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?

WHO guidance here about countries considering easing lockdown.

Disco and who will look after the kids? Grandparents?*

The amount of Grandparents that do pick up at my Dd's primary is quite high.

They would have to open and staff after school clubs too and even then Grandparents pick up then due to shift work.*

If I'm honest the death rate is what it is. It is actually relatively low as a % - i have to probably be the arsehole here and say that with a death rate of 1.7% it isn't high enough to warrant bankrupting entire countries sorry

It's not about the overall death rate as much as not overwhelming the NHS which would have a major effect on the economy in itself. Can you imagine the hospital scenes on the news.

Some of you sound like eugenicists. Get rid of the any frail older people and disabled people. And who cares about a 1.7% mortality rate. It is only about three quarters of a million people who use too much NHS resources anyway.

I’m pretty sure when Boris gave that awful speech saying we will lose many loved ones he didn’t think he could of been one of those faceless people.

Everyone’s ok with getting back to normal unless it’s them or their loved ones who end up dying as a result.

amp.theguardian.com/education/2020/apr/14/education-was-never-the-sole-focus-of-schools-the-coronavirus-pandemic-has-proved-it

I guarantee you - the people screaming like banshees on these threads about keeping the country shut down and how reckless the government is - will be the exact same people squealing about the economic disaster it will unfurl on the nation, resulting in untold misery and deaths.

@Bluntness100 opening schools has to mean the end of social distancing. Either that or the government think that the magical school doors prevent the virus spreading inside cos
Social distancing isn’t possible!

I think everyone will have to compromise in order to find a workable solution to this.

The most sensible solution would surely be to bring forward the Summer holidays so that schools are officially closed in June and July. They could then reopen in August and close for an extra week in October and perhaps an extra two weeks in December.

I’m not sure what that would mean for nurseries, where social distancing really is impossible (much more so than in schools). But clearly someone needs to make a decision about this and to give schools and nurseries enough time to put plans into place.

I am a teacher and we are none the wiser. We found out school was closing same as the parents from the news . I would personally love to go back in June. It would give my class a bit of socialisation they desperately need and to close off the year (they are only 4 love them). I would also like to be in to arrange things for our new reception cohort and give them a chance to see the school before they are thrust in with their nursery year cut short. However I am coming at this as a person with no 'risk' factors and I work with some who are high risk or live with them so i would be concerned for my colleagues

@toryandproud genuinely who is “screaming like a banshee”, or is that just some weird thing you’re saying to make people who don’t agree with you sound insane some people need to understand that just because some people don’t think the same as you, that doesn’t mean they’re irrational.

Mine would normally be breaking up in June, so I'd far rather they went back as normal after Easter (realise this won't happen). I suppose a couple of weeks in June would be better than waiting until September, though.

Mine would normally be breaking up in June, so I'd far rather they went back as normal after Easter (realise this won't happen).

Meanwhile the ONS report higher death rates for a week since records began.

Health is more important just now, who the hell would want to put their kids back to school when this is going on.im glad mine are at home.

Here in Portugal the government has announced that pupils will do virtual school from home until the end of term (mid June).

The school quickly followed up to say that they were following government advice and remaining closed. Before Easter virtual school was put in place pretty well and there will now be a tv channel devoted to school work too somehow.

My eldest is usually at boarding school in the UK where he's in Y10. He will probably stay here in Portugal until September too as I can't see boarding opening any time soon.

The problem really is balancing health and the economy. If we stay as is for too long the economic fallout will be responsible for far more deaths than covid-19, not to mention the poverty and suffering.

There are currently people having medical treatments delayed that could mean they suffer needlessly or die, others loosing income with no way to feed and house their families and who knows how many other situations that can't go on indefinitely.

The point of the lockdown is to delay the spread, not stop it, so at some point it will be relaxed and likely tightened again until there is a treatment or vaccine. This means schools and business will reopen and people will be exposed again when our hospitals can cope and before millions are left starving and/or homeless. As it is the economy will take years to recover from this and schools reopening will be a huge factor in people starting to rebuild.

In answer to the op, I don't know how likely they are to reopen in June... I would like it, even a few weeks would benefit the children but I am prepared for them to return September (hopefully with some relaxation through the summer so the dc can see friends and family).

The problem is that if the schools and the local councils enforce a policy wherby children are required to go back to school under circumstances where they would be at risk of catching covid19, then that would be against human rights and UN treaty protections afforded to children. Any school attendance should be volontary untill such a time when there is no risk of children being infected at school. The consequence would inevitably lead to a second wave, and there is no evedence of long term immunity, there are documented cases of people who have caught this twice in Korea and in China. Is it really worth breaking quarantine early if its going to cause more deaths and keep this epidemic going for longer than it needs to. If we had only gone shut schools after the half term break, than things would of been different now. The UK must learn from the mistakes made already, look at other countries like vietnam who have shut schools since january and they remain closed to this day. Vietnam will be back to normal long before the UK.

there are documented cases of people who have caught this twice in Korea and in China.

No, there are documented cases of where people have tested positive again after previously having tested negative. It’s unclear whether they caught it again or if the virus was dormant in their system and reignited.

Even if they did catch it again, that doesn’t mean that there’s ‘no evidence of long term immunity’. Some people catch chicken pox more than once, even though it usually confers immunity.

There’s a lot we still don’t know.

@noblegiraffe I agree that we know very little about this virus. There are reports of long term lung damage in some survivors, not surprising with a respiratory disease. And reports of ongoing neurological symptoms.
It seems a massive gamble even for those who will survive it, to be made to get it, and not know what the long term issues may be or how common they may be? They may be very uncommon or they may be common. We just don't know yet.