To think that the schools should close?

[ButNotToday]

I'm interested to hear others opinions about this as I've been reading Twitter and the majority on their have valid points for shutting school because of the Coronavirus.

I tend to think that prevention is better than cure and I agree that this should happen in the near future.

What do you think?

I really hope they don’t

Think we should have the option to pull our children out if we want to with out getting fined etc for having time off. We have major health issues in our family, i for one am at a huge risk if I were to get Coronavirus. It’s one of those you don’t know what to do for the best situations
I do have a feeling the schools will close but it may be too late before they make a decision!

They will be next week

@ButNotToday

There is a Coronavirus topic which others have referred to. Here are some of the threads about school closures

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3843824-To-ask-when-you-think-all-schools-will-shut

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3845719-The-school-is-shut-will-your-kid-actually-do-any-work-set

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3845364-is-it-really-likely-the-schools-will-close

How are those on low incomes expected to survive on £0 a week when they are unable to work due to school closures?

yes definitely. Action needs to be taken for the sake of the elderly & vulnerable before we end up like Italy

No, if they close them more grandparents will end up looking after kids while parents work putting them at risk.

I really don't understand how that would help. Surely the children would just meet up to play together, some parents would have to work so the children would go to their friends houses for childcare.
Companies would struggle with no staff if all the parents had to stay at home, people would have no money, because hardly any companies would pay them to take time off to look after their not even sick children.

What about shop staff and all those who work in the supply chain, how would the country ensure supply of essential items if so many people were off work.
I don't know how this is working in Italy, but It all seems very drastic for here and now.
It would make people financially insecure as well as worried about corona virus.

No way. Genuinely can’t see how it would help.

I hope they don't. Sick pay will not cover my bills. I'm a single parent and I need to go to work. Not everyone has grandparents who can do childcare.

Crosspelican do you really think they will plan to close schools after today!

I have 3 dc going off to school, my Dp is asthmatic and my eldest DDs dad is a very poorly man. I hate sending my kids knowing they could pick something up that will potentially kill their dads.

The Government have not learned from Italy. I believe today they will move into delay phase...very slowly!
I don't think schools will close, I don't think Working from home will be recommended. I think public gatherings such as sports events is the the only thing that will change and some more 'wash your hands' advice!

My friend has pulled her 3 kids out of school. The school thinks she is mad!

Check with your employer. Admittedly a large corporate but we've been told we will get paid leave if schools close (over and about the 5 standard days urgent parental leave) - although that's caveated with a request for a degree of flexibility where in some roles a a bit of WFH may be possible. So despite personally being fortunate, I am still very much on the fence as to whether it's the right thing to do.

Matt Hancock seemed adamant after his statement yesterday that schools won't close.

He wrote it off "full school closures", which I think is rather naive.

Idropped I completely agree with you over what won't be announced today.

This article explains why closing schools would help. Based on research not speculation. www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/does-closing-schools-slow-spread-novel-coronavirus?fbclid=IwAR0bJyPfom9KRERTNb9lM5tAq38bgVK0bVSfAAe6Z-anlqOMCNdZdl66ke8

Think backwards At what stage would they be reopened?

How many people need to get the virus before it’s deemed safe to open them. Or do keep them closed until a vaccine is found?

From a purely selfish point of view I hope schools don’t close. My youngest has ASD and ADHD and started a new special need school in September and is only now starting to settle in. Also he lives for the stability of school. If it needs to happen then we’ll just have to cope and that’s that. His school have already taken lots of measures to prevent spreading anything around- more so than my other child’s school appears to be doing.

In the company I work for, none of the work can be done from home. Around half the staff are parents. And the company can't afford to pay staff to be off, because the company would be earning no income if it closed.
Insurance company will not cover business interruption for covid 19 it has been checked already.
So closing the schools would mean the company went bankrupt.

I. Am starting to get really annoyed with the what about me attitude of people. I have health problems but as iWork in healthcare I am expected to go in and don’t have the luxury of protecting myself or my family.

If you close them, when do you reopen?

If you close them, do you also ban all gatherings?

If you close them, do you also restrict public transport?

If you close them, do you tell the entire country they can have x amount of time unpaid? And then how do you stop the eejits amongst us seeing it as a chance to pop off to Lazarote?

If you close them, do you say everyone must stay in their own home for x amount of time?

I can work at home, and do so regularly. I sometimes even have the kids at home when I do so. Can I do that long term, ie. more than a couple of days? No. The kids would need some attention in a thoroughly stressful and unsettling time. So my salary would be stopped at some point or I would have to take holiday.

You can’t just close the schools. It wouldn’t just be closing the schools. Take precautions, relax sickness rules, isolate where necessary when someone is unwell. But closing the schools achieves nothing unless it goes hand in hand with some really rather draconian measures.

Well Shiraz your post is also ‘what about me...’

Of course people are concerned about their own situations. We all have different shit going on that will be impacted by whatever decision is made.

While we are still alowing sporting events, it's ridiculous to close the schools.

We've got all the planned pantos/cinema stuff over Easter as well. Many of tgose will be Grandparents taking the children.

It will be interesting to see if BJ will get tested before his Tuesday meeting with the Queen.

Also i haven't heard anyone cancelling their abroad holiday plans.

Realistically we can't contain it. That's why it wasn't like flu.

I work in nhs. We are worried about schools closing because nearly all our team have kids in school or nursery. We aren't emergency staff anyway but the nature of our job means we need at least a couple of us in to run (and patients will still need to see us!)

You can't contain flu either.

They may close as cases rise. It's too early now, people would get fatigued and the impact on the economy would be worse than the impact on the NHS. Give it a week.