To think that high levels of children being sent to school are the beginnings of lockdown resistance from the working age population

[NoIDontWatchLoveIsland]

I keep hearing widespread reports of high levels of children being sent to school under key worker provision. In the first lockdown many people did what they could to keep children at home, and employers tolerated this, but this time almost everyone I know even vaguely connected with a key worker occupation has been given a letter from their employer and told they must get their children to school. In almost all cases the parents are happy about this.

AIBU to think that this is the beginnings of resistance from younger people at continued school closures & lockdowns, when the statistics continue to be clear that few people under 50 who are not CEV are getting severely I'll with Covid?

YABU - no, people are supportive of school closures & wider lockdowns
YANBU - yes, younger people are becoming less tolerant of school closures/wider lockdowns

Businesses are struggling.
March businesses were more accepting and flexible as we were all in the same boat. This time they are not.

People need to work, as much as schools aren’t “childcare” the government sure count it as that from a benefits point.

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

Sliding drawers

You are very lucky (?) That your employer will tolerate that. Most peoples contracts don't allow home working without childcare and most key workers are being told by their employer that they MUST seek a school place for their child.

I work clinically in the NHS. I've always juggled work and my home/child responsibilities. This is no different with the added impact that I can see first hand what mixing creates.

@Nicknamegoeshere

I don't understand why you'd send your kids in if you are a SAHP?

Because it's in some children's best interests to be in school? (ie needs of the child/parents MH needs, no broadband/device to access lessons and work)

Mine are in school as we are both key workers but I wish this wasn't the case.

DS is in secondary and I feel he's safe- he's in a small group, they're spaced out at computers accessing the same online learning as all those at home etc.

DD is in primary and around half the children will still be at school. I don't know what sort of learning she'll be accessing. I doubt there will be much distancing with so many children there.

I work in a nursery and don't feel safe at all. We had positive cases in both staff and children recently. We are not to wear masks or visors apart from in staff areas/ corridors/ at the door to parents. We cannot distance from children and it's very difficult to distance from other staff. All we can do is wash our hands and hope for the the best.

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland you are right and I'm not ruling it out. We don't see another soul outside our family unit - no "bubbles" which can be used to take the piss.

What I do know is that I'm not going to push myself to the very limit working full time and trying to juggle like last time. I have every faith in our school operating safely as we had only one year group closure last term - why we couldn't continue to operate like that is beyond me. Again I've been flamed for this but the figures don't add up. Primaries should be open.

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

that doesn't show the many people managing it, just about, at home for many weeks and months

Do you really think we can afford to shut the economy down and fuck over our childrens future for that? We've had a mental health crisis for at least 10 years also having the effect of people "just about managing" outside the healthcare system and we haven't shut down life to deal with that.

Yes it's important to recognise that but there are other ways to manage that - decent sick pay, support for employers and industries affected etc

Ever caught depression from a stranger in a supermarket?

Caught bipolar from a child in your class?

Obviously not. Stupid analogy.

Better sick pay doesn't give young, previously healthy people their lives back when they've been unable to walk more than 10 steps for 6 months.

It's clear you're lucky and haven't had this affect people close to you.

Yes, I also have friends who have had to sell a house because of the lock down. It's shit but they're functioning and healthy.

It's a delicate balance, this whole situation. I can tell that I'm extremely unlikely to change your mind, but denying the significant impact of covid on all ages is naive.

@NowellSingWe Excluding "vulnerable" children that is.
I'm a KW currently on mat leave. I have two children at home (both with additional needs) and a 7 month-old baby. My OH is a full-time SW who cannot always WFH e.g. urgent visits.
It's very, very tough but it would be wrong of me to send my kids to school.

And what happens when the nhs is overwhelmed because so many kids are in?

@Jeremyironseverything Totally agree.

It's not just about children being less vulnerable to the severe side of covid, it's the risk to their families that they go home to and the school staff etc. People are being extremely selfish at the moment.
It's not ideal, but nothing about the last year has been. If people supported it and stayed home etc this time, combined with the vaccine, it should be the last time.
It's the idiots who can't comply that drag it all out for longer. I'm fed up with it, but complying in the hope the end is in sight.

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

Wizzbangfizz

Get them in. I would. They deserve to be at school and if most kids are, the provision there will end up being bordering on normal or it will pose the very real question to the government of whether its worth closing them at all.

There HAS to be a change in focus. FAR more protection (including financial) for the elderly and CEV and let other people resume normal schooling etc.

