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.

Sounds awesome. So they have a giant sleepover? Enforced exam revision. We probably should self isolate - wine and box sets it is

"to say' should be 'an article'.

I think it's going to have to happen if (when) the virus spread gets faster. Italy have just put 16 million people in quarantine. If large numbers of people need hospitalisation the NHS won't cope - we need to minimise spread and closing schools is virtually the only way to do that. Al people who can work form home should work from home with immediate affect imo.

Ikea I'm going to petition Netflix to being forward the new seasons they have on hold for the autumn

I’m a single mum with no backup. Schools close, I guess I’ll lose my job. I can work from home (tech) but our CEO disapproves of home working.
Ds will come first of course, but not sure how we are going to manage.

No.

Close the school, millions of parents can't work and possibly won't get paid. It won't change e thing in the long term,

@mintjulia, your CEO is going to have a rude awakening.

We don’t do this for flu which also kills the older and sicker members of society. We’ve had a non compulsory flu jab but only relatively recently.

Literally not seeing how this is different. It’s difficult to transmit, symptoms can be mild and some groups won’t even know they have it.

Why would shutting all the schools help. Unless you are actually telling the whole population to self isolate ( which perhaps peoole are assuming is happening given the thing with loo tolls).

@londonloves

Spread could be stopped with "early, aggressive measures".
Says WHO.

Except the “early aggressive measures” referenced by the WHO do not resemble what you / other posters panic describe!

www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-mission-briefing-on-covid-19---4-march-2020

Feel free to so read the “infodemic” of misinformation and lies - as the WHI so pithily puts it - but please don’t’ attribute you opinions to the WHO!

Mint that's awful. And that's what I mean about those of us who can, doing it and helping one other local family. I can wfh with children for a limited time if I have to (I don't unless they're ill). They'd watch too much TV but I would cope. Dh is the same so we could double the time.

@Leflic

Coronavirus transmission seems to be 6 people for every infection person. For flu, it’s 1-2 people.

Mortality is 3.5%. For flu it’s way below 1%.

For flu, we have a vaccine and some natural immunity.

It’s completely different and far, far worse.

I'm a sahm and personally ds being home is manageable but he goes to a special school for children who by and large have difficult to manage behaviour and are on the verge of needing residential provision. Our children being at home for a long period of time may well push some parents over the edge ( especially as most children cannot be left with other people/ family). The system will have no capacity for dealing with that.

The government cannot be so stupid as to let millions of parents lose their jobs or businesses go under. There will have to be financial compensation provided if schools and nurseries close. No other way.

@Aridane I don't think I have prescribed any panic. I'm just disagreeing with you on your interpretation of the level of risk. I'm not an expert of course and I don't know if closing schools would help or not. But I don't trust the government at all.

I think it is possible schools may close a week early for Easter.

Well they found loads of money to mitigate the effects of brexit. So I'm sure they can again. Even though there's none for the NHS or social care.

I work in an independent school and we are in full swing preparing for the school to close. They have already stopped all staff meetings and assemblies and have set us all up to teach remotely so lessons can carry on throughout any full closure.

@maddy68

Children rarely catch it.

Eh?

There’s an underlying assumption that the healthcare staff would agree to go to work if things got serious.

I would have assumed the same.

However, I have it on first hand authority that many (younger) doctors feel they’d stay home and protect themselves. They aren’t prepared to go to work at all.

I was shocked initially, it then I recalled the way they were treated by the government and the media when their contracts were reviewed. They were shafted and no longer have that sense of duty that the older generation have.

It’s interesting.

They can close schools... but if so can they please close my university - before the exam that I'm due in 4 weeks that I'm going to screw up sooooo badly please?

Judging by recent emails from my sons independent school they are planning for same scenario sooner rather than later thought

I would support closing schools and offices if I thought it would work, but the evidence so far from Italy (culturally our closest comparator) are they it won’t. The children are still gathering, just in social settings rather than schools, or relying on grandparents for care. In either case, the virus still spreads.

And the economic cost would be enormous. It’s not just individual jobs that would be lost but huge swathes of the economy forever.

Instead, I support the idea that those of working age and in good health should get on with life as usual. Keep the economy going, keep food supply chains running, keep care provision going. Instead, the elderly and vulnerable should be encouraged to self-isolate and be fully supported to do so, with food drops and wage replacement support. The aim is for 80% of us to catch it mildly, so considerably fewer than 20% of those infected need medical intervention, and then for herd immunity to protect the rest, much like with vaccines.

How would Boris decide which child to go to school with? He's populated half of Greater London. And as a secondary teacher I can honestly tell you that schools don't have a clue what's going on here in terms of containment or transmission or even how we'd provide any continuity in learning for our senior pupils with exams if schools were to close soon. The kids involved need structure at this point, not just to sit around and 'revise'. 90% of them won't.

However schools are the worst place for this to spread. Hygiene and cleaning in our schools are terrible. We don't have one hand washing poster anywhere and the kids have been told nothing. And my classroom desks never gets wiped when the room gets cleaned. We used the same bin bag in the bin all week because of budget cuts. And at one point they were using the floor mops to wash the desks. Unless this is taken more seriously then we will see a full scale epidemic and we'll see it soon.

*Namechangexyz1

Nice attack ad hominem. Very intelligent and considered.*

But it's true, OP. Financially your family would cope much better than someone on zero hours / single parent. Fact.

I didn't mean children didn't catch it, (had just woken up!) I meant they don't get as ill from it