To feel in despair for the kids

[JudesBiggestFan]

My son was one of 400 children sent home from two bubbles in his high school today to isolate for 14 days. He's in Year 7 and it was his fourth day in his new school.
He'd been catching the bus, made a new friend, had settled in so much better than I hoped after the past few chaotic disrupted months. And now he's home again.
Not only that, he is now going to miss his cricket presentation and first two football matches of the season, not be able to see friends and family, all for the pleasure of three days of schooling.
And I can see this happening over and over and over again. Luckily childcare isnt an issue as I work from home, but I'm just so sad for kids missing out. Six months off and it seems we're back where we started with no end in sight

I also think that figures are currently way below actual cases as people can't get tested. Currently the nearest place to us is 70 miles away.

@Witchcraftandhokum

What I’ve found most disturbing about this pandemic is the number of sociopaths amongst us who demand their normal at the expense of others lives. I now understand how the atrocities of history started.

Absolutely this. And the alarming lack of critical thinking. Those who demanded teachers put the self at risk for the good of the kids, then complain when schools need to close because staff are sick.

I still don’t know any one that has had it despite living in a very busy town. I see the figures for hospital admissions and deaths are the lowest it’s ever been.

Bolton has just gone in to restrictive measures. If the population of Bolton is 194,000 and the 'outbreak' is running at 100 per 100,000 that means circa 200 people in Bolton have it. Of those 1% will die - That's 2 people....

How many people die a day in Bolton due to random accidents/cancer/car crashes/non COVID illnesses.

It’s going to be made illegal to meet any one out side your family household - even outside.

This madness has got to stop now. My friends businesses are going bust which is leading them to get in to financial difficulties.

We had a dreadful time over spring and summer but we are out of the worst of it. The figures show is it’s not effecting people the way it was. We’ve got to stop throwing our kids education under the bus and allow people to work.

People are going to stop reporting symptoms. Who is honestly going to report having a temperature or cold knowing the damage it will do to their household?

@YewHedge, I hate being the person who has to say this out loud. We all die. Sooner or later. We all hope for a sensible span, of course, but we .do. all. die.

[quote Oaktree55]@MarshaBradyo but surely that involves prioritising? If we truly all believe in education then let’s get the exam years back into uninterrupted schooling. As you know from another thread I am temporarily homeschooling. I could not competently do this if mine had public exams next summer. I (and many others) would gladly homeschool to allow a more uninterrupted education for those who need it more. Our Government has allowed little flexibility.

I take umbrage at those who purport to support education on here yet actually just want childcare. Most will catch up. Where is the Societal responsibility in a crisis?[/quote]
I have a child in yr11 as a source of stress to me so I would love his schooling to be prioritised. However I also had a yr5 who stayed home all term and it really was the pits to be excluded so other years could access small classes so I would understand if other people didn’t want to prioritise and had their own reasons for wanting school.

If ds now in yr6 gets sent home it’s not as bad as the yr11. But they are both so happy to be back I’m just seeing each day as a boon.

I also don’t think part time would be that immune to closures, we’d still get more closures than in June with one case shutting the class. Maybe about half than just at the moment as half back.

Obviously that’s because school hasn’t driven transmission yet. Community transmission is high and testing is high.

How do we know that? We have had very poor testing of people with and without symptoms throughout the height if the first wave. We have no idea. You may be right. We don’t know

Because the WHO say so

You can recover finances, education etc but you cannot recover from DEATH.

This is one of the stupidest things I've ever read. It's proven that economic hardship and poverty lower life expectancy, and are linked with worse health outcomes. Every percentage point of higher unemployment lowers life expectancy. There's a reason that poor countries have crap life expectancy. The country going into economic depression also means less funding for public services, including the NHS. It is estimated that some 200,000+ people died just as a result of our austerity policies; it will be austerity on steroids if the economy can't restart and people start shuttering their businesses and losing jobs.

So short-sighted. If we carry on with our lockdown-lite policy, I guarantee you that more people will die over the next couple of decades as a result of that, than ever would have died from covid.

Codexdivinchi see my above post regarding available tests.

@GuyFawkesDay

This is how a teacher feels.

I'm scared.

I feel overwhelmed.

My daily work life is frankly, madness.

What are you actually scared of?

@Codexdivinchi

How do we know that? We have had very poor testing of people with and without symptoms throughout the height if the first wave. We have no idea. You may be right. We don’t know

Because the WHO say so

Because they're such an objective bias free organisation aren't they

People in the U.K. generally don’t know what death is first hand, attending funerals is as close as most get. They don’t often witness it, it’s not part of our culture. If a few more actually witnessed someone gasping for their last breaths this thread might read a little differently!

"@YewHedge, I hate being the person who has to say this out loud. We all die. Sooner or later. We all hope for a sensible span, of course, but we .do. all. die".

Maybe you should change your username to. Captain obvious

It's BS. All of it.

@Oaktree55

People in the U.K. generally don’t know what death is first hand, attending funerals is as close as most get. They don’t often witness it, it’s not part of our culture. If a few more actually witnessed someone gasping for their last breaths this thread might read a little differently!

Well yes, if we was in China we would see all those people falling down dead in the streets like they shown us in the news. And the hospital corridors full of body bags.

