To ask when you think all schools will shut

[Helpmechangemymindsetplease]

Due to the corona virus.

Have been talking to a relative and am more worried than I was. Have three dc, one of whom gets ill at the drop of a hat.

Facts emerging from Italy are not great, so why aren’t we in complete shut down now? What is the government waiting for?

manicinsomniac not in U.K., but we've just pulled OUR massive school production .

Cue devastated Heads of Music & Drama (& I'm dreading telling dd2 in the morning...). It absolutely bloody sucks.

I suspect schools will be unlikely to decide closures autonomously, even with the demise of LAs etc. No one wants to be the first Head to call down the wrath of working parents! I know we are waiting on government advice so we can blame it all on them.

But I think we will be lucky to still be open by Easter .

One if my friends is a teacher and she has been told to prepare internet lessons ready for next week....so that sounds like they are preparing to close

Don’t use teachers as a canary, they don’t have a clue. Look at this thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3842540-Teachers-What-is-your-school-doing for examples of many, many schools doing exactly zero preparation for closing.

whatsername yes, we're incredibly lucky. Private school that puts a heavy emphasis/value on the Arts.

I don't think planning internet lessons necessarily equals intention to close. We have training on virtual learning options this week and had a meeting about onlibecwork setting today. But it's contingency so we are fully prepared if we need to be. Still no intention to close unless told we have to.

Purplecrowbar so sorry 😥
Yes, telling children would def be the worst bit.
I wouldn't be that surprised if ours goes too.

Some theories here on why Italy is having such a hard time of it. The leading theory is that they have a high population of elderly people and their patient zero was asymptomatic so it's likely that CV19 was circulating undetected for several weeks.

inews.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-italy-why-so-bad-cases-deaths-lockdown-northern-areas-explained-2444517

A bit like here, perhaps.

but Molly , the UK's numbers aren't going up at anything like the same speed as Italy.

Sixth of April

There are threads on here where people are happily taking all the stock, whether that’s loo roll or medication, masks not available for hospitals because you get more for them on eBay, people still happy to travel and either take the virus with them or bring it back.

The types who can afford to stay home or work from home don’t give a monkeys about others on 0 hour contracts or with elderly relatives.

You need to take this seriously and avoid infection in the first place

Self-isolation will work better in the UK than Italy.

Italians have nice weather and a nice cafe evening culture.

Britain has storms, flooding and pubs.

I've pretty well isolated myself for the last 3 weeks because I've got a chance of death by flying trampoline as a higher probability than a virus.

Schools really should be shut.

I don't think the effects of this are quite as extreme as people are making out, either (although it would be inconvenient, and especially so for certain groups like single parents -- I am one).

The 2019 statistics for the UK show that there are 19.2 million families. Out of this total, 2.9 million are lone parent families.

So, 16.3 million of these families are two-parent families, meaning that shutting down schools would only need to impact on one parent.

This means that the highest possible number of workers who could be affected is 8.15 million. These, though, will include all stay-at-home parents and parents who work part-time already in order to be primary carers. So the number affected is in fact lower than one might think, and the effects less catastrophic.

I cannot believe the government is not taking more decisive early action to mitigate the risks of coronavirus. I honestly believe that this will go down in history as one of the most shameful and misguided actions of British political leaders in the 21st century.

There is a government petition for those who feel strongly enough to petition
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/300403

Also, of course, if this can lower the rate of coronavirus infection, it would increase the levels of productivity we can expect over the coming months as fewer people will be ill with coronavirus.

Did you know that it takes most people, even those who only have "moderate" coronavirus, 40 days to recover on average?!

Thank you for sharing, @Enough4me -- I have signed it.

I cannot believe the government is not taking more decisive early action to mitigate the risks of coronavirus.

^ this

And Boris on TV saying the disease might have to run its course .

Have also signed the petition @Enough4me.

Shutting the schools isn’t just about who will look after the kids. It has to happen in conjunction with other measures and people aren’t psychologically ready for that yet.

Shutting the schools would be seen as an overreaction (the kids are hardly dropping like flies and no one’s taking kids out of school). People would not social distance, they’d continue to work, socialise and travel. It wouldn’t be taken seriously and the impact on the spread would be lessened. Then schools would probably have to shut for longer, to more disruption.

The timing needs to be right, and I think the situation needs to be worse for people to go along with it.

Plus, deliberately disrupting the kids’ education, especially for those in exam years shouldn’t be a first port of call.

As reported on the BBC website, the government has said in the next 10-14 days they may change the advice that anyone and everyone with a mild cold should self-isolate.

It's a balance of prioritising people or economy. The economy is collapsing so that is the priority, when people are collapsing and the NHS is swamped they will revert to tactics to delay the spread.

Thing is if all the teenagers are off school for a month say Inc Easter are they actually going to stay inside the house and not leave at all? I can't see it happening. Maybe parents with younger ones will all self isolate for a month but again. I think it'll be well we'll just go to X and Y and Z and it'll be fine. Because of the whole "but the kids seem fine" thing I'm sure how effective a ban of anyone under 16/18 leaving their home is going to br

I do not think they will, I worked through the last global scare 10 years ago, same hysteria etc, we remained open.

We have had 20 deaths in this state and they have only just closed a school because the school bus driver has tested positive for Coronavirus. There’s no need to close schools.

Do you not have remote learning in the UK? The schools here do. It’s obviously not the same as being in the classroom but it’s a lot better than the children doing nothing for however long the school is closed.

@Enough4me is it just me or do the date for getting a response from government/ a date keep changing on that petition?

My yr11 DS and his friends would very happily stay in their rooms for a month socialising over discord. Despite their best intentions each morning actual study/revision would be 2/3 hrs a day max (done while half heartedly afk). I am relieved the govt is delaying school closures as long as possible.

@MotherOfDragonite your quoting of statistics around how many working parents it will affect is not applicable because what you have failed to mention / realise is what about all those 2 parents households who will suddenly be down to one income if only one can work ? It’s going to affect millions of families financially if they close schools.