Reopening schools before September

[Keepgoing88]

Given the information about what other countries are planning to do does anyone else think schools may reopen before school summer holidays? I was all prepared to have the kids off until September but seeing what has gone on in the news recently I'm not so sure now and thinking it might be earlier, at least in some.capacity. anyone else?

So if we all need to get back to work and just accept lots of people dying, why did we go into lock down in the first place?
And is the government going to say if you are old or chronically ill you are at a high risk of dying, but because we can't be bothered doing what Germany is doing, then tough.

Old and disabled people really mean nothing in this country do they? The government just sees us all as expendable.

I work in a school and am terrified of going back.

We are not protected. And leadership is very poor, I can't see anything changing on that front.

We have many parents going through cancer or other serious health issues. Same with staff

Yes but what alternative can you offer? Unfortunately in history there have been waves of disease that kill some of the population. It’s just a fact, whether we want to accept it or not. We just haven’t had one in a long time so it’s a massive shock and difficult to accept.

I don't think anyone knows - I think June/July might be a possibility.

I think it will cause problems - staff at high risk and families with high risk children will all have problems going back until effective treatment or vaccine is available.

I have a yr6 and a Yr10 children - who could do with going back but I also have a Y8 with asthma and I have asthma. The yr 10 may also have asthma but the appointments to test for this have been cancelled.

I think if they are planning on ramping up testing and contact tracing then waiting to September makes some sense but only if that's possible.

I suspect a large number of industries could actually manage perfectly well with their employees at home for an extended period tbh. Not all, obviously. We need to adjust our expectations.

Have you noticed that Germany has very low mortality rates? Have you noticed they are tackling this?

Its like we are pretending that no other country is actually managing to tackle this. So the idea that everyone gets it and we accept lots of people dying has not really gone away. And I guess this is why we have not actually went on a proper lock down.

I can well imagine schools will reopen for a wider selection of pupils after May half-term, although which ones or how many I'm not sure.

What I'm thinking about is that when teachers are called back into school, are we going to be back to teaching the curriculum? Or, with so many children still kept at home will it still be childcare? What are parents going to expect in terms of home learning if we're back in full-time? Schools are already doing such different things, it's going to be a bit of a headache to figure out how/what we're teaching and to whom.

I think there's a good chance that schools will reopen in June. This will be to restart the economy and allow more people to catch the virus over the summer months. If there are still thousands of new cases and hundreds of deaths each day we will make the decision to keep our children at home for longer. I'm a stay at home parent and we have vulnerable relatives we want to see over the summer so this would be the best decision for us.

The lockdown was simply to ease the strain on the NHS by having too manh people admitted to hospital at once. It's not going to stop the virus. It's harsh, but true.

The government needs to do more with regards to testing more people.

If we actually tackled this properly it would all be over much sooner and less people would die. So a proper lock down. No one building luxury flats or flouting the rules by visiting family. Mass testing, contact tracing and forced isolation.
But we have a government who are cowards. They only did the partial lock down because people were already staying away from restaurants and pubs and parents taking kids out of school. They were forced to.

@Waxonwaxoff0 Okay so a lot of old and chronically ill people will die and there is nothing we can do about it?
Even though that has not happened in other countries like Germany?
But tough, our economy will probably be better off anyway when we don't have the burden of so many old and ill people? Lets face thats what you really mean. Fuck em we can all just die and leave young and healthy people living in a better economy.

The rate of death in children who catch Covid-19 is 0.2%. That means that in just my school we would possibly lose 4 children.

That would assume that every single pupil in your school catches it. It also assumes that the 0.2% figure which by now is severely out of date is correct - we know far more about asymptomatic cases now than we did then.

So the death rate of kids in China who were poorly enough to be diagnosed was 0.2%.

Have you noticed that Germany has very low mortality rates? Have you noticed they are tackling this?

Effective testing isolating and contact tracing would all help keep infection rates low.

Germany did the testing - we seem to still be struggling getting testing number up even now.