Weird that didn’t happen here though

What I don’t understand is we were originally told sustained face to face contact for 15 mins to catch the virus, now all of a sudden it’s entire bubbles of 200 odd children being asked to self isolate on the off chance they happened to be near the person who tested positive. I assumed (obviously wrongly) that it would only be their close contacts who needed to isolate, for example a close friend or people they sit next to etc.

@Isthisnormalorishelying here's what I'm scared of:

The fact there's almost no SD in school. It's s matter of time before there's cases. I have family members who are vulnerable. And friends in the staffroom too.

The poor behaviour big done kids who are crossing bubbles and nothing is being done.

The fact I feel like I'm drowning in work and demands already, in week 2. I'm not sure I can do this all year. I've been teaching 15+yrs and did s high pressure City job before that. I've never felt so tense and pressured.

@Witchcraftandhokum

Codexdivinchi see my above post regarding available tests.

They are handing them out to passerbys in the street in Bolton. They have little tents set up. I just find it really odd.

@ihearttc

What I don’t understand is we were originally told sustained face to face contact for 15 mins to catch the virus, now all of a sudden it’s entire bubbles of 200 odd children being asked to self isolate on the off chance they happened to be near the person who tested positive. I assumed (obviously wrongly) that it would only be their close contacts who needed to isolate, for example a close friend or people they sit next to etc.

I just put on another thread this needs to be assessed.

@yewhedge
I work in a hospital as a doctor, I regularly treat patients at the end of their lives. During this pandemic I have personally treated patients dying from Covid. I may treat more. But I am also treating those who are dying due to not being able to get adequate healthcare during the lockdown (surgery cancelled, didn’t want to bother the gp, basically abandoned when carers stopped coming etc) and those who the economic impacts have led them to try and take their own lives. These people matter just as much as those with Covid, yet we are still prioritising that one thing above all else, apparently with minimal regard for the consequences as long as the graphs look better. We still have whole parts of hospitals standing empty just in case - where are the just in case wards for cancers? Heart disease? Strokes? Psychosis?
Teaching our children to be scared of other people, preventing them from developing social and interpersonal skills and relationships and that illness and death can always be avoided Is not the way forward. We will all die of something, currently journey to school is a greater risk for most healthy children than Covid. Children are the least vulnerable group in terms of Covid, but one of the most vulnerable in developmental terms.
I am happy to agree people have and are entitled to different views, but please think about the issue widely. If people feel they want to keep their child at home, they should be able to choose to home school for the time being.

Codex it's not odd, it's a shambles. The parents (neither of whom drive) were directed to a testing site in Scotland today, we're in the North East of England. It's 140ile round trip.

@MarshaBradyo

DS1 has done 2 days so far (wearing his mask if you remember my other thread). If they have to isolate, then I will as well so will my class and DS2’s class I assume? So that’s over 300 people at least on the off chance that they may have contracted something. Surely the number of positive cases before the bubble bursts needs to be higher?

I think there must be a way of shielding the vulnerable and financially supporting them rather than furlough half the country to go to the beach and into each other's gardens for months.
Children need to be in school every day. All day. People need to work.
This is a virus which for most is like a common cold. It is harmless to the vast majority of people yet our country has shut down and kids are being damaged. The future of our nation is at risk here.
I am not scared of this virus. I am well. I am lucky. So would rather go and catch it and get on with things. Similarly for my kids. I would rather they just got it over with, like chicken pox.
For vulnerable kids there needs to be a way of keeping them safe, like online schooling or more closed bubbles which are more protected.
Once most people have had it it will likely go away or become less harmful over time as new treatments emerge like with any new virus. Lockdown is preventing this from happening-the minute you stop the virus spreads. So life stops-as it has and continues to do.
Protect the most vulnerable, find ways they can live safely and everyone else should be back at work and school. If there is one case in a class the rest of those children's parents have the choice whether to send them or not.
The media and government have terrified people and for what reason? It is unnatural to be washing down shopping with bleach and wearing masks and being terrified to be on the same path as someone. None of that is evidence based whatsoever, all anecdotal yet people cling onto them as though the world will end if we don't do it.

What other insights do you have to offer walksen? Of course it's better for old people to die than young people, and more tragic to lose a young life than one fully lived. For most of human history, death was an ever-present possibility. Now, most expect to make their eighth decade and complain the nhs was inadequate if they fail to do so.

And there is no way they are going to be able to sit their exams this year. DS isn’t even allowed to take his books home so he won’t be able to revise etc!

@BeijingBikini

You can recover finances, education etc but you cannot recover from DEATH.

This is one of the stupidest things I've ever read. It's proven that economic hardship and poverty lower life expectancy, and are linked with worse health outcomes. Every percentage point of higher unemployment lowers life expectancy. There's a reason that poor countries have crap life expectancy. The country going into economic depression also means less funding for public services, including the NHS. It is estimated that some 200,000+ people died just as a result of our austerity policies; it will be austerity on steroids if the economy can't restart and people start shuttering their businesses and losing jobs.

So short-sighted. If we carry on with our lockdown-lite policy, I guarantee you that more people will die over the next couple of decades as a result of that, than ever would have died from covid.

I’ve worked in debt help. I’d say the majority of people who are about to lose their house/marriage because of the huge debts they are in have felt at one point of committing suicide. Debt ruins families.