To not want my teenagers to return to school at a time when hospital staff are struggling to provide critical care.

[Decoqueen]

Just that.

My eldest dc has just turned 18 and is vulnerable. If they get COVID and have complications and need hospital care, not only am I concerned that the NHS are too stretched, but because they are now an 'adult', they wouldn't be able to have a parent with them.

As a household we don't go out except to exercise. Groceries delivered etc...

In my experience this virus spreads too easily in schools!

My school has had only 6 cases since September in a very high risk area. I understand your fear but would suggest you talk to the school to find out how they are keeping pupils safe.

We had very few cases in my school and then suddenly it was case after case after case.

We had so many year 9s and year 11s test positive, Covid clearly spread through those year groups without any problems. We had every year group off in the end and not just because of one case in each year.

We also had a lot of staff start coming down with Covid in the two weeks before Christmas. Most had mild illnesses... a few able to work from home and more just poorly and rough, but could deal with it. A couple of teachers struggled and one ended up needing medical care. One member of staff (BAME) was hit very hard and very tragically. They lived, but I won’t go into what happened as it would be outing.
My school was on it’s knees.

I expect to have a calm return to school, but I also suspect that 2-3 weeks into the new term, we’ll be back in the shit again due to high R rate in my area.

If you want to keep your child home, then do it. I won’t be sending mine in and he’s year 11. Luckily the school aren’t fining parents.

Dd same age op. I feel the same as you. Loads of cases in her school. Not surprised. She has told me about plenty of fellow students in her year who advertise on social media them socialising in large groups. In knowing who these students are i wouldnt be surprused if the parents equally flouted the social.rules as well.They seem to be dropping like flies in her school 're instances of covid including lots of people more recently within her friendship group. It angers me that if she goes back to school that there is a good chance of her getting it. Some of her friends tested positive but had no symptoms. Most friends who had it also had parents with it so good chance they got it from.them. Most adults did have symptoms. Some were severe although not quite bad enough for hospital..i want her to go back to school but dh and I are both scared tbh especially dh who is oddly enough more frightened than me. Dd is in year 13. Dh and i are both in our 50s with some health issues hence being more nervous

Yes I agree with you. We live down south and before Xmas we had whole year groups close down because cases were so bad in our local schools, this then had a knock on effect where local people and local businesses then had to go into isolation where the case tracked back to catching it in the school environment. I know it’s a lot of people’s childcare but it’s ridiculous that they are still open, because where cases are rising it is primarily down to school cases.

Thanks for your responses all. I work in a secondary myself. I'm really proud of the way our school has dealt with the logistics of keeping staff and students 'safe' throughout this year. However, the reality is that students and staff are akin to sitting ducks waiting to see who catches the virus next. With year group bubbles of 150+ students, we can only do our best

Ultimately, I realise that if the majority of young people will get a mild dose of this, but in my experience that is not always the case for staff and family members of the students.

If the aim really is to protect the NHS from being overwhelmed, I feel that to send schools back is asking for real problems.

Massive shout out to front line NHS staff. Thank you for everything you do.