Why do people think closing schools is going to help?

[Bearbehind]

• Evidence suggests children are far less susceptible to Coronavirus than adults

• Unless you plan to quarantine them in the house 24/7 then they’ll be in contact with their friends anyway

• Very few working parents could cope with no childcare during school hours

• There’s been stories on here of parents who want schools to close but have no intention of cancelling other plans / holidays

What is it designed to achieve?

What about the adults who work in the schools?

It's just to slow the spread of the disease

Lots of children won't show symptoms but it will run through all their families and carers and then it will be rife

They just want to slow it down ...

What about the adults who work everywhere else?

laurie, I understand the theory, but children aren’t being diagnosed with it

Why focus on closing schools but not curtailing any other aspect of people’s lives?

Schools are crowded places where hygiene is virtually impossible to enforce. The sheer number of people interacting in confined spaces is massive (not comparable to a child seeing a few friends outside school). Children may be less affected but they will still transmit it. Tyere are lots of adults in schools who could catch it. Add in the extra mingling created by the school run - parents, younger siblings, school buses. Closing schools isn't going to stop the virus, but it may well help slow it down.

I would have thought shutting down the tube/any form of crowded public transport and stopping all prof. sports games would have equal effects: both good and terrible.

That’s really my point ragged

It might help, but the consequences are enormous

It's about large groups of professional germ transmitters gathering in one place and having unnaturally high body contact because to play mutant turtles you must try to body slam each other as often as possible , add on a school nursery like my DC where the children have figured out joint hugs make every adult go awwwww and increase their chances of extra play and you have transmission central.

Not to mention they may have 1, 2 , 3 possibly 4 parents that they can transmit to going home every night , not to mention older siblings, aunts uncles , grandparents, dogs cats and possibly the errant Guinea pig.

Seriously children whilst wonderful are brilliant pandemic starters.

Just think about how quickly stomach bugs go round a school!

If schools close then I imagine the government are concerned that grandparents will be drafted in for childcare, who are at the age where they're more at risk of severe illness if they catch the virus. Plus the economic impact if parents can't work.

Not trying to be thread police but there's a long-standing thread on this here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3842236-Time-to-close-the-schools

I work in care and it wont be long before they restrict children into the care homes to prevent access to the residents die to the risk of them transmitting. To be honest rightly so it scares me the effect it will have on the vulnerable elderly.

To be fair if they get to that point it wont only be the schools they will restrict for a short period any non essential , country stopping gatherings.

There's also the issue of children in Y10-Y13 who will be doing or preparing for exams. It would create chaos for them if schools closed.

But children aren’t the conduits here - just about every case is adult to adult

So why does closing schools but not restricting travel help?

One infected child in a school could spread it lots of other children who spread it to their friends and classmates, they may be very mildly ill or be asymptomatic. Then they go home and spread it to their mum's and dad's and extented family including elderly grandparents, people who are more likely to become ill and even die due to the virus. Cue lots of adults off sick, in hospital and even dying. Its very simple logic to close schools now.

nolite, I can see how that is possible but why is it being prioritised above any other measure?

Have you been on a commuter train into London?

You have much more chance of being infected there due to people literally breathing in your face, than in a school.

It might help, but the consequences are enormous

I agree, if every working parent in the country can't go to work the economy would be in deep shit plus all those NHS workers who are parents. And what if you don't get paid? Children and their parents would go hungry and possibly end up homeless. I can't see the point in even considering this whilst people are still being allowed to fly in and out the UK on holidays/business and thousands of commuters are still squashed up against others on tubes/buses every day. Individual schools might take the decision to close if pupils or their families test positive but I cannot for a minute imagine the UK government demanding all their taxpayers stay home.

We can see from China that closing schools helps, but as part of strict containment measures. My dd has only had 3 weeks at school since mid December.

@dacaday
This is exactly what China did - we all stayed at home and in some provinces, people continue to stay at home.

We can see from China that closing schools helps, but as part of strict containment measures

That’s what I’m saying - if you’re going full on containment then obviously schools are part of that

But just closing schools seems utterly pointless to me

Bearbehind, I have indeed been on many a commuter train into London, glad I no longer have to do it! I agree that the virus could spread on public transport but adults are able to heed guidence on hand washing, self-isolate if needed, work from home etc.

Not that all will do it and I think any such school closure would have to also include a work from home plan for those who could and to limit movement in general.

That being said its well known that schools and universityes are serious risk sites for the spread of disease, if that were not the case then italy would not be doing it.

Right now our government is in a position where it has to choose between protecting the economy or protecting lives and currently they look to be giving the economy the priority, I hope that changes soon.

Agree. Will not work on its own.
The measures China implemented meant that we all stayed at home and therefore if you were ill it was easy to trace contacts: other family members.

It’s ironic really that there was so much criticism of China and its ‘barbaric totalitarian regime and draconian measures and yet what they did was put people before the economy.

Right now our government is in a position where it has to choose between protecting the economy or protecting lives and currently they look to be giving the economy the priority, I hope that changes soon.

But realistically, far more people are going to be adversely affected by schools not being open and the knock on affects of that than they are by coronaviris.

Two thirds of those diagnosed with CV are fine now

There's the hope that adults will wash their hands often and embrace other personal hygiene methods. Virtually impossible to get young children to do that. So it's a no brainer to try to eliminate places where kids will pass it onto each other, who in turn pass it on to their parents etc.