3 week plateau, 3 week falling, then schools open?

[AlmostThereKeepMoving]

The figures being released are promising.

I’ve said all along that there is absolutely no chance the schools will keep closed until the end of July!

I think it’s looking like they will reopen after May half term.

There is no “manageable way” to get kids back in school at least not for the foreseeable future. Again, we can’t risk lives.

Keeping the entire country in lockdown for 18 months is risking lives, too.

We can indeed find a manageable way to get everyone out of their houses before that 18 months is up. Other countries are managing this. Look at South Korea. What isn't really manageable is for everyone to stay inside for 18 months.

and yet NHS and other key workers are working @ risk to themselves and their families.

If you are going to hide away and wait for a vaccine then you’ll be stuck inside until June 2021 as that is the prediction.

We have to work out how to live our lives with this risk. We can’t all hide away for a year.

Yes it’s scary, yes people will die. I hope our government can massively increase testing, they can then isolate more people and keep infection levels low. But we can’t stay in lockdown until next year!

If we go back, and believe me, as a teacher I would far rather teach live than have to master a lot of clunky technology and contend with dodgy Wi-fi, then what about my department?

Just as an example. There are 6 of us.

One has been under the 12 week lockdown due to his illness, plus parents a disabled child. Can't come back without being at high risk.

One has a serious illness. Has not been told to shield but no one knows why not. Plus has two teenagers and is a single parent.

Two have mild asthma so are at slightly higher risk.

One is very healthy but is parent to a toddler.

One has a serious heart condition and is a 59 year old male so very vulnerable.

In the last week before shut down we had 2 off, 2 who refused to go off but should have done. 1 who came in from a non-covid sick bed. Only one healthy and in school legitimately.

This was replicated across the school. We could do little more than babysit. Kids were in tears. We are close to a large hospital so have a huge number of NHS parents and their children were scared.

There are maximum class sizes in Scotland (33 or 20 for practical subjects) which we breach if we have to but can't plan to breach.

I really, really want to go back but, regardless of the very strong reasons in terms of spreading the virus, how can we cope practically?

All the people shouting September. I'm so curious, what's going to happen in September that going to make things any safer then let's say beginning of June?

I'd really really love to know why people are so fixated with September.

January?

Why January, particularly? Is there some science behind that?

I hope so, I’m gonna need to see a psychiatrist at the end with this homeschooling. I just about got through school myself, I’ve taught my kids the life skills they need but academics (except maths) are not my thing, and when you have a DS who absolutley hates the subject that your really good at it’s not easy 😖

Yes someone even said ‘my understanding is that they will go back in September’

People need to stop with this. The government don’t know, the schools don’t know so stop saying you all know they’ll go back in September. You don’t!

@Cismyfatarse the nhs is also facing all those issues with workforce, but we are still functioning & maintaining most services.

The NHS need to be able to cope with the amount of people who are seriously ill at the same time.

I'd really love to know why people can't grasp that.

The children aren't going back to school soon.

I wouldn’t want to send my child back to school so soon. I’m hoping that it will be September

I'd really love to know why people can't grasp that.

I think people grasp it just fine, but have some disagreements with you on precisely what that means in terms of practical application.

Obviously the schools aren't going back next week. But June isn't inherently impossible any more than September's obviously going to be fine.

What are people so obsessed with the children going back before September. They are safer at home. The NHS will get stressed if too many people have it.

Most teachers will go back. They'll do it for the kids and put themselves and their families second; it's what they already do, it's what they've done for years.

Schools back after may half term break, six or seven weeks of term until the summer. Second peak hits over the summer, giving the NHS time to build up it's capacity. Then further lockdown as needed to get is through the winter when the NHS in under more strain anyway.

Lockdown isn't there to stop deaths. It's to stop them happening all at the same time and the hospitals running out of room.

Tens of thousands of people are going to die. I hope to god it's none of my loved ones but there's no stopping it. We don't have a vaccine, or a cure. The virus won't disappear if we are all good boys and girls who stay indoors until September. And we can't stay in lockdown for another 18-24 months, which is how long it will take to find, test, manufacture and distribute a vaccine. Assuming we can find an effective vaccine, that is! I mean, it's not a guarantee, is it?

Also, all these people saying that their children's schools have told them September. Schools should not be saying this.

My dcs schools have said that they know as much as we do and are planning 2 weeks at a time. They're also correcting people saying that their year 6s won't be going back to school by saying that they just don't know, and they hope to see pupils as soon as possible.

We should remember that schools are still open for some children too.

As for all this business of staff won't risk it, what tripe. Plenty of people are still out and working. Not everyone is able to stay home.

The fact is we just don't know. Once we are past the peak the government will no doubt lift restrictions gradually, just how and in what order we can't be sure.

Kiss good bye to this school year methinks

If the schools open too soon, classes will only be half full as many parents won’t be willing to send their DC’s back.

But why September? Why?

I want life to go back to as close to normal as possible when it is safe to do so. But how will they prove to us it is reasonably safe? I have to say, as a primary school teacher, it didn’t actually feel that safe in the final week of school or even the week before. Colleagues with health conditions and pregnant colleagues were not being given the green light to stay at home and I think they were exposed to quite significant risk during this time. You can tell a young child to wash their hands and cough into their elbow until you’re blue in the face, but they forget, they don’t realise how important it is or they just don’t care that much. You can’t keep children 2m apart, there isn’t room in the classrooms or playground for that even if you could get them to comply. When our children are at school, significant interactions between separate households are unavoidable. Will such significant interactions be reasonably safe in just over a months time? I don’t know. I don’t have a lot of faith in this government to make an accurate assessment on that.

It is sad. The whole thing is sad and not how people want to be living their lives.

I suspect we'll also take a lot of cues from what other countries do after getting the pandemic under control. If Italy or Spain or France reopen schools in May and it's fine, it'd be hard to argue why that couldn't happen here once cases drop enough. And of course if they reopen schools and it goes very badly then we'd be unlikely to do that.

Most teachers will go back. They'll do it for the kids and put themselves and their families second; it's what they already do, it's what they've done for years.

I think you'll find a fair few who are devoted to their job but will still tell you to fuck right off. It is a potentially life threatening situation for them/their loved ones.

Why do people want their children to go back before September. I understand about missing out on education which can be sorted later on. Apart from that why put your child at risk when the NHS can just try to cope without extra stress.

Our schools email said they were planning for Sept, but hoping sooner. They are also assuming that they need to be prepared for further shut downs late winter - sort of Dec-Feb time all depending on the numbers.

I think they are being realistic. I hope we have a hot summer, and that it turns out Covid slows down dramatically in hot weather - but we don’t know.

I can’t get too over excited by two days data...before I start to hope for a return to some sort of life I think we need a solid couple of weeks in a downward direction. Fingers crossed.

WestWasnt

So you want your kids to go back to school with a death rate of 2-4%?
You understand that mean between 2 and 4 of every 100 in the school will die?

I know of a dc in DD's primary who are in ICU, she is six with no health issues (his poor DM is in bits on our parents whatsapp, she's on there sometimes at 2am just because she needs to talk).

If the schools open before I am happy it is safe then I will be pulling them out. My dc's life may just be a number on a graph to those making the decisions, but not to me. So I'll make my own decisions accordingly.