Risk to children ‘vanishingly small’

[TeddyIsaHe]

Great article in the Guardian that I hope will put some people’s minds at ease a little before the return to school.

The largest study of children and young people that has been conducted since the beginning of the covid crisis.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/28/vanishingly-small-risk-of-death-or-severe-illness-for-children-from-covid

BMJ study: www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3249

I’m not posting this to ‘remove risks’ to others, I just know a lot of parents have anxiety regarding the return to school, and I wanted to spread a little hope and reassurance for them to read.

There are hundreds of other threads about the worries teachers and adults have. I completely understand them.

@Jrobhatch29

For gods sake why can't we have one thread that doesn't turn into school doom!?!

If only there was a way we could go through mumsnet without having to read every single thread on here. Shame there isn't an option to scroll past ones we have no interest in

Oh....

Think the point was that the thread title was nothing to do with schools but it started mentioning schools and turned into another "schools aren't safe" thread when it was purely about the risk to children

@phatsandsmall yeah you're right, thank god we don't have to open the threads. Doesn't take away from the fact they take over the whole board though,and also take over threads that aren't about schools and adults. Which is why I opened this one.... As I have an interest in it!
I find it very reassuring children are at such low risk and can look at that fact in isolation as something positive to take from this.

I don't understand why people are responding crossly to this. It is good that the risk to the majority of children is tiny. Being pleased about that does not mean you don't realise that the risk to other groups is greater, for goodness sake. Some people seem determined to squash any hint of hope.

There were plenty of threads earlier on saying your children may die or be seriously ill if you send them out the front door, the numbers were only low because of lockdown, many people on here and Facebook said they will not be killing their children by sending them to school, if you tried to reason with people you were shouted down, well that’s still happening but the shouting down is turning the argument about teachers and adults 🙄

It is neither hopeful nor reassuring when it does not address the actual stated concerns of the groups who are worried.

It tends to be those whose DC are vulnerable/extremely vulnerable or who have someone in that category in their immediate household, or for whom they care.

And there has been nothing to show that those vulnerable/exceptionally vulnerable people are not at risk from DC who are mixing widely.

It is a bit naive and disingenuous not to see the reason behind the rerelease of already known news at this point in time.

Some of us want to know how our communities are going to look in two months time and why we haven't managed to get numbers lower.

I think, if you look at the threads Alex50 those posting in that vein had DC who were shielded at the time.

One of those posters flounced mid-thread a few days ago, because she could not take the relentless heartless comments.

Those with concerns are often extremely well aware of the risks, and not likely to be reassured by a piece which says that other DC will be fine

Pretty obvious the research evidence is being released in time with children returning to school and that it was going to try and reassure people who had concerns their children would catch covid when they go back. As soon as you read the article in the OP it was clear school related responses would follow.

So sick of people on here invalidating parents concerns about children returning to school just because they don't share those concerns. If you are happy to send them back- crack on I respect you but don't roll your eyes at people who worry they have vulnerable people at risk if their children were to pick up covid and transmit it. It wasn't long ago evidence proved children over 12 transmit covid the same as adults hence the need for them to wear masks in public.

This isn't exactly news, is it?

The main concern has always been that the kids may get a sniffle or even nothing visible, then spread it around like they do with all other bugs (not blaming them, just stating facts)
... And the adults around them (you know, "unimportant" people caring for these kids, like parents, teachers, grandparents...) catch the illness and end up bedridden for weeks, or even in hospital (many teachers/parents are over 40), and possibly die.

Anyone who genuinely cares for kids would be horrified at this prospect for the kid's sake (not just the adults in their lives)

And yet some people insist on constantly deflecting this very legitimate concern with "oh, but kids don't get ill too badly, look at these studies" (by the way, just because the kids don't get hospitalised doesn't mean they don't get poorly, with fever, pain, etc.)

@Kaiserin @phatsandsmall I agree. It's ridiculous.

@Jrobhatch29

For gods sake why can't we have one thread that doesn't turn into school doom!?!

Maybe because this is the reality?

@phatsandsmall

Pretty obvious the research evidence is being released in time with children returning to school and that it was going to try and reassure people who had concerns their children would catch covid when they go back. As soon as you read the article in the OP it was clear school related responses would follow.

