying reports from schools and camps"

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/14/school-reopenings-covid-19-coronavirus-us

Whilst no one denies that children need to get back to school. Despite the best endeavours of schools etc there seems to be no way to keep children socially distanced. Therefore I think they are now working on the basis of herd immunity.

Here we go again....

@Pixxie7

Whilst no one denies that children need to get back to school. Despite the best endeavours of schools etc there seems to be no way to keep children socially distanced. Therefore I think they are now working on the basis of herd immunity.

Do you really think that?

Herd immunity is not credible or ethical.