Looking likely schools will close. When should they be allowed to open?

[Billie18]

For those that believe they should close what would have to change for you to be happy with them opening? Is it a level of vaccinations if so what level? A lower daily hospital admission or death rate? Extra PPE? More Social distancing measures? Or is there a time limit on how long you think children should not be in school? Do you see any of these things changing in the near future?

Will just say that in my opinion they should stay open and I'm very concerned that they are closing.

Judging by a lot of opinions on here not until they have eradicated covid and every other infectious disease.

Where are you picking that up from op?

When we see the low rates we had over the summer. Whilst rates are increasing schools and everything else non essential should close/be done remotely. Personally I think it would have made more sense to run school through the summer months after a short end of year break eg 2 weeks, and shifted the long break to winter time, given a winter wave was predicted as a strong possibility and I don’t think anyone can deny that schools are a breeding ground for bugs. My DP works in a school (non-teaching and not regularly child facing) and even then I can predict safely at least a cold coming home in September and January when kids go back together. Every year regardless of COVID bugs are spread in schools.

Schools should be closed until mid Feb with no keyworker provision and no remote learning, with the summer holidays cancelled and full attendance expected (and exams pushed back until July and August).

I’d just like us given. Higher priority for vaccination. If you vaccinate teachers and health then everything else will function better. Schools and hospitals will have less staff off so can function better.... if schools and hospitals are functioning and kids can go in md have face to face teaching it will benefit their health and their carers can work and keep the economy going.

Maybe when 3/4 of the country aren’t in tier 4 and hospitals are becoming overwhelmed would be a good start.

The more schools that reopen tomorrow and the later the schools closure happens the longer the lockdown will need to be

@StatisticalSense

Schools should be closed until mid Feb with no keyworker provision and no remote learning, with the summer holidays cancelled and full attendance expected (and exams pushed back until July and August).

The NHS will not function without keyworker childcare. How do you propose to deal with that?

Unless it gets overtaken by the rollout of the vaccination programme, then the criteria should be the same as any other lockdown - in place until the R rate is below 1 and the prevalence of infection is significantly reduced. We currently have numbers very high and rising rapidly in large swathes of the country, and sadly I think school closures are going to be necessary to get things back under control.

@starrynight19

Maybe when 3/4 of the country aren’t in tier 4 and hospitals are becoming overwhelmed would be a good start.

Not sure what you mean by a "start"? When do you think all schools should be open?

Would you push for all schools to be open say when Tier 4 has been lifted completely and when hospitals have spare capacity? The spare capacity one is difficult because hospitals usually run at near full capacity to ensure the most people can get treatment. So are you referring to how many patients with coronavirus symptoms are in ITU?

@Bubbinsmakesthree

Unless it gets overtaken by the rollout of the vaccination programme, then the criteria should be the same as any other lockdown - in place until the R rate is below 1 and the prevalence of infection is significantly reduced. We currently have numbers very high and rising rapidly in large swathes of the country, and sadly I think school closures are going to be necessary to get things back under control.

So you think they should open if the R rate is calculated at under 1?

@Lifeispassingby

The more schools that reopen tomorrow and the later the schools closure happens the longer the lockdown will need to be

But what needs to happen for you to consider the schools to be safe to open?

I've mentally prepped for it to be at least Feb half term if not Easter

No key worker provision at a time when hospitals are so in need of staff? What a ridiculous idea.

I don't want schools to close personally. If they do, I would like to see a full national lockdown alongside it and hope the government pull their finger out, crack on with vaccinations so schools can open again after half term.

Unfortunately we have an incompetent government so I foresee schools closing, slow rollout of vaccines and nothing done to improve safety in schools so they will be closed for months like last time.

And I'll consider them safe to open when the numbers have dropped substantially and they are continuing to fall, when more people have been vaccinated, when we have enough data to ascertain how dangerous this new strain is and when the government extend their ridiculous 3 main symptoms list.

The r rate needs to fall

R below 1 and case numbers at a much lower level. They’re currently over 1000 per 100k people in my area - it needs to be 5-10x lower than that.

We’ve managed to cut R and case numbers regionally without school closures previously but this was prior to the new variant which does seem to be spreading rapidly through younger age groups. Sage have recommended closing schools, I tend to think they’re best placed to know what they’re talking about.

R below 1 and case numbers at a much lower level.

This, but I think we should have rotas as soon as we can to make sure all children get a fair amount of face to face teaching. No cherry picked year groups and no long drawn out time with just key workers, I want to see all of my class in a safe way.

Never. Full move to online learning. Think of the billions of pounds in savings.

Estimated R number sufficiently below one that schools can be opened and the R number remains below one.

I'm not sure that can happen without vaccination, because the UK government's failure to control covid-19 is what allowed the more virulent strain to evolve.

Or the decision is taken to give up and lose the fight, to let the virus win and kill a lot more people.

When the R rate is below 1.
When the deaths are at the rate they were in August.
When enough vulnerable people have been vaccinated to make a difference.
When an ICU nurse (my DD) is back to 1-1 care, not looking after 4 ventilated patients on her own.

About April - if we're lucky.

When we have suppressed the virus. Similar to spring. Bring the R number below 1. Roll out the vaccine so that staff can work safely.

The section 44 walkout is fair. Every worker is entitled to a safe work place under H&S. Unless social distancing and PPE can be introduced in educational settings, they are no where near as safe as other workplaces.

Definitely need to be closed until half term at least. All school staff need to be vaccinated before returning.

I don't think schools should close. (Although my kids' schools are closed).

Children and young people have suffered enough already - and for what?

Schools were closed for 6 months - and the virus is soaring again. This horrible medicine doesn't work.

@Funkypolar

Never. Full move to online learning. Think of the billions of pounds in savings.

Ha ha, good idea. Better still - lock all the children in wooden boxes, feed them through a drip. No-one will catch covid and it'll save us all a fortune.