Furious at school

[bailey999]

So a child at my sons secondary school has been confirmed to have coronavirus. They emailed us before school started today to tell us there would be an update late morning and not to ring the school but to wait for the update. The update comes telling us about the child and that they are now self isolating. They are closing school at 1pm for a deep clean and will re-open Monday as normal.

Why on earth have they allowed the students in today BEFORE the clean has taken place. They knew about this last night too as one of his teachers emailed me to say that my son wouldnt be able to hand in his GCSE coursework today as planned because his lesson wouldnt be going ahead. He didnt reply to my email asking why!

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I am in a similar position, I want to keep my dc home, but have one doing GCSEs. I have an auto-immune condition as does my dd. Elderly MIl. I really want us all to isolate now (as much as is possible with cheek-by-jowl neighbours in a densely packed village ! )

I can understand the approach as we are all going to get it eventually, so trying to make the spread gradual will allow it to plateau over the summer when there are less other flu type bugs around.

At the moment I am wondering if it's better to get it now while there is some NHS capacity, by May / June there will be people dying at home while waiting for care.

If it was up to me, I'd shut schools in densely urban areas where there are higher rates of transmission.

I think that this is true. I imagine that it is rife in the UK. And not very many people are getting seriously ill - so that should tell us something.

Thank you. This is good to hear seeing as i was shot down on another thread about the amount of kids at school with colds atm

School have just e-mailed to say that all international school trips including to Italy are going ahead.

Our school (primary) are being very with it on everything. They are have stopped kids shaking hands and high-fiving and have introduced elbow bumps instead, which is catching on. They are handwashing ALL the time with plenty of soap and water and there is hand sanitizer at the entrances, and they've stopped all whole-school assemblies.

I have been very impressed.

@KoalasandRabbit - that seems crazy given the government directives from yesterday that they should stop.

Just had a check. Yes you would get more info from DEFRA.

The bovine coronvirus vaccine is used to prevent respiratory infections, pneumonia and diarrhoea in cattle.

Obviously not the exact strain but you get the gist.

You might need that loo roll.

Some parents have decided not to send their children to school, but have play date at home???

Well I see from my country that people think of others. I don’t see that here. Me Me Me as always 🤷🏻‍♀️

I know one of my children's teachers has heart problems and around 60 and male, very high risk

Being male doesn't make him high risk.

I'm not in UK & kids here are now off until after Easter.

I'm wondering though, are they supposed to stay at home as much as possible?

Because if not, wasn't it better for them all to be at school rather than idk, supermarket shopping or something?

The NHS don't want schools to close because so many staff with kids will be unable to work. It's a case of managing conflicting priorities and making difficult decisions.

I'm wondering though, are they supposed to stay at home as much as possible?
Yes, that is indeed the whole point.

The UK will be closing schools soon. They've just done it here in my part of Germany. In some countries, health workers' children are still allowed to go in.

In some countries, health workers' children are still allowed to go in.

This seems like an eminently sensible suggestion.

If / when schools close I'd volunteer as childcare for emergency services workers (I have no underlying health conditions and no kids of my own to take care of). I teach secondary so most that I teach would be fine at home alone, but if allowed I'd help out with younger ones. I suspect there are others like me who would be willing to do the same.

The death rate is much higher in males than females. 4.7% in males, 2.8% in females according to worldometers. Even if you exclude difference for being male his chance of death due to cardiovascular issues is 13.2%. It could be male - female difference is due to smoking but no-one knows for certain. Whether his risk is 13.2% or 20% it's reckless either way.

Not expecting a refund though am a bit hacked off if they pull out now we lose £285, if they stop trip later its £850 gone. I've paid in full already. I can pull mine out but still leaves teacher at risk, and community at risk when rest of trip returns so the Head has just got a very stern e-mail from me. School is in a village full of elderly. I don't know if anyone is asking for a refund, I'm certainly not, obviously one would be good but I do expect a school to follow advice and consider safety of staff and pupils.

My daughter has been off nursery since Wednesday when all schools and universities in Madrid were closed down and as from today all Spain's schools and universities are closed, as are Museums and any public gatherings, conferences and seminars. No sport, Madrid's bars and terraces are closed, no cinemas, no theater, no concerts. No travelling to Italy (were most of the cases came from originally). Parts of Barcelona province are in quarantine, no one in no one out. I think Britain is in cuckoo land actually.

Spain has 4,000 confirmed cases, the UK has about 600. The UK is simply a little behind, as it is an island. It'll catch up soon.

I wouldn't be surprised if they do want kids to get it. They are aiming to build herd immunity (whether that's even likely is another matter) and kids are least likely to die of it. So of course that would be the section of society best placed to achieve the governments aims.
Of course the fact that kids will spread it to their teachers, parents and grandparents - well those are the loved ones that we have to get used to the idea of dying.

What do you think a deep clean in a school looks like?

The Government does not "want everyone to get it". It wants to ensure we can have some normality during a period of unrest and, for obvious reasons, we cannot achieve that if all the schools close resulting in all the parents being off work.

@ravenmum Spain had 600 cases a few days ago. There is no way I would have considered sending my daughter to Italy!!!! I have train tickets down to Malaga for Easter to visit my mum. I don't think that will be going ahead (if Madrid hasn't been quarantined by then) i wouldn't bloody risk infecting my mother with her conditions even though she'd love to see her dgd and I stand to lose €300!

"The UK's chief scientific adviser has said the government wants 60 per cent of the population to catch coronavirus to try and create “herd immunity” to protect against the virus becoming an annual crisis."
www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-herd-immunity-uk-nhs-outbreak-pandemic-government-a9399101.html