Can we unlock the schools at start of Feb?

[MeandT]

I'm totally supportive of the lockdown BUT by the end of next week, case numbers nationally will be the same as they were at end of November. Hospital admissions are falling again.

Rather than going back into tiers with the shops and food pubs open (where all the spreading happened in December), can we not issue all the teachers with N95 masks (and vaccines for the clinically vulnerable), make all the kids wear triple layer face masks all the time, and just get on with the important job of educating this country's kids in person? Starting again 1st of Feb.

AIBU to ask if we can send the kids back as soon as we hit the case rate we unlocked at on 2nd December?

IABU= no way, the cases will shoot up too quickly again, even if they all wear masks all day.

IANBU = yes, get them back before half term, the only reason it went nuts in December was because everyone was out Christmas shopping and seeing family.

Schools have been closed for 5 weeks now with minimal change in figures.

Why do people keep posting this lie?

Some very fair points on here. I'm intrigued by how LITTLE data our illustrious track & trace service has released about transmission during December. Everybody caught it somewhere, so why not tell us all where the highest risks are? Obviously transmission will be high in schools for as long as we resist mask wearing in them. There's not some miracle zone that means no-one will spread it there.

I think we should trial re-opening in some of the lowest case areas WITH mask wearing for all and NOT open the shops, offices and pubs at the same time. We could get some legitimate data on school only risks then, and prioritise re-opening at appropriate case levels across the country...

At the moment, case numbers are in the high 30,000s. At the end of November, there were less than 15,000 cases a day. Cases are not going to half by the end of the week...

If we reopened schools in just over a week's time, then we'd very quickly end up in the situation we were in at the end of last term- i.e. cases sky rocketing, huge numbers of students self isolating, schools having to close due to having too many staff off, etc. etc.

When we reopen schools, it needs to be done sensibly and carefully, not just as a free for all, and that will take proper planning, proper bubbles, probably some kind of rota system and an enforcement of social distancing in schools. Masks alone are not enough, and some kids will just refuse to wear them.

Schools have bubbles bursting now, never mind if we reopened as normal.

Also, "the vulnerable" make up quite a large proportion of the population, and vulnerable school children cannot have the vaccine. To vaccinate all vulnerable staff would take more than a week, and then it would take another week for immunity to kick in. Plus it's those with vulnerable family members, and children with vulnerable family members, too.

If we reopen schools too soon, it will prolong lockdown, prolong the economic damage to the country, will probably lead to schools closing again on an adhoc basis (so key workers will have no childcare)...

It's far better to wait, plan and do things safely.

I won’t be allowing my children back until Easter at the earliest. I can’t see anything that has changed between now and when lockdown began. Numbers in my area are more than double what they were when we went into lockdown. We’ll be staying in our fort thank you.
I will add that I understand I am fortunate my children are coping well with this lockdown, my DS didn’t last time and if he was the same this time around I probably would feel differently. I don’t think it’s time to reopen schools though.

@MeandT

Some very fair points on here. I'm intrigued by how LITTLE data our illustrious track & trace service has released about transmission during December. Everybody caught it somewhere, so why not tell us all where the highest risks are? Obviously transmission will be high in schools for as long as we resist mask wearing in them. There's not some miracle zone that means no-one will spread it there.

I think we should trial re-opening in some of the lowest case areas WITH mask wearing for all and NOT open the shops, offices and pubs at the same time. We could get some legitimate data on school only risks then, and prioritise re-opening at appropriate case levels across the country...

What will you do with the students who persistently refuse to wear masks? Exclude them?

What about the students who rely on lip reading?

What about young children who will struggle to reliably wear a mask all day?

Do you really think a mask is good enough protection for someone sat shoulder to shoulder with an infected person for over an hour?

What do you do at lunch when students are eating in crowded halls/canteens and have to take masks off?

Are they allowed to take them off outside? For PE? What happens when two kids have a shouting match without masks outside?

Who enforces mask wearing on the way to/from school? Kids often travel in large groups, despite what the law may say.

I do think mask wearing in schools is important, but it is not a magic bullet, and lot of teens will not do it reliably.

@EmmanuelleMakro

Of course it is horrible that people are dying, but death is actually what will happen to sll of us anyway -and for arbitrary and unfair reasons. Shakespeare died at 52 - an unbearable waste of genius. Schools should be going back NOW and the tiny minority of people at risk of hospitalisation or dying should be taking whatever measures they feel they need to isolate - if they want to.

Wow. I don’t suppose you happen to own a certain number of dalmatians, do you?

No chance unfortunately

Christ, make your ruddy minds up. It's all close the schools... Open the schools... Close the schools... open the schools on here.

Children under 12 are twice as likely to be an index case in a household.

Children 12-16 are 7 times more likely.

Household spread is where most spread happens.

What do you think will happen if we lifted restrictions in 2 weeks as the strain we have now is far more transmissible than the main one circulating beginning of December?

Honestly I dont want the schools to open properly until we are at a point that its very unlikely to be any further lockdowns if numbers rise. I find the on and off lock down of different variations far more disruptive. I do not want to be getting used to home school then back to school and back to that routine then back to home school in another lockdown etc.

@Donotdelete

The papers claim that”The UK is leading the world” in their vaccine rollout at the same time thatwe are basically the only country still in lockdown. How nobody has noticed that all the other countries are operating normally while we struggle I don’t know. Our death rate isn’t much lower than that of the US which never properly locked down. Leading the world. Hahaha.

I really don’t think that’s true. Lots of eu countries are in lockdown and most/some schools in the USA haven’t been open since the start of the pandemic.

@gamerchick

Christ, make your ruddy minds up. It's all close the schools... Open the schools... Close the schools... open the schools on here.

It’s generally people sticking to what they think just two different angles. Rather than switching

People want schools open, but they also want schools reopened sensibly so we don’t end up with them closed again.

edition.cnn.com/interactive/2020/health/coronavirus-schools-reopening/

We should use this time to plan to make things safe. And then re-open schools when it is safe to do so. And do it safely.

Why can't everyone just wait until its deemed sensible to open them? This is an issue that hugely impacts me personally, but I still don't agree. Every time during the pandemic we have unlocked too quickly and too early, causing further. spikes and deaths. Seeing as we now have a vaccination lets do this lockdown right and ease restrictions at a more appropriate time.

@itsgettingweird by index case do you mean the person who brings covid into the home. And twice more likely than who?

Greeny it’s from the SAGE report here.

Looking like there’s quite a big jump in the number of infections in schools and nurseries this week. And that’s with KW/vulnerable kids in. If you want to open them in just over a week, they’ll be shut again by Easter.

You know Shakespeare died in 1616 right ???

Wow. I don’t suppose you happen to own a certain number of dalmatians, do you?

😆

No thanks.

And the NHS needs to be the absolute priority, not schools.

Yes sure...let’s wait until spring

When none of their parents will have been vaccinated but at least they’ll still have grandparents, eh?

If it goes on much longer they will have to retake the year

To answer your question, no.