I know that having kids at home is inconvenient/difficult/impossible for some. I wonder if lots of people sort of convince themselves that schools are ok, in the way convince ourselves that our dogs are ok being left alone for hours on end, or that elderly relatives are fine and don’t need a visit from us, or that a medical issue will get better by itself. If people actually sat down and properly thought about what the set up is like in schools, I’m not convinced that keeping schools open at all costs would be such a popular mantra.
Schools really aren’t ok. You can tell yourself as much as you like that it’s fiiiiine that teenagers are packed into classrooms without masks, that kids are in bubbles of 250, that teachers are fiiiine going from bubble to bubble teaching without masks (although my school have been brilliant and allow us to wear them to teach in - many colleagues in other schools have been banned from wearing masks in the classroom). You can tell yourself that kids don’t spit at each other (caught a Year 7 kid doing this just last Thursday) or grapple with each other, or sit on top of each other at break and lunch time. You can tell yourself that the footage on the BBC is how schools are - five kids in a giant classroom- when really you know that there are 35 kids in your daughter’s geography class. You can tell yourself it’s all under control and that toilet facilities are plentiful, hygienic and students operate a ‘one in, one out’ routine to minimise potential spread.
The fact is, there are too many kids, not enough space and this virus spreads in conditions where lots of people are squashed in together, particularly people who aren’t bothered about all the fuss because they consider themselves to be invincible, so will cheerfully ignore handwashing, distancing and all other advice. People need to face up to the fact that just saying schools are safe doesn’t actually make them safe.