@alloutoffucks again, as I said before, THIS IS NOT MY PERSONAL OPINION. I have elderly relatives that I don't want to die.

This is how I imagine the government are thinking. Donald Trump pretty much said he wants to restart thr economy ASAP no matter what the cost. Do you really think this government will pay people to stay at home for a year?

Germany are doing 10x the amount of testing we are. We should be doing more testing.

If we actually tackled this properly it would all be over much sooner and less people would die.

This is incorrect. If we implemented a massively strict lockdown, no one saw anyone else for two weeks then went back to normal we’d just be back to where we started. The virus wouldn’t be eradicated, it’s still out there.

@enjoyingSun I know we are not doing what Germany is doing. I am saying if we did our death rate would be low. Whereas people on here are arguing that it is inevitable that not only will we have the highest death rate in Europe, but that thousands more will die because we will end our partial lock down way too soon.
It was not inevitable that the UK would have more people die than any country in Europe. It is not inevitable that thousands more will die.

But sure it would be better for the economy in the long run if lots of old and ill people die. Reduced pensions, benefits and spending on the NHS. And if you or your family are one of those old or ill people, tough luck.

I just wish someone would tell us what the bloody plan is

As it stands i wouldnt want my dc back in school after May half term unless things drastically improve. But if i dont send them back i cant go back to work and may loose my job!

@noblegiraffe Given we started lock down far too late it would take longer. After 2 weeks the people dying are still those who got it before lock down and they are still infecting people in their household. It takes a strict lock down plus testing, contact tracing and isolation.
We are still doing very little that is effective.
But trying to get our population to accept lots of elderly and ill people dying. Because not enough have died already.

Lots of hysterical responses on here as usual

Those of you that are happy to keep your children home till September I suspect are the ones who can afford to /were stay at home parents anyway so makes no difference to you

Lots of people are still having to pay 100% childcare fees whilst their kids are home as well as being furloughed or having to accept significant pay cuts (I had to accept 30%) - those of us in this group are more realistic that the schools will open after May bank holiday

Also social distancing may stay in place for a while but I think that will only apply to sporting events and large gatherings

Pubs and clubs will be reopen as otherwise the government will need to continue the furlough payments to them - pub and restaurants employ hundreds of thousands of people and it isn't sustainable in the medium to long term

I know we are not doing what Germany is doing. I am saying if we did our death rate would be low. Whereas people on here are arguing that it is inevitable

I get that - but we still aren't testing enough we seem to be having problems scaling up - maybe that will change by September maybe not.

But sure it would be better for the economy in the long run if lots of old and ill people die.

While there are many posters on her happy for me and mine to die with our very common underlying health conditions - such as asthma - older population are more likely to vote and more likley to vote conservative so I don't belive the government are plotting the demise of the eldery their voting base.

People saying about how they are losing money if kids go back to school too early vulnerable people will lose their life pretty sure that trumps a bit of money lost tbh.

Can't see the point in speculating. It won't make any difference to the actual date that children return to school.

@lovelydream Yes we know the government wants to get people back to work and pubs and restaurants open again. We know that means thousands more will die.
We also know we are going to have a higher mortality rate than any other country in Europe. And that we are supposed to accept that many many more people are still to die.

@enjoyingsun The conservatives were elected with a very new type of voter. And the older voters who vote for them will be better off ones who can self isolate anyway. They will survive and the conservatives know that. The old who will die are poorer old people like my parents.

And yes this will improve the economy. So when thousands more people die, we can congratulate ourselves on having the smallest hit to our economy in Europe.

We also know we are going to have a higher mortality rate than any other country in Europe

No we don't know that - it's all conjecture at this point but people do like to jump on the one hysterical opinion

Anyway It was one "expert" who said that - the rest indicate a much flatter death rate

@theoderub If the government forces schools back, then anyone not well off like us has to go back to work. Only the well off have the luxury of choosing not to work with no government help.