Anyone taken their kids out of school?

[mac12]

My husband wants to take our 3 kids out of school (ages 8-13). He’s involved in an international study on the incubation period (he works on comms side) so has lots of access to clinical data, which means he’s read some scary stuff & often sees worst case scenarios, which maybe skews our thinking.
I am v conflicted & worried, what is the process, will we get into trouble with the local authority, can heads have discretion at times like this? Has anyone else done it or thinking of it? Or are we mad to be even thinking about it? The eldest definitely would hate it as loves school (yeah, strange)
I was hoping the govt would follow Japan & shut schools for early containment but that doesn’t appear to be on the cards for now.

When are the details of the COBRA report going to be announced?

Nope never crossed my mind.

People just do not understand exponential growth 🤦🏻‍♀️

Will you not be leaving the house at all for the next few months Dominic?

I know you didn't ask me, but I am quite ready to spend up to 3 months in isolation, at the right time, if necessary. If schools do not close, my children will not see their grandparents for the duration of this, other than on Skype, in order to protect my parents. I will deliver them food and they can disinfect it at the door.

But not everyone can go into isolation for months. So anyone who is ill, in hospital, in care homes or has carers would just be left to die? Assume we would have no utilities as no-one would be working at utility companies. No food would be produced.

I live relatively rural, neighbours are 100m away, lots of woods/quiet beaches nearby, we have a big garden so I'd be happy to have the dc at home if needed. It would really be a case of making sure I've supplies in to last the duration.

If schools close tough I can imagine it's going to be a huge financial burden on many many people. I mean there's people in poverty now, how will they be supported?

I wonder what happens to children who are on free school meals if schools close long term? Would the government do a different provision?

@ineedaholidaynow we will be avoiding busy places for sure!

Lucky enough to live rurally, kids will be getting plenty of exercise, fresh air etc without having to go anywhere busy. We will be carefully washing hands etc. The schools are just germ hubs and the teachers can not possibly keep on top of multiple hand washing sessions in the school day, there simply isn't enough time

I don't think they will close the schools unless the outbreak is huge, and even then they will have to open them again after a month or so.

I wonder if private hospitals could be requisitioned? My hometown has quite a few.

If you’re shutting schools for a half term or so, you want to get as much bang for your buck as possible. I’m hoping there’s been lots of genius mathematicians and epidemiologists working on finding the optimal timings for this kind of thing and that we’re not just winging it.

No. Ridiculous suggestion.

I think each family should do what they believe is right for them. I disagree. Doing what “they believe is right for them” for the most part being able to feed their over-hyped anxiety which the media are fuelling day by day.

Look at the media and the infection rate in china is now lower than anywhere else. If we start going down the road of everyone self isolating just on the off-chance then you’re looking at the country literally being obliterated. No economy because companies will be going out of business due to A, having no workforce, and B, no customers.

Forget those supermarket deliveries everyone talks about. if you’re self isolating your whole families and your local supermarket delivery drivers are doing the same there won’t be any supermarket deliveries.

And for how long do you intend to do this? Weeks? Months? Years?

Yes there needs to be a contingency plan for if the infection rate becomes severe which, at the moment, it isn’t. But individuals isolating themselves and all their families just on the off-chance is going to do far more damage than corronavirus.

I am in an at-risk group should I catch it. I do not wish to catch it, but no I certainly do not intend to put my entire life on hold for the foreseeable future, because that’s what it is. If you isolate now then you will have to do so for the foreseeable future.. How’s that going to work for you?

If they are going to close schools would it just be large schools and so small village schools with under 100 pupils stay open?

AlternativePerspective - what measures do you think China took to bring the virus under control? Precisely the ones you are poo-pooing now.

This logic really bugs me.

China gets virus first.
China implements draconian measures, including travel bans, school closures, lockdowns, enforced testing, makeshift hospitals and quarantine units.
China gets the virus under control.

People in the UK: We don't need to do anything. Stop being hysterical. This is already under control in China anyway.

When China built their new hospitals I wonder where they got their healthcare workforce from? We struggle to cope now, so not much use building new ones here.

Exactly @nellodee it beggars belief, the complete lack of critical thinking.

And didn't China treat some people kindly during shut down, are you advocating that? I am assuming some people probably died due to neglect rather than the virus.

If you do you have to be prepared to keep them at home for weeks if not months. That means not going to shops, libraries, parks and basically anywhere other people go. The risk to their mental health will be huge and I’m not sure how you can mitigate against this.

I would agree with this. Take a look at the thread about Coronavirus for those of us living in Asia. Some of the posters on there are looking at the end of April for schools reopening and several are finding it a challenge with their kids at home for so long.

From what I understand, people in Wuhan who were positive for the virus were given the option of self isolating or going to one of the makeshift centres. If they chose to self isolate, paper tape was placed over their door, and food delivered. Videos of people being dragged away, are apparently videos of people who have broken quarantine. I do not know how true this is, or how many of the horror stories are true. It's pretty impossible to tell from this distance and with the information available.

Now, China has a poor human rights record and I am not going to wholeheartedly support China as a government by any means, but I think we can acknowledge where they got things right, whilst not denying that there are aspects to the regime which are insupportable.

@ineedaholidaynow, @nellodee is not advocating it. She is simply stating a fact: China's cases are coming down most likely because of their containment measures. We will not be implementing such measures in the UK, as you yourself are saying.

So looking to China now isn't much comfort.

Well the report that's come from the cobra meeting has had Boris saying that a major outbreak is 'highly likely'

For a country who got back on the buses after 7/7 and who generally has a 'keep calm and carry on' attitude, the fact our prime minister says a major outbreak is highly likely concerns me

I’m just guessing here but if there is going to be widespread infection presumably there will be children tested who are positive.

If a child tested positive and their school closed would all their classmates be sent home unless there were vulnerable adults/children at home in which case would they be taken into care?