Primary school kids now more infected than uni students

[noelgiraffe]

Worth pointing out that the infection rate in primary kids has shot up to 1 in 50 (2% or 2000 per 100,000) as the narrative up till now has been that primary kids have been relatively unaffected.

Secondary kids are 2500 per 100,000 and uni students 1300 per 100,000.

Make your plans for Christmas carefully.

Don't be silly, kids can't catch it or spread it. Schools are totally safe, no social distancing or appropriate ventilation or PPE for staff needed.

Wow. I cant see how this will end. I hate it when there isnt A Plan.

(That was extreme sarcasm by the way. Of course primary kids are vectors for this just as they have been for every other virus we've ever known. Nobody who isn't a liar is surprised by this.)

Hardly a surprise, but look at the complaints when schools closed and the chorus of parents wanting them open!
Now they want them closed? Shock horror!

What is the source of these graphs, please?

The Office for National Statistics random sampling survey www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveypilot/18december2020#age-analysis-of-the-number-of-people-in-england-who-had-covid-19

Link to the raw data www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/dvc1114/age/datadownload.xlsx

@Sohardtochooseausername

What is the source of these graphs, please?

It's from the ONS website, it says at the top of the picture/screenshot.

I'm not totally surprised to be honest. We've been incredibly lucky at our school, no cases at all. In staff or students. But we're just about the only primary in the area where that's the case. I just hope our luck holds out in to January, February & beyond.

Thanks noel for highlighting the rapidly increasing cases in primary.

Took my five year old out of school the first week of December for this reason.

Sweeping statements like parents want primary school kids home are not true for all parents do why make them? You do not speak to or all parents.

Well, what a suppose. You put classes of 30 into small classrooms with no masks and no social distancing, then covid will spread!

It’s having a really bad impact on attendance figures in school as well, I wonder how that can be improved!?

1. Find ways to implement social distancing in schools
2. Get everyone to wear masks
3. Give extra money to schools for cleaning
4. Stop sending close contacts and siblings of positive cases home to self-isolate for 10 days and keep them in school with ineffective daily swabbing instead.

Take a guess!

Regular testing for adults.

Uni students went home 2 weeks ago.

@ichundich

Uni students went home 2 weeks ago.

Yes but they have been less infected than secondary students since the end of November.

In the public perception there’s a real issue with uni students. They were in all the headlines, they got the free mass testing and curtailed terms to get home safely for Christmas.

They should not be the major concern. School kids should be.

What exactly do you want me to do with that information?

Not changing my plans and if my MIL is still in hospital we won't be seeing her at all.

What exactly do you want me to do with that information?

I said in the OP. Think carefully about Christmas plans.

Remember under 11s weren’t even included in the rule of 6 in some parts of the U.K. There’s no doubt an impression of safety there.

So I'm guessing the translation of "think carefully" is don't do it. So basically you are telling those of us with primary school children to not see our families?

Nope, going to do it still. MIL if she is home will be a wave from the lounge door, my parents a walk in the park. There is a realistic chance this will be MIL last Christmas, so no they might not be another.

Those stats make sense. I’ve seen two families of primary kids recently where kids completely asymptomatic but then an adult in household tests positive, so can believe it’s much more widespread in primaries than some would think

@TheGreatWave yes but your plans don’t involve being inside for 5 days with vulnerable adults so it doesn’t matter does it?

Why do people insist on being so obtuse. OP’s advice clearly doesn’t apply to you.

@noelgiraffe thank you for highlighting this. It feels like the issues in primary schools are still being glossed over by the government. I’ve been home schooling my daughter while aiming to keep her on role. Facts like this are hugely useful.

So I'm guessing the translation of "think carefully" is don't do it. So basically you are telling those of us with primary school children to not see our families?

No? I tend to say what I think. Make your own risk assessment. If your family isn’t vulnerable then that’s different to if they are, isn’t it?

Just please don’t assume your primary kid isn’t an issue.

As parents we tend to look at the data which shows that 27 deaths from COVID-19 have occurred within the 0-19 age group (ONS data up to 18th December) and conclude that although schools are, and always have been, a breeding ground for infectious diseases, children are not statistically at risk of going on to die from the virus.

We're fortunate not to be clinically vulnerable (as far as we know). If we were, we'd take action to protect ourselves as we'd obviously prefer not to impact the millions of families for whom COVID will be a mild illness.

My parents at Christmas: they know our daughter is in an educational setting and it's their risk to accept that she might be an asymptomatic carrier.

We'll be doing things a bit safer this year compared to last year and we are just popping by to exchange gifts - last Christmas we spent the day there, 2 days after I had been hospitalised for a respiratory infection. But that was when it was generally seen as acceptable to mix when exhibiting symptoms of a virus.

But that was when it was generally seen as acceptable to mix when exhibiting symptoms of a virus

I don’t think that has ever been acceptable. How awful to inflict illness unnecessarily on your family