If they open up schools all at once, I'm done with every other precaution

[BettyBoomerang]

If the 'leak' is true and they are stupid enough to open up all schools to all kids at the same time (thus leading to uncontrolled transmission of variants and increased risk of vaccine escape, further lockdowns and a redo of the vaccination programme) then I'm done with any kind of compliance.

I'm not staying at home like a fucking stupid sitting duck, waiting for my kids to come home with Covid anymore. The kids can see their friends, have sleepovers and we'll go out and about and visit friends and relatives and do the maximum we can.

You can pile in and call me selfish or whatever - I genuinely don't care anymore. I'm not putting my life on hold just for the government to fuck the recovery up again. I'm the most compliant of pretty much everyone I know but this is it for me, and many others I suspect (most of whom are already doing way more than me). If it's safe for my kids to go to school, then everything is safe.

@TableFlowerss

All the vulnerable are vaccinated. The shielding groups are bigger now, so anyone younger and obese will no doubt have had a letter from GP.

Even care homes are going to be allowed visitors, the NHS isn’t overwhelmed anymore and shouldn’t be thanks to the vaccine roll out.

So what’s the issue? Why would otherwise healthy adults be scared to death?

Quite.

@PinkPurpleIndigo

If anything the schools opening is going to make me more likely to follow the other rules not less. I don’t want to jeopardise the main route- i.e. school - to getting life better for mine and others children

The wilful ignorance of some people who focus solely on the infection risk of schools opening and are not able to balance this against the emotional, mental, social and educational risks of not opening them is depressing.

I completely agree with you @PinkPurpleIndigo I will be following the rules to the letter to play my part in trying to make school return as successful as possible. Anything else is nonsensical and I'm powerless to do much else anyway. Can't bloody wait until July if we really are all going to be jabbed by then. And can't wait for the day that all these threads are consigned to the history books.

@PinkPurpleIndigo

If anything the schools opening is going to make me more likely to follow the other rules not less. I don’t want to jeopardise the main route- i.e. school - to getting life better for mine and others children

The wilful ignorance of some people who focus solely on the infection risk of schools opening and are not able to balance this against the emotional, mental, social and educational risks of not opening them is depressing.

Same here PinkPurpleIndigo and like another poster mentioned upthread, now is the time to be EXTRA careful as we can only allow a certain level of transmission for hospitals not to be overwhelmed. Hospital trusts in my local area where DH works at a frontliner have been at manageable levels since few weeks now and the vaccination programme rollout is doing amazingly well too. Please let's not spoil the brilliant efforts by the NHS and the vaccine programme volunteers right now by going "fuck it breaking all the roolz".

@Mockolate

This isn’t how it works. We can afford a certain level of transmission for hospitals not to be overwhelmed. We cannot afford a greater level of transmission. Opening schools will produce a certain level of transmission, which is projected not to overwhelm hospitals. That doesn’t mean we can go off and do other stuff which will raise transmission further

Exactly, agree

You're 100% correct, I don't know how hard that is for some people to understand tbh.

Surely if most people are vaccinated then we can have some sort of normality? That’s what the vaccines are for aren’t they? If we are still going to be locked away then what’s the point of them?

Most people have not yet been vaccinated.
Most of groups 1-4 have been vaccinated, in that they've mostly all been given or offered their first vaccine.

Groups 5 and 6 are just starting to be called in most places, though group 6 is a large group and several places have not yet reached them. Most have not yet had their first vaccine. This group includes a huge number of the working age population.

Very few of groups 7-9 will have had a first vaccine yet. These include the over 50s so again a large number of working aged adults.

Obviously the non vulnerable group 10+ have not been started at all. This is a massive group of people of working age.

So, no MOST people have not yet had a vaccine.
Most vulnerable people in groups 5-9 have not yet had a vaccine.

When groups 1-9 are vaccinated more can open up.
Obviously when the final groups are vaccinated we will be in an even stronger position and no doubt be able to open up far more widely again.

I still believe vaccines will be our way out of the lockdown and restriction cycle. It won't eradicate covid but it should make it manageable, However, we aren't their yet- not enough people are vaccinated to open fully.

@MrsArchchancellorRidcully

I will absolutely stick to the rules so my poor poor children can return to some normality in their lives. They are suffering so much. We can afford a little increase in the R rate that may come from opening schools as long as adults do their bit. Stay home OP and stick to the rules and schools may well stay open. Schools in France haven't closed. Evidence shows schools are safe but reflect community transmission. So stay at home eh?!

