Time to close the schools

[PaddyF0dder]

I can’t believe I’m saying this. I’m a dad to 3 very young boys. Our eldest is nearly 6 and is on the spectrum. Our twins are nearly 3. They’re hard work when they’re stuck in the house. I also work as a doctor in the NHS. Closing the schools would be a nightmare for us.

I think we need to do it, and do it early.

Watching how this virus is spreading, seeing how harmful it’s been in other countries, reading the stats on transmission, burned on healthcare etc... closing schools and nurseries really seems to be the most logical step.

The UK is at a turning point. We’re entering the stage of sustained transmission. We may already be too late. But we might still have time to enact draconian measures early as opposed to late. Closing school and nurseries. Limiting travel around the country. It seems inevitable that these things will happen, but doing it early might save the lives of the sick and vulnerable.

I honestly don’t know how my family will cope with it. We have absolutely no family support re childcare. We both work hard jobs in the NHS. I wish there was a better option. But the more I look at the facts of this outbreak, the more obvious it gets.

We need to reduce viral transmission. There are many ways, and all must be done. One such way is to close schools and nurseries. We need to do it now.

you do realise this is a pandemic

Epidemic , pandemic not yet declared by WHO

North Korea had 50 cases, on the 19th February (18 days ago). Now it's 7,314. 0.68% of over 65's in the UK, would mean 74,800 elderly.

a) you mean South Korea
b) that's what my post says: 7314 cases and 50 deaths.
c) the mortality rate is the percentage of those infected. not of the population as a whole.

We have more elderly than China or South Korea Yes, but not hugely different from SK, as a % of population.

Sorry that's at least that many elderly, going off 11 million, but that figure is five years old, and likely higher now. If lljkk's 18% is more accurate, that would be more like 80,000+ affected elderly than 74,000.

MrsNoah2020 thank you, I did indeed mean to write South Korea, not North Korea , d'oh

And thank you Aridane

Yeah, it’s really not surprising that you’re a public servant, if you had your own practice you wouldn’t be coming out with this alarmist nonsense. It’s not a threat to the majority of the population so it doesn’t make sense to lock down the majority of the population. Instead we should be looking at ways to protect at risk groups instead.

I think it is a mad idea to send teachers and students to different schools if schools start struggling to cope

We debunked this in staffroom...

I'd love to see teachers attempting to teach our lot; we struggle to get staff as it is.

gossip is WHO doesn't want to declare pandemic because they don't know what the words should mean nowadays. I'm not sure the words are helpful. It's up to national govts to each figure out what they can do, and WHO to support countries with the most fragile health systems.

I dread to think what's happening in Yemen right now.

Yes, third world countries where there's already a lack of water, sanitation and medical supplies, are going to have a much worse time of things than us

@Aridane ok, so it’s literally just that one word out of everything I wrote that you are going to disagree with? It’s your prerogative what you do and say - like many other people who have posted on these threads, those that are worries are, in the main, discussing reports and statistics put out by the WHO or national governments. If you choose to dismiss it all then that’s entirely up to you. But don’t mock people because you don’t choose to believe what the Government is predicting will happen. WHO - ‘this is not a drill’

The child will take Boris to school 😂

Some light relief.

Op, why not speak to papers about this? Telling us on here is interesting debate but it won't help schools close.

There is petition going round to close schools, take it, share it. Contact your mp.

As an NHS worker your opinion has more clout than ours with no NHS experience.

Closing the schools will not provide benefit - it certainly has not worked in Italy because grandparents are left looking after the children.

Far better to keep all of the schools open and check temperatures twice a day
that way every child can be monitored and properly fed
and their parents can carry on working

Do not try and bend the pandemic. That's impossible. Instead, only realize the truth... there is no pandemic. Then you will see that it not the pandemic that bends, it is yourself.
Yours, Tedros Adhanom

67 new cv patients

Listen, that's Italian culture.

I'll be looking after my dc. No gp involved.

I don't want to be denied that because '' some '' people will have gp

@Toria70 talk about sticking your head in the sand. The experts are expect the majority of people to catch it. 400,000 deaths in the U.K. as a reasonable scenario if continues to spread at current rate.

Far better to keep all of the schools open and check temperatures twice a day that way every child can be monitored and properly fed and their parents can carry on working

But how can schools remain open if there isn't the workforce there to manage? Children spread germs to adults in school who catch these germs and display symptoms so they can't go into work to teach them.

How would l check the temperatures of the 125 teenagers l see every day?🤔

Far better to keep all of the schools open and check temperatures twice a day

The biggest impediment to this is not children, it's teachers getting sick in the perfect transmission ground of schools. That's why the government is bringing emergency legislation around class size (increasing it).

Once some of the teachers go off sick with corona, and increased class sizes, the others will go off with corona-related stress! That's not actually a joke. Lots of people in the NHS and education may find working conditions intolerable and decide, for their families' sake, not to go into work or to stay home so their kids can stay home. Many won't be prepared (and why should they?) to work until they drop down like in Wuhan.

And why should schools be kept open to infect the teaching staff, who are probably working in the most infectious place of all.

Plenty of staff over 50, with asthma, diabetes and whatever. It seems that people are quite happy send their children to school even if they close. How do people suggest that teachers protect themselves?

You'd have to check the temperature of all those children several times a day otherwise the it'sjusttheflu brigade would be dosing them on paracetamol to get them over the threshold.

Far better to keep all of the schools open and check temperatures twice a day

Who do you propose is going to be doing that?!

Even if it takes 2-3 minutes per child (though more likely 4-5) as you’d be cleaning the thermometers (that schools don’t have in any number) x 30 children x 2 daily. That’s a lot of minutes!

Most of our classes have no TA-just a teacher.

I can’t belive the panic. Exact same scaremongering from 2009 - 426 died in the end but they predicted close to 100,000!

If nothing is done and schools etc continue as normal here, people will continue to holiday over Easter as normal-and travel will be widespread. I think it’ll all get massively worse next month if that happens.

People travelling over the Easter break present a real and serious problem in all this. There should be FCO advice against all unnecessary travel and travel companies and airlines should allow people to postpone or rebook with the government stepping in to support them financially

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