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Original poster

Are you going to send your kids back in when they reopen?

702 replies

Keepdistance · 12/04/2020 13:46

Wondering if people will send them back.
As they think only 4-10% of population might have had it. And this peak was only 4w of school.
Im not shielding but isolating as much as possible because im
asthmatic.

I hope they say attendance isnt mandatory so people who need to/want to or are still WFH can keep them home if needed.

OP posts:
Bool · 12/04/2020 19:32

@twattergy yep. I think indeed people find it hard to accept this. I had many days of panic when I realised that we would have to accept it. I locked my parents down a long time ago now. Sad

JassyRadlett · 12/04/2020 19:33

Policies around health should be evidence based.

Sure, when there’s an evidence base.

What do we do when a virus is so new that the evidence is patchy or absent?

Original poster
Keepdistance · 12/04/2020 19:35

Well if 10% infected and 8k+ already then if we only needed 60% = 48k
But that will be including children teenagers and older etc
After the peak will be lower risk (maybe) but not quite quickly once things reopen.
If you notice BJ got pretty ill and at his age many kids might be still at school if born at 40yo. He i assume has no health issues and would likely have lived another 20y.
If we exceed the nhs many extra will die and they could be any age.

OP posts:
1981m · 12/04/2020 19:35

Yes, when it's safe to do so. What else can you do? You can't keep them off forever.

KOKOagainandagain · 12/04/2020 19:40

There is actually quite a lot of evidence based and experiential research (data) out there (if you ignore national boundaries) of what has actually been more or less successful.

The fact that there is no evidence of natural rather than immunological immunity to any Coronavirus is rather telling. Even immunological immunity is time limited due to the relative ease of mutation.

OTOH there is a lot of data relating to the efficacy of NPIs - both evidence based and experiential.

Krisskrosskiss · 12/04/2020 19:48

I'm not sure.... my son really misses school but I'm really not sure this virus is going to be gone by the end of this school year... I'm not personally expecting the schools to reopen before September... I think it would be odd if they did.... I think perhaps I'd have to keep him off... just because I think if you can you should... im a stay at home mum so I might as well... lots of people will need to go back to work if businesses open again so they will have to send their kids back... might make it a bit safer if people who didnt have to send 5hem back didnt... then theed be more space inside the school for social distancing

JassyRadlett · 12/04/2020 19:50

There is actually quite a lot of evidence based and experiential research (data) out there (if you ignore national boundaries) of what has actually been more or less successful.

There isn’t, though - not about the long game. There is an evidence base around what can be achieved over three months, but we don’t know what happens next which is the huge gap in the evidence base for setting anything but very short term policy, with no knowledge of the long term implications.

Agreed on NPI, including from Asia on schools and SARS which wouldn’t be very popular with some on this thread.

Craiglang · 12/04/2020 19:52

Yes. Because I won't have a choice - I work in a school.

alloutoffucks · 12/04/2020 19:53

@Keepdistance You have obviously missed that over 10k have died in hospitals and lots more in care homes and at home.

@KeepOnKeepingOnAgainandAgain Yes I agree there is a lot of evidence out there. But the government wants to prioritise money and does not really care about people dying.

perniciousdot · 12/04/2020 20:02

Mine won't be back before summer. After that I think I have to decide based on the information I have then. This is so fast moving I think by the time August comes around we will know a lot more and be able to make easier decisions.

I really am hoping for August, but if the risk is still too high then they won't be going in then.

refraction · 12/04/2020 20:06

Agreed on NPI, including from Asia on schools and SARS which wouldn’t be very popular with some on this thread.

Can you elaborate please?

alloutoffucks · 12/04/2020 20:29

You know if herd immunity actually worked that a lot of viruses would no longer exist. That is not how it works.

KOKOagainandagain · 12/04/2020 20:39

Well, really there is a choice. The government made theirs. Austerity was a choice. Not providing adequate PPE was a choice. Not testing was a choice. It didn't have to be this way.

Unionised workers can also make a choice not to put themselves and their families and their communities at risk flowing from governmental choices.

I heard that only 2% of the 20% eligible to send DC to school are currently doing so. Why do you think that is? My DC have an EHCP but according to NHS criteria would be unlikely to qualify for ICU because they are autistic and in receipt of DLA/PIP and require support for daily living. So they wouldn't understand/comply with measures such as ventilation.

