Did I miss something in the press conference- school closures?

[souldivachakkakahn]

I listened. The only time closures warranted a mention was an aside for "maybe later" measures. Did I miss something?
Now, if keeping schools open is the best course of action, then ok. But the fact that so many people are anxious about kids going to school, there are petitions etc. How could they not dedicate some time to explain why the advice was not changing yet? People need information to make informed decisions.

Bloody hell.

I always thought that nurses worked long shifts. I don't understand how people can claim that schools are needed to stay open to support them Who is looking after their kids the rest of the day? Why can't they look after the kids for the whole shift?

Who is looking after emergency workers children?...

How many age groups are they in?.
Primary?.. How many levels of school are there?

Why do we need secondary and college and uni open?..

How are other counties emergency workers coping?. Usually it seems by skeleton staff in primary schools.

I've said before I'd be happy to volunteer in a primary school, with few dc and few staff and the fighting chance to keep myself covid free.

What I'm utterly gobsmacked about is not allowing the millions of parents the choice to stay at home.

Thin everyone out!
Dc being naughty and meeting in a park is preferred to being in hot stuffy classrooms and lunch halls!

Even a teen eating a burger on a swing is going to be less risk than eating on dirty canteen tables all crushed in!..

I'm in education and I'd be happier to carry on with less staff and less pupils

If we close the schools we close the private nurseries. Some of those nurseries would be more than happy to provide childcare for children of emergency workers. The govt could pay them. That would also help the private nurseries afloat. This frees up the teacher to set work via internet from home for her class to do.

Other countries have figured it out. Why can’t we?

But children are less at risk. That’s why the schools are open. Where adults congregate is being effectively closed.

Have you been near a school when it’s drop off time? Hundreds of adults congregating.

And what about the hundreds of parents congregating on the playground whilst waiting for their children to come out the classroom?!

My FIL takes and collects my eldest son to/from school one day a week and we have told him that from now on we will make other arrangements as he/we do not want him near huge groups of people.

Police officers will be ordered to attend

Ordered to attend what?

So given BJ's hard immunity tactic, this is my theory:
BJ will not close the schools yet because he wants our children who are carriers of the CV to get it in enough numbers to infect their families so we can all stay at home in our family isolation pods (our homes) under his strick instructions not to go near our elderly relatives. Anyone who has underlying illnesses well... they will be the ones BJ spoke of when he said families will lose loved ones. He will close schools from 23rd March allowing a full 28 days to build up herd immunity and losing loved ones whilst protecting the elderly resulting in the minimum loss of life in the western hemisphere and be remembered as a maverick for all of history to come.

@lljkk
At my son's French primary, they all brought a big folder of worksheets home on Fri and their teacher is emailing every evening with instructions on the following day's work.
Tomorrow parents can go and collect books if they have to, but teachers sent kids home on Friday with all they needed.
I'd presume that they have the same material at school and will give the appropriate file and instructions to the children of nurses, doctors, etc.
They are working hard to help kids whose parents aren't online.

I always thought that nurses worked long shifts. I don't understand how people can claim that schools are needed to stay open to support them Who is looking after their kids the rest of the day? Why can't they look after the kids for the whole shift?

Because it is the nurseries and schools that provide the day time care..... if they shut who will look after the children during the day?

I work on a ward of about 45 nurses, and I reckon 60% of us have children in school or in a childcare setting. That’s a lot of nursing staff needing time off work in a time of crisis....

Every other country is managing to close schools and keep hospitals running so it's a choice Boris is making.

Fuck it - my asthmatic daughter isn't going in.

Every other country is managing to close schools and keep hospitals running so it's a choice Boris is making.

I would love to know how those countries are managing it. Not being goody - genuinely interested.

I spoke to a friend of mine in the Netherlands today. Schools are closed but the children of those working for emergency services, food stores etc still goes, so there's no childcare issues for them. It sounds very reasonable to me.

I'm a TA in a school near Bristol. Nearly 1/4 of children didn't come in to school today and in my class several children had to go home during the day as they were not at all well. I suspect a lot more will not be coming in tomorrow.

With the Govt. policy of not testing unless you're hospitalised, we'll never know whether its Covid or something else. I mean should we be closing the school or not?

Boris' total lack of explanation on the reason for keeping schools open for now is very confusing, and it's this confusion that leads to real discontent.

I can only presume that keeping schools open is some kind of balancing act between allowing more spread of the virus and losing key workers who might need to stay home with their kids.

I think we should be adopting the French way of having schooling/child care provided to kids of key workers.

Stay safe all.

BY72

The rationale was discussed op.

Is it not possible for parents to help eachother out? For example family friend's, parents of other children in the same class; who either don't work or are non-essential workers, could have their children's friends round to play. I'd certainly be much happier having 4 kids who I know at home than throwing my children into the mele of 30+ kids in a germ filled environment putting all other kids and school staff at risk! Teachers are not issued with masks, they are not able to teach in a classroom without exposure to all of the children's germs. The teaching force will be dropping like flies!

Nearly all our pupils were in school today.

www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-NPI-modelling-16-03-2020.pdf

I only skim read this, but it did seem to indicate (in the last section, actually) that school closures were going to be vital, lengthy and repeated each time the number of cases climbs too high.

But, how do you teach some kids (nhs staff kids etc)and not others? You’ll end up with an imbalance in knowledge which is not fair.

Other countries have more cases per population so further along the curve than us. That’s what I understood.

I would love to know how those countries are managing it. Not being goody - genuinely interested.

Several of us have already described how other countries are managing it if you read up a bit.

Yes they're using this curve for a number of explanations. I'm not convinced. Since their Herd Immunity plan I've taken a lot of what they say with a pinch of salt. I have a background in Biology and Medicine.

In Scotland we have been told that schools will remain open but any parent who wishes to remove their children is free to do so, and the school will accept and suppport that decision. (NB we don’t have fines for missing school here or Ofsted league tables)

Thanks for that I'll have a good read when my head is ready for it.

Children are less likely to develop complications of the virus, and more likely to develop immunity after a mild or no visible form of the disease. Keeping schools open will encourage this, so a bigger percentage of the population has immunity more quickly.
If schools are shut too early, children (whose hygiene is less likely to be rigorous and who also do not yet have immunity) will be at home, and potentially mixing with older members of society such as grandparents who will be stepping in to provide childcare, or in situations where they have to tag along with a parent checking on elderly grandparents etc.
It actually makes sense to keep schools open as long as possible for now.

I get the childcare argument and the ‘herd immunity’ thing.

But you are asking staff to put themselves and their families at risk to keep schools open. DH is asthmatic. I have no idea if he’d survive coronavirus.

Remember that 20% need hospitalisation and that those people will be left with permanent lung damage.