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?

This is what China is facing now. They need to relax restrictions without a spike in cases.

I'm open mouthed reading some of the CV threads on here.

People are unhinged.

They've lost all perspective.

Sorry to have bodged this, there's a much neater version floating round, but this is why people want to close schools. The two lines are showing how quickly the people who get infected catch it. The higher line shows everyone getting the virus all at once, and there being more sick people than hospitals can cope with. The lower line shows the same amount of people getting the virus, but over a longer period of time. If it spreads more quickly, all the people above the line will experience a higher death rate than they would if all the cases remained below the line. If this happens, many more people will die than if we delay spread. Yes, people may still catch the virus, but they will have a better chance at a positive outcome.

The main reason people are looking at closing the schools is to slow down the spead of the virus and push back the peak of it into summer. The same as looking at people who can work from home doing that. If you cut down on the amount of people that can be infected it slows the spread.
If I filled a warehouse with 1000 people and let a infected person in, then the spread would be much higher as those 1000 people then go home, to the shops, on public transport etc that if the same warehouse only had 100 people in it. The less people available to spread the slower the infection rates

I’d guess PHE will be looking very carefully at what happens as those restrictions start to relax, Shanghai.

People haven’t lost all perspective anyone with a high IQ is expecting carnage.

This is the graphic that I have seen. The yellow curve is without closing schools. The other one is with closing schools. As you can see the idea isn't to stop the spreading completely (which is impossible) but to slow down the transmission rates so as not to overwhelm the hospitals.

Exactly Nellodee. The NHS has a much better chance of coping if the numbers needing hospitalization is spread over a number of months rather than weeks. There is simply not enough icu/hdu beds to cope with a sudden influx of patients. These are services that are stretched as it is, without loading more onto it

It's basically what nellodee posted above.

Closing schools is the opposite of a chicken pox party. In the past to get it over and done with parents would allow their children to mingle at gatherings to catch the virus so it was out of the way. Closing schools is to avoid everyone catching it at once and escalating the situation, they need to delay the infection rate so the NHS can deal with the people needing care. If too many catch it at once they will be overwhelmed and wont cope, well that's my take on the reasoning any way.

Thanks 71-72-73, that's just like the one I saw, but in a different language.

I can't help thinking that when people ask these questions, they're meant rhetorically, though. I keep answering in good faith, because I think it's important people get ready for these things to possibly happen, and hopefully accept them if they do, even if they don't seem necessary at the time.

People haven’t lost all perspective anyone with a high IQ is expecting carnage

Anyone with a high IQ would be reading the statistics and keeping it in perspective.

My child has severe asthma and I have a heart condition. I’m not happy with this selfish attitude.

Thanks

Closing schools is one of the biggest things to be done to slow the spread - in part that's because it stops adults going to work too.

Children are not less susceptible. They are equally likely to spread the virus.

*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.*

That’s simply not true though. You’re not touching each others hands. You’re not going to the toilet on the train. You’re not on the train from 9am-3pm.

These young kids never stop touching each other, have bad personal hygiene and are with each other for long hours every day.

I’m struggling to understand why you don’t think keeping these mega germ spreaders away from each other is a good way to slow the spread of disease. It’s not a decision taken on a whim by people who know nothing about contagious disease. This is an accepted response to disease and has been adopted by many countries already.

It might not be convenient but public health has to be the priority.

I dont know how other parents are, but if my DD catch anything from school, it is guaranteed I will have it.
Starts from little sniffles, all the cold illnesses, stomach bugs, chicken pox you name it.
I had it all in the last 5 year.
And with corona the problem is it even doesnt show symptomps at the beginning.
So if my DD passes on corona to me then I will have it and then without even knowing it I might pass it to my work place and that would be lethal as I am working in care home where all my residents are at least 80years old.

So closing a school wont be that bad if that will stop the spread of the virus.

I'm saving money any way that I can right now just incase the schools do close. I understand the effects will be horrendous for most people but I get why they would have to close since kids are the worst for spreading and if it slows down the spread of the virus to try and keep numbers more manageable for the NHS then I'm all for it. It's scary but luckily I can work from home and will also offer to help out with childcare for those not so lucky.

Both my dh and my dd have asthma.

I still think closing schools will be a disaster

Well I for one will be suing the school for failure to protect if my child has a poor outcome.

Purple you are thinking of you and yourself.

That's completely understandable.

I am thinking of my family and the negative effect that closing schools will have on us.

I actually do think it will happen and I have confidence that it will be done at the right time. I do not see the benefit yet. Another 2/ 3 weeks to link it to easter hols may be better.

Let us watch Italy and China. It's not widespread her yet. It's not the time for action yet.

Shall we all take an IQ test. I've never done that actually but I do alright.

but if we don't close schools and the teachers end up sick, we will have no choice, unless we go back to what we did in the war, other people stepped in as teachers. Nowadays though, that would be a logistical nightmare, they would all need to be DBS checked etc and that takes time.

And it's not the schools fault your child has asthma.

Don't be so ridiculous.

You take your child out and self isolate.

Exactly same with hospitals. You do know 117 hospital workers died in China? They were not old or ill.