TheLastSaola · 12/04/2020 20:51

Despite meningitis, chicken pox, influenza and many other viruses which can be fatal in children, I have been happy to send my DD to school.

It would be disproportionate to not send her in because of COVID. So I will be delighted to send her in when schools start up again

BooseysMom · 12/04/2020 20:54

Maybe the government don't want to pay for a vaccine and then pay for absolutely everyone to have it so they're hoping to open the schools much earlier than they should to ensure herd immunity.
I know that as soon as the schools re-open we'll get this virus as DS was the carrier for the pneumonia that hospitalised DH. DS had a cough that went on for weeks and then i heard some of the kids at his pre-school had pneumonia. Kids are super-spreaders. So personally i think they should stay closed for 3 months as the risk is too great to re-open too early.

perniciousdot · 12/04/2020 20:56

My DC have an EHCP but according to NHS criteria would be unlikely to qualify for ICU because they are autistic and in receipt of DLA/PIP and require support for daily living.

What's this about?

refraction · 12/04/2020 20:56

Despite meningitis, chicken pox, influenza and many other viruses which can be fatal in children, I have been happy to send my DD to school.

NHS isn't at capacity normally though and Nightingale hospitals were unheard of so its a disingenuous comparison.

Quartz2208 · 12/04/2020 20:58

SARS (the original) and MERS both have short term immunity so I think the evidence is leaning towards it will give for the most part short term immunity at least enough to get a vaccine

@alloutoffucks reading your posts apart from your belief that the WHO know all and can do no wrong you make a lot of sense. Our Government has handled with badly (particularly with testing) and I dont trust them. But I cant look at some of the WHOs actions without questioning their motives as well.

And where we do disagree is about when they told the UK off - they were right to do so but I think at that point they were still hoping they could contain it because they knew they had dropped the ball in their initial handling - partly because of the politics relating to handling China

South Korea - why did they retest though were they just retesting after a negative test or had there been some evidence that symptoms had retured

Gin96 · 12/04/2020 21:00

I wouldn’t want a vaccine that has been rushed through, if they don’t even know if we have a natural immunity to this virus how on earth can they make a vaccine?

REdReDRE · 12/04/2020 21:06

@keepon My children are eligible to go to school but aren't going as they've said to keep them home if at all possible so we are keeping them home. Once they're open to all again they will go back.

0v9c99f9g9d939d9f9g9h8h · 12/04/2020 22:37

refraction

Not really a fair comparison. It's not at all the same.

A child catching chicken pox isn't putting adults in the family in the same position as child with COVID-19. No one is likely to go to hospital and if they do, medics know exactly what to do, they're not likely to be taken out by the illness themselves and there won't be that many people requiring treatment in this way at any one time.

Also... Two children I'm aware of have died of COVID-19 in Britain in the last fortnight. That's not necessarily how it goes with chicken pox-not relentlessly, right through the year, with every child a possible new infection and adults infecting new children all the time, zero immunity nationwide and no proven immunity afterwards.

If this were chicken pox and kept up (as it would without a prolonged lockdown), the NHS would say "You didn't worry about it because we told you we could treat your child if we needed to. Now that safety net isn't there. Many medics have died, the hospitals have a high viral load, we have no treatments refined for this illness and there are too many of you to treat".

It's not the same as anything you might like to compare it with.

0v9c99f9g9d939d9f9g9h8h · 12/04/2020 22:40

And before someone points out that children aren't the target for this illness... Many, many children have underlying conditions. There's a possibility this virus is now more serious than the one in China, or maybe China hasn't been entirely truth. Either way, many children have teachers, siblings, grandparents and yes, parents, who do fall into the criteria.

Vargas · 12/04/2020 22:50

Call me old fashioned but for me the kids come first, always.

Yeah, because the rest of us are 'modern' and don't really give a shit about our kids, FFS Hmm.

Yes, I will send my kids back. We have no vulnerable people in our immediate family, and I think everyone who is not fully shielding will get the virus sooner or later. Our mental health is important too, and I don't think people in this country will cope with a prolonged lockdown.

alloutoffucks · 12/04/2020 23:14

I do wonder why you think people are so much mentally weaker in Britain than on other countries.
People in other countries are coping with a much stricter lock down than us?

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