Is September going to be a big risk?

[Melonslicexx]

Just curious to people's opinions on all this. I know nobody has a crystal ball. Partners sister has caught coronavirus this week. It's a reminder that it's still very much out there. She works in a high risk job. But still.....

I want my child back at school. She went for a session Monday and she loved it. But they were stood on spots and the teachers spoke to them through a computer screen. They didn't actually get to see them.

I know life cant stop forever. But they are going back right at the start of virus season. There will be children every single week with colds, fevers, coughs and the like. We won't be allowed to keep them off without getting a test. Ofcourse testing is important. But my mum's had four as she's been in hospital with something else. She said it makes you gag. It's not always terrible. But you gag. She said one nurse shoved it really far up her nose she felt pain in her eyebrow. So she's said it's not pleasent but it's fine because it's important. Children will be having these tests done several times over the winter. It feels like all we have ahead is stress. I'm so sorry to write it when people want to move forward. but it comes with risk. Eventually it's going to end up in all schools over this winter. When it does parents will be having to keep kids off and isolated. Parents will be trying to work around all this. There will be the worry waiting to hear if a child has tested positive in your child's bubble/school etc. But the scariest part is what if we as parents get it and we feel absolutely terrible. Yet nobody is going to take our children for us as we won't be allowed. Or what If our kids get a horrible version.

Sister in law has fever
Aches
No taste.
No sense of smell,
She's vomiting.
Her backs squeezing.
She is exhausted.

Sounds absolutely awful and the reality is after hiding away since march we all are very likely to get it over the autumn and winter.

In your opinions. Do you think this winter will mean most of us will get it?
Are you worried about your child going to school?
Do you think it's going to be a nightmare everytime your child or yourself gets a cold?

I know that last year there were times I had a cold and DD was ok. But that won't be ok this year. Any virus will mean stay home.

What does they mean for attendance?

Sorry for all the questions. Just wanted s harmless discussion about what others are thinking.

@lifeafter50

everyone is spiralling in a state of anxiety about every possible thing that could go wrong. Life is never in our control. We need to let go of this idea that we can control every thing This. I am a teacher I was opposed to schools closing and am happy to go back in September-I think the risk then is much less than in early March when lots of people wee getting various forms of it, including me. Almost everyone so know has had some or all of the symptoms and I don't know anyone who has even been hospitalised, let alone died. I do not want to subject a whole generation of children to a ridiculous regime of separate entrances/masks/distancing or all the other petty regulations that simply induce fear and hostility. Shock that PP DC had intro to school standing on squares and talking to a teacher who was 'on a computer'??? Why on earth did that teacher agree to such an unkind arrangement? It is irresponsible of people on here to state that schools will be 'unsafe'. If parents are terrified then home school. If teachers are terrified then resign. Far better to have school closing for lack of teachers (of that really happened, but it'll be an empty threat£ than for the children to be taught by people who are spreading unnecessary fear that teachers will be dropping like flies in from to of the kids. It didn't happen when the 'danger' was many times greater than it is even now, let alone September. And NO! to masks for school children. Completely OTT and damaging.

You say you are a teacher? I find that hard to believe.

Not science, obviously, or you wouldn't be spouting such idiocy.

Year 6 teacher. It’s been fine in bubbles of less than 15 - it’s summer and we’ve been able to keep doors and windows open plus lots of stuff outside.
I’m worried about what happens when the weather turns though and I’m shut in a poorly ventilated room with 30 11 year olds.
My room isn’t big enough for me to keep enough distance at the front either. We are in year group bubbles then- the mental health issues of being with one group of children and no adult contact at all was found to be an issue.
I’ve had a test as well- it was absolutely fine and it wouldn’t bother me to have one regularly.
I don’t know what the answer is- if we raise our worries we are workshy layabouts. But I’m worried for both the children and the staff.

I hope when we do go back the government has introduced clearer rules (and I mean rules, not guidance here) around isolation, testing and absence from school when ill/having had a test because literally no one seems to understand the current guidance.