So sick of people on here invalidating parents concerns about children returning to school just because they don't share those concerns. If you are happy to send them back- crack on I respect you but don't roll your eyes at people who worry they have vulnerable people at risk if their children were to pick up covid and transmit it. It wasn't long ago evidence proved children over 12 transmit covid the same as adults hence the need for them to wear masks in public.

Nobody is invalidating anyone's concerns. The point is could we not just discuss the actual study which is quite interesting, rather than it becoming another school thread with the same arguments in the many other threads. We aren't going to get anywhere new are we by saying the same thing over and over again.

Maybe the piece is not aimed at reassuring people whose children and families fall into higher risk groups. Maybe it is aimed at people whose children do not fall into those groups, who are also entitled to information. Maybe the government is aware that many people who do not have reason to fear are afraid, and are keen to ensure those people understand that they do not need to be afraid.

Just because you know about this already doesn't mean everyone does. I see plenty of posts all over the place from people whose household does not contain anyone vulnerable expressing real fear which is totally disproportionate to the actual risks to them.

could we not just discuss the actual study which is quite interesting, rather than it becoming another school thread with the same arguments in the many other threads.

No, we can't police the thread and take the arse when we don't like what's said. Why do you think people have an interest in school return this week?

OP I think whatever you put on here it will be met scepticism, you can’t win 🙄

For me this report is very reassuring and puts my mind at rest. My daughter will be carrying on with her life as normal as she possibly can.

@unmarkedbythat it is absolutely right that people should be reassured that their children are not at risk, but it is irresponsible not to couple that with telling them that school opening under the conditions we've let things get to will have an effect on community transmission, which is the bit of the picture that has been conveniently missed out.

@Alex50

OP I think whatever you put on here it will be met scepticism, you can’t win 🙄

For me this report is very reassuring and puts my mind at rest. My daughter will be carrying on with her life as normal as she possibly can.

Agreed. It has also given me a little more confidence to take my baby to some indoor baby groups. Its a shame some people have to dash any hint of anything remotely positive.

@Jrobhatch29 great that you can go to baby groups again, but that's a choice you can make, whereas other parents can't make a choice about their children going back to school. And that's without any consideration of the risk to adults. I don't think it's the same thing.

I'm not dismissing anyone's concerns about school. I have two children returning to school as well and I am a teacher returning from maternity myself soon. I just think the same arguments have been had many times over on mumsnet and they never get anywhere new. The study hasn't looked into the wider issues as it is solely a study about the effects on children and how the vast, vast majority are very low risk and the point of the thread was to reassure parents who might still be worried. The people on MN might know the risks were low already but the people on a covid board are obviously interested and have researched, other people may not have and this may be the reassuring news they need! We are all aware there are vulnerable children and adults which may be effected. I don't think a study looking into hospitalised children really needs to address that issue though as it is a different issue.

Sorry hopefully that didn't sound offensive, what I meant is if there is a chance you'll get colitis from this, get treatment sooner (and obviously stop it). Just don't want anyone to think I was being insensitive.

@Barbie222

I think we're all on message about this now: the sane piece of news has been repeated three times in the last week, but the glaring elephant in the room is whether school openings raise community transmission, therefore putting pressure on the nhs at a time when it really needs to look more normal than it currently does. As well as making local lockdowns more likely which are crippling for businesses, and difficult for working parents.

I think we need to take the positive from this, of course, but as a community I think I'd feel safer if cases were lower - not for myself or my children, as we are low risk, but for the others I don't know and the knock on effect it will have.

It pisses me off a bit that the message we are hearing, "your kids will be all right, so why are you worried?" assumes we are all looking for selfish reassurance that "we're all right then Jack". We never needed more to act as a whole community. We depend on each other.

This. ^

It's very reassuring to know our children are unlikely to suffer horribly if they become infected, but we still need to be thinking about the wider community, which starts with the teachers at the front of the classroom, the support staff including the people serving their lunches, the parents at the school gates doing drop off and pick ups, the grandparents who are being drafted in to help with childcare because working parents have no other options. For once it's not just a case of "think of the children!"

So we can only comment on posts now if we agree with the agenda set by the OP. ?? We aren't allowed to discuss all angles or share our own opinion??

@Jrobhatch29 i really hope you don't teach my child- imagine them not sharing your view on life!

Ffs, wrong thread! Not sure what happened there