My mind is utterly blown by posters who wont said their year 1/6 child back because they are vulnerable but would send their child in another year back because they arent... people do realise that children can spread coronavirus, and as long as one child is attending school, the other child is absolutely no safer at home unless you are planning to quarantine one or other without allowing any contact to anyone or anything the one attending school has..
I'm sick of false statistics being spread about children not being able to spread CV, more research has been conducted since, and if you read the papers correctly you would see their are huge limitations and problems with the methodology of the studies which claim children arent spreading it.
In many ways research suggests children may be the most dangerous spreaders as they show very little symptoms, therefore the precautions we would put in place with adults soon as systems show wont be with children. Likewise more recent studies have shown due to differences in immune systems it may be possible for children to have the same viral load while being asymptomatic as a adult or child who is symptomatic making them very good covert Covid spreaders.. more research is in the process of being conducted to confirm the previous literature around these findings.
People need to remember that although children may not get seriously ill, they have been hospitalised although the fatality rate is lower, science dosent yet know what the long term implications of CV is.
Regarding the whole.. what difference does September make issue..
It actually makes a big difference as the science behind developing more effective treatments for CV is rapidly evolving. We may not have a vaccine for CV by September, but we may have very effective treatments and as such a much much lower fatality rate. As Covid is so new it does take time to develop treatments and even find out what is effective and what makes it worse, but the science is moving quickly, but currently is not yet quite there to consider effective treatments as currently being available.
With science a few months can make a HUGE difference, in our knowledge of a virus, in the treatments available and even understanding how it spreads and how to prevent it or even who is truely vulnerable. So yes in many ways September may be safer for numerous reasons.
But stop kidding yourselves that because kids arent vulnerable all is okay. This ignores the fact that children have contact with adults, and on average have 4 times as many social contacts per day then adults, so if they are asymptomtically spreading it, it is easy to see how opening schools could cause a massive rise.
Other countries that have much better Covid responses then the UK have also found since reopening schools that their R values have spiked again. This is with many more precautions then the UK is willing to take.
It also ignores the issues as to whether many schools will have the staff and space to teach hugely smaller classes, even more so once you include key workers children as many will have reduced staffing and will need many many more classrooms for the number of children who previous could fit in a few.
Finally, let's acknowledge the issue for what it is regarding lower infants returning. Some of the best education systems in the world only start formal education at 7 years old. Others only start compulsory schooling at 6, and their educational outcomes absolutely positively put the UK to shame. And the issue is by no means teachers, as they do the very best they can with what resources are available to them. But it shows that with a effective and competent department of education that in many places YR and Y1 are primarily used for play, and that not starting formal writing and reading till later does not have adverse effects on educational outcomes - although this is relative to the educational system and structure.
If routine is needed, develop routine at home. School are not returning to school as normal. If they are missing friends theres a high chance they will continue to miss them as theres no guarantee that when classes are split they will be kept in friendship groups or even with teachers they know. Very likely beyond the routine of turning up at school, there will be nothing else that resembles the routine of school that children are used to.
That's my rant over. I'm absolutely sick to the back teeth of people lauding facts and research when they clearly do not understand it or are able to view it critically and acknowledge its limitations and implications.