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.

I find this really interesting: what do those against making draconian decisions to prevent the spread, such as taking kids out of school, drastically changing routines etc think will happen if the virus continues it's growth rate?

China's ability to shut everything down and effectively put people under house arrest seems to have had a real impact on containing the numbers within their country.

I think the economic impact is a given. It’s more of whether that, plus the full brunt of the virus now - when NHS is most tested, is best now. Co-infection (people getting Covid 19 + something else) has been a factor elsewhere. Less seasonal bugs means less chance of co-infection and less pressure on NHS. Also presently the number of infections in Wuhan are in decline, so quarantine has been positive. My biggest concern is the older community.

It’s more of whether that, plus the full brunt of the virus now - when NHS is most tested, is best now. Co-infection (people getting Covid 19 + something else) has been a factor elsewhere. Less seasonal bugs means less chance of co-infection and less pressure on NHS. Also presently the number of infections in Wuhan are in decline, so quarantine has been positive. My biggest concern is the older community

Agree entirely. I'm keeping kids off school today for very mild colds I'd otherwise send them in for - I don't think spreading even mild illnesses now is sensible or very community spirited to those vulnerable. The cost benefit risk assessment about sending into school has changed - particularly if you look at vulnerable groups. Not only will it reduce disease burden overall it will reduce impact on NHS.

School policy needs to support parents doing this.

Also, to those saying what good is closing schools - apparently the boy sitting next to my daughter in some lessons keeps spitting on her in class (I will be having words). Presumably she's not the only kid he does this too. This is the sort of behaviour you can't eradicate entirely in kids if you sit them close to each other all day.

i agree with the above that stopping the spread of any illness is helpful and i would 100% do that too.

I dont see shutting schools entirely for months being all that beneficial because people still need childcare and therefore kids would still be mixing..

wouldnt it be better to stay off if you have symptoms, and if confirmed shut the school for a deep clean etc? because once that person is no longer in, and the virus has been removed from the building - it cant spread any further can it?

There's no way we will stop the spread now as we are too late. We should have closed schools and places where crowds meet before it started community spread.

I can't believe people are travelling abroad as usual, just carrying on as normal, it's selfish and will make sure it spreads to the vulnerable.
I'm sure I read that 80% of us will catch it.

@Devlesko - surely thats worst case scenario?

It is the worst case scenario. On board the cruise ship where everyone was in very close proximity, only around a quarter were infected and 50% of those showed no symptoms.

Of which strain, @SunshineGirl82 ?

80% is the worst case scenario, but bear in mind that our behaviour, and how much effort we make to change it to reduce the spread, will affect whether that worst case scenario becomes reality. Its not something we're powerless over. What we do right now will make a big difference. Carrying on as normal will make it likely that a higher percentage of people will catch it, over a short time period.

This is going to cost us all in one way or another - financially, missed holidays, missed social events, missed opportunities. If we accept more of that hit up front, we can reduce the burden of illness on ourselves and the whole country, which would have even greater costs. Choosing to avoid a trip or party while healthy is a small, controlled cost compared to having to miss things due to being ill for weeks at a later date because the virus has spread far and fast (about half of even the less affected people will still have something like a really really bad flu with the mild end of pneumonia).

In my view the fact that there are two strains is a huge positive. The more "aggressive" strain is much less contagious and doesn't seem to be spreading widely at all. Assuming at least some of the deaths in China can be attributed to this more aggressive strain the death rate overall is likely to be much lower.

Yes, worst case scenario if we don't do what other countries have done, and we haven't.
This is mainly due to economy and keeping schools open for childcare, so parents can keep working. Rather than the sensible decision that health comes first.

but, if we close schools, kids are going to mix with other kids anyway, because a lot of people rely on childcare. Most people wont have the luxury of staying home with their children!

And if people get sick, they'll at least get sick pay. If they stay home with their kids, they'll not get paid. I can see why people would rather schools stay open and run the risk of being ill, tbh.

Maybe if the government ensured parental leave was paid, more people would be happy for schools to close. They wont though.

I went to town before, it was completely dead except for a few college kids on lunch break, even they weren't venturing out.
Friday is usually a busy day and the chance for the old folks to socialise, the cafes were empty, the market dead as a dodo, no old people about at all.
I was talking to the fishmonger and veggie stall man they said it's been like it all week, even on pension day.
Going to see my elderly neighbours in a bit, see their ok, and if they need anything. We have a few widowers near me.

My dd is coming home as soon as I hear of increased cases. No way would I risk the health of the family. We are poor but health is more important, we won't starve.

devlesko some people might - we couldnt financially manage one of us being at home for 3 months. i imagine a lot of families are the same.

We will just have to do the best we can babytigerrrr
My dh is the only earner and if they close theatres, clubs, museums, anywhere where large crowds gather, he isn't going to get paid.
No sick pay as self employed, it couldn't get much worse.
Ready to take a mortgage holiday for a couple of months if we can, and have been stocking up since December, just a bit every week, I'm hoping we'll be ok. As we have nothing to lose we might as well self isolate for a couple of months.

Hard not to get anxious and therefore try to exert control, but personally I am philosophical about the relative risk. It will probably become widespread, but 1) children aren't very affected or possibly not even very contagious, and 2) death has always been with us, and comes in so many tragic forms that I find it easier to accept if I try to be grateful for all the happiness and good fortune I have, and not worry about what might or might not happen to change that. None of us can outrun this, and people in other parts of the world will be quite used to having 7 kids, and expecting only 3 or 4 to become adults.

It's completely normal here. Just took the DC to soft play at a garden centre, usual number of older folk out and about, having coffee. My DM came with us, she's in her 70's. As and when we are told we need to do anything other than wash our hands more often then we'll do it.

i just think self isolating when you're absolutely fine, is silly - when its going to cause you financial stress as well.

@Devlesko what's selfish is hoarding hand sanitizer. It's older people that are most vulnerable and least able to trek to every shop to find some.

@Sunshinegirl82 look for the details in New Scientist re the L (aggressive) and S (less aggressive) strain. They don't actually know much about it yet and aggressive does not imply more serious illness, it implies better spread, which in most viruses is because the illness doesn't incapacitate the patient. Less ill = moves around more = more spread. The variation is apparently very small and may merely represent the jump from first crossing the species barrier to human host. Selection pressures in virus mutation usually attenuate the effects over time. Although in high mortality infection like the black death this also implies host selection pressures - theory is that whilst antibiotics make a big difference to plague recovery now, it also seems as if pns where 50% w

DS has a cold and I haven’t sent him to nursery, when I’d normally try to. But I won’t just take him out of nursery for months because there’d be no need

If schools get closed it will be because it's the lesser of two evils at that point - the costs of some people not being able to work, awful as they might be, will be considered less than the costs of schools being open for a bit longer (with enough illness, they'll be affected in the end anyway) and the disease spreading more. They won't have done it lightly in other countries either.

Whether someone wants to take their child out before the trigger point for the government to do it is reached, or before the point when their school becomes a significant source of infection in the community, really should be up to them.

DS has a cold and I haven’t sent him to nursery, when I’d normally try to.

That's really good and responsible - I think we all need to do that sort of thing if we can. Stopping other respiratory viruses from spreading is really important too right now.

Tootletum

I know, you can't buy any anywhere, but they'll soon stock up again.
I've a cupboard full of the stuff, it's huge, so I'll be sharing it with family and friends.
I've been collecting for dd at school and camp, for about 4 years now, just ended up with loads of it. They installed dispensers of hand sanitizer and ear plugs outside every room, including dorms about 2 years ago, so we never used them.