I will get flayed alive but I really dont think people should be allowed to use over 70s for childcare unless the elderly person has already had Covid or the vaccine. I wish the government could find a way to support people to find a different childcare solution for a while.

The problem with the proposal you set out in your second para - that we should shield the elderly and CEV - is that it ignores every effect of Covid other than deaths.

Even if under 50s don’t die from contracting it, they will still have to take about 2 weeks off work if they contract it (much longer if they get long Covid) and the same amount of time away from work each and every time they have to self isolate after being in contact with a symptomatic person. Which will be a lot if we go back to ‘normal’ before we have sufficient numbers vaccinated to suppress the spread significantly. Remember that every single person who has been in contact with those 60,000 people who were infected yesterday are now unable to work for 10 days, as well as those 60,000 people themselves. Imagine how that effects the economy - and the same is true for every single day.

If we take away all the preventative measures currently in place, the virus will rip through the population, and even if you ignore the deaths and hospitalisation figures (you can’t, the NHS will collapse) then the economy would be in just as bad a state within weeks, with employers having to pay sick leave for enormous numbers of people off sick and isolating, and still unable to function.

Key functions would fail - food and medicine supply chains, schools, care work, transport, social services - everything requiring people to run would be decimated due to lack of staff able to work.

To say that all we need to do is shield the old and CEV is a dangerous fallacy being peddled across social media by people who haven’t stopped to think what that would actually look like. Don’t fall prey to it.

but denying the significant impact of covid on all ages is naive.

Provide some statistics then. I've not seen anything suggesting that high percentages of healthy young people are being left with severe long Covid.

I agree with PPs... my employer was amazing last time and I’m sending a slight change in tone this time round. According to my company’s criteria they would consider me a key worker, as would DH... we’re both wfh and as long as the school provision is good we will continue to keep the DC at home. Mind you, the school key worker spaces filled up in a day... bubbles now closed. I’m pretty sure we don’t have that many NHS, supermarket staff etc. Must be a lot like us who just can’t face a lockdown like last time... and I’m not sure I blame them.

If people can all wfh now apparently, I dont see why they wouldnt be able to wfh if asked to self isolate

Also the point being that globally there are very few cases of people actually getting Covid twice. So we should as a minimum be allowing people who have already it (with a confirmed test) to continue about their lives.

the school key worker spaces filled up in a day... bubbles now closed

They aren't allowed to limit the spaces. They must provide a space to all key worker children who request one.

Mine are home as I am protecting the NHS.

Wow! Passive aggressive much?

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

If people can all wfh now apparently, I dont see why they wouldnt be able to wfh if asked to self isolate

Also the point being that globally there are very few cases of people actually getting Covid twice. So we should as a minimum be allowing people who have already it (with a confirmed test) to continue about their lives.

Yep, those people could. But not the lorry drivers bringing your food, the shelf stackers, the staff at your pharmacy or the distribution centre where your medicine arrives, or the thousands of other people who have to go to where their work is and work with other people.

Bitch thank you for taking the words right out of my mouth there

But not the lorry drivers bringing your food, the shelf stackers, the staff at your pharmacy or the distribution centre where your medicine arrives, or the thousands of other people who have to go to where their work is and work with other people.

Those people worked throughout and are still working now. Has Covid been sweeping through the supermarkets?

A quick google says long covid affects 10% of 18 to 49 year olds , rising to 22% of over 70s

Women asthmatic s and overweight people more likely to be affected

I really think there are a lot of meaningful statistics not being published.

@TheBitchOfTheVicar

Mine are home as I am protecting the NHS.

Wow! Passive aggressive much?

Nope I see sensible , caring and wanting to go back to normal as quickly as possible

10% is a relatively low percentage and isnt going to bring the economy to its knees. I wonder what proportion of that 10% are CEV or vulnerable.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

Seems to me that everyone supports the lockdown just not for their off spring. Every bloody Mumsnet thread the last few weeks has said close the schools, many of these people are still sending their kids in. I don’t think it has anything to do with a parents age- it’s just typical selfish mentality!

Stupid, arrogant comment.

A) I don't support lockdown and don't personally know any parent who wanted the schools to shut, in fact they were desperate they remain open due to the disruption caused to children's education and parents' working life, (when people do not feel as secure in their jobs now). Don't believe all the shrieking you hear on MN.

B) the audacity of calling young, healthy, working people "selfish" for utilizing our education system for perfectly legitimate reasons, after almost a year of relentless restrictions, imposed purely to protect the relatively tiny minority - it truly staggers me. Get over yourself.