Yep and if I can see my child's just got a snotty nose and a cough am I expected to drag My poorly child to have her throat swabbed when she just needs a day on the sofa with calpol? If this is the case as a non driver where am I expected to go? How long will she need to be off school,?

Are there any circumstances when you won't have to get them tested? Like stomach bugs, sore throats and colds? Unfortunately these things often come with a fever!

OP have you read this article:www.thetimes.co.uk/article/no-known-case-of-teacher-catching-coronavirus-from-pupils-says-scientist-3zk5g2x6z

Schools were never shut because they were dangerous, they were shut to protect the NHS (and political pressure). We understand so much more about covid now and the amount of virus in circulation generally now is dropping. In my very large local hospital there is ONE covid patient - one. Where there are increases there will be local restrictions to keep things under control.

I'm not saying there is NO risk, but as a society we have got into a place where people seem to think covid = automatic death and have lost all perspective of the many many risks to us that are already out there from other viruses, cancer, accidents, mental health, our lifestyle choices such as smoking/drinking/junk food etc etc. Covid is just a new risk to add to the mix, and we have adapted our behaviour to account for it.

If you want a risk free life, then crack on with never leaving the house again. Personally, I would prefer to get back to as much normality as possible.

That professor has absolutely no statistical back up for what he said. the article provides none either. there is a reason why none of the rest of the press has picked up that story. It patently cannot be proved to be correct : it's an assertion. It comes form the professor who shipped his entire family off to a tiny Scottish island at the beginning of lockdown to avoid the virus!

I wish I could be amused instead of alarmed at the number of people (seemingly including teachers, ffs) who are adamant that the virus is in its way out now because they have had enough!
If only it were that simple!

They shut schools to help the NHS. But children and schools don't need the NHS? So that makes no sense.

It really irritates me that people say "you could get hit by a bus tomorrow" "you could die from cancer"..... They are individual tragic circumstances that are not contagious! There's a big difference between a medical condition that affects only the poor person going through it and a highly contagious virus. This virus won't kill most of us. But it's put many in intensive care. It's also caused long term problems in people who have had a bad case. It's settling now because we've been cut off from eachother. But in September we are mixing again. Plus it's autumn followed by winter. It will start to rise again and this time we don't have the government's permission to stay home.

People react differently to viruses. In the winter of 2018/2019 my daughter brought home virus after virus from nursery. She was Constantly unwell. But she got better. Her brother was one at the time. He caught half of what she brought home on average. She brought a virus home in march 2019. She was recovering. Then her brother started with it. Fever and cough. I woke up one morning to him grunting and struggling to take a full breath. We took him to hospital. He had lots of tests. He was put on a drip. A cannula was put in his arm. They put a strong antibiotic into him and said to me that's to make sure we can get him to the children's hospital without him getting worse on the way. As currently all we know is he has an infection somewhere. The next day they discovered he was starting with pnuenomia and one of his lungs was blocked in the pipe. He was in hospital for 5 days and on antibiotics for 2 weeks. The day he came home I was starting with it. Coughing loads. No energy. It made me sick. I didn't need antibiotics but for two weeks I was down! That was a normal virus. It affected us all differently. One of us ended up in hospital. So to suggest that a new virus that's killed thousands isn't something to panic about is abit unfair. Especially when it's been closing schools in recent weeks. Usually because some poor teacher has caught it.

I am not wanting to live a risk free life. But there's a high risk with this virus. Millions of families have someone who could potentially get quite sick with it. Even if we don't die. To be unwell and be at home with kids when you can't get out of bed is terrifying. Boris would give his children to a nanny or something. We would be expected to carry on caring for our kids whilst trying not to spread it.

I understand your positive attitude. But you can't compare it to other things. Ofcourse as a mum I hope my children never get cancer etc too. But they don't catch they from school

That teacher/pupil claim doesn’t seem to have any evidence at all.

Guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens in September then wont we!

I seem to remember there was a lot of frothing about schools going back in June - that'll definitely cause the second wave, oh and VE day and the beaches and the marches and now pubs and restaurants. Still waiting though...

@Melonslicexx - literally any illness we can contract has the potential to kill - chicken pox, norovirus, the flu, the list goes on. Of course we've not had a pandemic like this in our lifetime, but there have been plenty in the course of humanity. Small Pox, Polio, Spanish Flu, Bubonic Plague. All viruses that people had to live alongside. Small Pox is the only virus that has ever been completely eradicated and it took a really long time to do it - it was only eradicated in 1980.
Life isn't safe - every day you make decisions to do things that have a risk - just walking out of your house increases the risk that you will get run over by a bus, or attacked by a homicidal maniac. But you still do it, because you know the risks are small. The risks of a young, healthy person dying from Covid is tiny. Even the risk of a young healthy person contracting it and having long term health effects are small - the stats on that aren't available at the moment, but given that we know a lot of people are asymptomatic, or have very mild cases that barely even register, I'd suggest those risks are also very small.

No, it was The Times with their agenda getting a statement out of him when they 'exclusively' spoke to him. Presumably no other epidemiologist would give them the quote they needed, The fact that they even relegated this to quite a small by-line on about page 8 shows how little they rated its heft.

No one categorically knows who they caught coronavirus from, surely!? Or hardly anyone. Especially not a teacher. Teachers (and other public facing roles) at one point fairly recently were urged by Jenny Harries to head straight home after work once lockdown eased, not go to shops, or have any other social interactions because of the risks we posed to the community after a day of high social contact (like we are robots!). She never repeated this presumably because she was told off.

People who cite the Plague seem oblivious to the fact that, even in the 16th and 17th century, an outbreak was heavily controlled , businesses and theatres shut down and people were locked inside their houses!! Regularly.

Juststopswimming: all that stuff was fresh air/summer.
We know for a fact that viruses like flu become more dominant in winter because people are in small enclosed spaces with poor air flow. I don’t think we need to “froth” but I think it’s worth considering.
And although deaths are on the down, new cases are rising at the moment. Spain is seeing a resurgence.
I don’t have answers but I don’t like people’s legitimate concerns dismissed.

Literally no one said the small return of students to schools in June was going to cause a second wave.

The government are looking at opening up large sporting events and theatre etc. At this stage, we have to ask ourselves, what are we doing significantly differently to March? Masks on public transport, a little more working from home, some behavioural changes, better treatments and better testing capacity. Some areas may have antibodies in up to 10% of the population, some will have far less than this. On the negative side, we also have colder weather coming, the largest social events of the year, flu season and the possibility that antibody protection is short lived. Are there enough differences to make a significant difference for the better? Or will Christmas and flu season be enough to make it even worse?

I don't think September will be the issue. I think during that month, because of the way exponential growth works, things will seem quite manageable. I think October is the time when we are going to start seeing more local lockdowns.

Maybe not a second wave, but there were a LOT of people on here shouting about how dreadful it was that schools were reopening and how it wasnt safe etc etc (much like there is now) and there has been absolutely minimal impact of them reopening

f you want a risk free life, then crack on with never leaving the house again. Personally, I would prefer to get back to as much normality as possible.
Totally agree.

Our school will be having hot dinners although the sittings will be different.

@lifeafter50

f you want a risk free life, then crack on with never leaving the house again. Personally, I would prefer to get back to as much normality as possible. Totally agree.

You really think that the rest of us don't want to get back to normal? Take a look at what's happening in Brazil and the US to people who preferred to pretend Covid was too much of a limit on their constitutional freedoms and rights. I'd like to see you back on here in the Autumn, Lifeafter50, not under a name-change, defending your current views.

It’s not irresponsible to state that schools will be unsafe. It’s the truth. Very unsafe.

