Why are primary schools obsessed with social distancing when it’s not a requirement?

[whenthejoyreturns]

I’m sure I’ll be told I’m stupid but I’m genuinely confused.
Our local primary will only allow 8 in a class because apparently there’s not enough room to socially distance more. I thought dc were supposed to be in bubbles of 15 or so dc. Why have our primaries gone down the route of sitting dc at desks spaced 2m apart?

@happypoobum So the teachers don't die. HTH is that really what you think?

Yes.

Not when very small numbers of children are returning at first. The figure will be lower again in another week. It may be appropriate to wait a few further weeks depending on the figures but the idea that COVID is still rampaging through the community and it will rip through schools the moment they have more than 5 children in isn’t valid in my view.

I agree extremely high. Plus 30% false negative

@happypoobum do you have a very high proportion of very vulnerable teachers in your school?

No, I just don’t consider that 0.25% of the population (and dropping) having the illness to be a considerable threat.

I’m not saying we should crack on regardless but levels are now low. R below 1 is all that matters. If R goes above 1 then things won’t be able to go ahead as anticipated. That is why the 1st June date was a target only.

We'll R isn't below 1 now. He has just announced that R is between 0.7 and 1. That's the first time in weeks that I've heard them say the upper range is 1

They said the same last week.

SAGE have said studies on children transmitting the virus is inconclusive.

Patrick Valance is saying pressure on R is not zero but is not high risk. No idea what that actually means but hope he doesn't get splinters in his bum from sitting on the fence.

So the whole bubble thing that’s working so well in other countries has been ignored?

Eh? UK primary schools are re-opening with bubbles. Schools in other countries have only re-opened with social distancing. Have you not seen the pictures?? Danish classrooms with 8 children spread around the room, French playgrounds with children playing inside their own chalk square in the playground, taped areas marking off the teacher's desk?

Re-opened schools in Europe

@Sunshinegirl82

I do think a lot of people are over-fearful, but if 0.25% of the population has it, and even if under-18s are half as likely to get it (BBC article said "children", though I'm not sure what age this means), then for every 800 children returning to school, one (on average) will have covid.

This is low, but not extremely low. On a population level, it seems certain that some schools will have covid introduced to their school. As we don't know which ones, we have to prepare as if it could be any of them. Covid is obviously highly infectious, so it makes sense to take as many reasonable measures as we can to prevent it spreading.

Though I do agree with you in that I don't think that keeping schools almost completely shut is a reasonable measure at this point.

Here are the slides from the daily briefing on 15th May R value estimated to be between 0.7 and 1.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/885628/2020-05-15_COVID-19_Press_Conference_Slides.pdf

Because the government are living on cuckoo land and schools are actually the ones expected to pull the impossible out of the bag.

My kids attend school 2 days a week due to having 2 keyworker parents who can't entirely WFH. There has been no social distancing taking place between children and other children.
The desks are 2 m apart and you are only allowed to desk share with a sibling. But kids have been piling on bikes and trailers, playing cricket, doing crafts in close proximity. Parents social distance from staff, staff social distance from each other, and attempt to do so with kids
@Love51 Sounds sensible. Have there been any cases of Covid with this approach?

I guess they care more about becoming hotbeds of Corona virus than you bargained on!

To limit the risks. It’s really hard for schools. On the one hand kids aren’t allowed to go to grandparents and aren’t allowed to go to school in their normal classes of 30. Everything has to be able to be wiped clean, no assemblies, no mixing staff or kids outside their own bubble. On the other hand they’re being told they don’t need PPE, don’t need to socially distance, kids can’t spread it blah blah blah.
Clearly none of this makes sense. Schools are doing their best to keep kids, staff and families safe.

@whenthejoyreturns

What a silly question. It is really frustrating when people say "there aren't outbreaks in the keyworkers groups" and therefore think that there can't be any when the number of people in primary schools throughout England goes from 2% to 40%.

I actually don't know if there have been many outbreaks in keyworker groups (I'm not sure if anyone can, given how poor testing has been), but even if there haven't been outbreaks, this guarantees absolutely zilch.

@whenthejoyreturns No idea.

What I do know is that two people close to me have died of COVID -19 with no known underlying health conditions. One was in their thirties and one in their late forties.

You do know that teachers will not be provided with PPE, right?

Great post @BeakyFace

So sick of posters that have joined MN purely for the engineering of consent

5 schools local to me in the north west have closed in the last two weeks due to positive infections of covid with only key worker children in.

9 weeks ago all schools were in with no social distancing and 30 kids per class. There was a lot more spread in the community than there is now.
Its reassuring that we didnt have any major school outbreaks that I am aware of. But we do need to tread really carefully and start with small classes and maybe increase as more evidence and contact tracing comes in.
I also think teachers should be offered antibody tests as a priority alongside health and social care workers.

The reality is that government have made the rules so ambiguous that if a child, or member of staff, dies because they catch COVID19 at school then that school will be held responsible, not government.

This. Who would like to put their name to a risk assessment, right now, that states that there is no need to make any efforts to social distance at all for 6 hours a day when you cannot be 2m apart?

Stand forward, literally no workplace at all in the UK.

Plague vectors?

FFS.

Bravo @beakyface

Is that staff or children starrynight? We need to watch these cases very closely to see if it is being transmitted in schools or if they are managing to be isolated