2000 people in my school, 7 huge year group bubbles that come on public transport. How is that safe?

I’m so angry with this government. I hated them before, but now l despair of them. They could have easily sorted this and made it easier. But they didn’t.

Nice one Boris👌🏻

Caring about your children's health and safety doesn't mean you want to hide in a box and live a care free life. I would not let my child run in a busy road. I wouldn't let her swim in the river. I wouldn't let her go on a ward full of diseased people in a hospital. I check the parks for needles, cans, glass and fags. I lock her windows when they play upstairs incase the youngest climbs. I have locked all furniture to the wall. I teach her about stranger danger. So I'm sorry but I see this as another area of concern where I need to make sure my child is safe and not in harm's way.

I'm not dismissing these things have happened in history. But people didn't particularly live to a ripe old age did they when all the disease and viruses were about before vaccines. Walk around an old grave yard. You will see many died in their 30s and 40s. Many infants died too. My dad's grandma had 11 children in the 1910s and 20s. Two didn't survive child hood. My grandma's sister died aged two. I did home care and pretty much half the people I cared for talking about a sibling that died under the age of 5.

The difference is now we have vaccines for the really bad things. Even flu! But coronavirus isn't a snotty nose and a few days in bed for a chunk of people. Even survivors get nasty cases. None of us want to risk our children's lives or their teachers. We don't want to have it in our homes and wonder how bad it will get and how will everyone else in the family manage if they catch it.

I get we are supposed to fight on and I think we all are. But to act like all will be fine this winter is ignorant. It won't be for everyone. It's an unlucky dip and we have no control over which schools and children will get it.

@Juststopswimming

Maybe not a second wave, but there were a LOT of people on here shouting about how dreadful it was that schools were reopening and how it wasnt safe etc etc (much like there is now) and there has been absolutely minimal impact of them reopening

I would imagine that’s because so few pupils actually went back and social distancing/small safe bubbles and no mixing of staff could take place.

In my DC school, they only had back Key workers in two bubbles and YR using 3 bubbles. Very small bubbles, using all available non-vulnerable staff. Most parents chose not to send their children back. The bubbles had consistent adults, separate playtimes and due to the small numbers, the adult could remain 1-2m apart and we spent large amounts of time outside.

When we go back in September, we will have all pupils back-so 30/35 to a class, all children and staff who are asthmatic, diabetic, have had transplants, cancer, lung and heart problems etc etc, the teacher will not be able to stay even 1m apart because the classrooms are so small. We can’t go outside nearly as much as there will be 4 times as many classes each with double the number of pupils struggling to share one small playground. Our windows don’t open properly and there aren’t enough sinks and toilets so classes will be sharing.

Secondaries will be worse. They only had small groups of y10/12 back for a few days/weeks, so going from that to thousands back in all day every day, will be very difficult.

I would predict that the impact of schools fully reopening as we go into colder weather will not be ‘minimal‘.

I think it’s going to be hugely disruptive.

It is for me already. Wraparound cancelled and three separate drop off times for my three children in different year groups (8.30 - 8.45 - 9.00). Same again at the end of the day so one whole hour waiting at the gates in the pissing rain and cold. And no job at the end of it due to cancelled wraparound.

I know why it needs to be done and I’m not blaming the school they obviously deem these measures necessary.

The only positive I can think of with respect to not having a job is, I can be off work for the inevitable disruption. My oldest has asthma so coughs a lot. I work in pastoral care in education so I know I can get a job in the future as I have a good reputation.

Thinking of the positives! I’ll just have to get a massive coat.

TBH OP I agree with you - it is unlucky and we dont have control but I just think we have to get on with it.

The way I see it is: we've all been dealt a fucking shitty curveball with covid, but we can either do all that we can to maintain as normal existence as possible, and not give in to the worry (and believe me, I'm a born worrier!) or we can fear it and let that fear take over our lives, which to me is like a double whammy on top of the already shitty covid curveball!