Hell yes. I will feel even more of a responsibility to stick to the rules once my child is back in school so I don't compromise their education, the entire class's education and the teachers' health.

I would give anything for my children to have their education and the enrichment that we all took for granted when we were younger. Yes I've missed things during lockdown, and working full time has been a nightmare, but my single concern has been the impact on my kids and also those children who are far more vulnerable than mine.

@gigity

I see it the other way. My autistic teen is desperate to be back to school. I can forego a hair cut or a squish of some towels for a little longer to see that be able to happen as safely as currently possible.

Same

Yes

Do what you want. Your OP sounds ridiculous as implies ALL the other mums and kids have been ignoring the rules while you and your kids have been sat at home being perfect and obeying every ridiculous rule (a lot of which don't make sense to epidemiologists as well as armchair scientists 😀) and now when something possibly might happen that you don't agree with you then decide you are going to go for it and break rules.

Did you ever stop to think that maybe the snapping point, like you are about to have, happened to these people a lot earlier? But never mind that, it's suddenly all ok now as it's you who has decided enough is enough? You are coming across as hypocritical and entitled.

We are still at a stage where the health service won't cope with too many of the "non-vulnerable" catching it.

Mixing in school is one risk level. But we need school.

Sharing lifts, having sleepovers and meetups indoors is adding so many more chances for close up transmission. We all know this.

If you or your kids need to meet up with friends for sanity's sake then at least take obvious precautions with being outdoors or some very good ventilation.

@Violetlavenders

I'm happy to sacrifice the option to mix more as an adult, to give our society's limited capacity for increased infection to our children. The government has treated them utterly shamefully throughout the last year. Schools definitely should be the first things to open. Haircuts and coffees with your friends can wait.

I agree.

I agree

10 million children all in at once - bang is a very considerable level of transmission.

I want to know what Chris Whitty sayss

Figures are similar to September now. Schools opened then and what happened, happened.
It's crazy. Send some years back and the rest after Easter. Can't believe the government is bowing down to pressure and sending them all back, which is bound to prolong this whole shitshow.

Opp I agree it's madness, but we can't add to the problem by doing our own thing too.

@HazeyJaneII

They have announced it on the news, so I can't imagine it will be wrong.

Yes of course it's selfish, unbelievably so.

Unfortunately I think there will be a lot of selfish people to keep you company.

If you actually truly believe that it's "selfishness" and not people genuinely losing their sanity under long-term draconion living conditions, I think you must be spending lockdown in a relatively much more comfortable position.

Not RTFT but I actually feel the opposite. If schools weren’t going back in full I was going to take matters in my own hands and allow my teenage dc to start breaking the rules for the sake of their MH.
I can’t believe the selfish attitude of many posters on here that cannot comprehend the importance of education and socialisation and the apparent desire to keep them off school forever. Absolutely bizarre.

pinkhappy

But I am going to stop politely social distancing on pavements and paths, until now I've been careful to give people a wide berth when out walking and stepping into the road if there's no space to keep my distance. Similarly when I have to queue outdoors to collect my shopping, that sort of thing, being so careful to stand more than 2 metres apart. Those few seconds/minutes of sharing outdoor airspace are nothing compared to hours and hours of 100s of young people sitting indoors in crowded classrooms and public transport.“

Please don’t. You may not feel at risk but the person you decide to stand too close to in that queue may feel very uncomfortable about you doing so. You won’t have to wait any longer by being considerate and observing distance. Similarly, by refusing to keep your distance when you’re walking, you’re forcing other people to do so. Would you really not move aside for someone you could see was less physically able than you who might not yet have full vaccine coverage?
All of these little things cause us no inconvenience but collectively they probably do help.

Surely though it's about the transmission and so for parents that want to open schools it is worth keeping other meet ups to a minimum so that schools remain open? Common sense?

Saying I'm done is akin to a toddler tantrum.

Imagine the queues as they all wait for the these tests - staff over whelmed trying to help them do them properly - all chatting and getting to close in the line and whoever has covid - because its bound to have some dc with covid in that 10 million all passing it to their freinds in the crush before the test is administered and it may not even be picked up in the test!
Then back to the start we go.

Why not ease them back in gently - important years first and then ease them back in year by year...each day that goes by so many more people including those in school will get vaccinated.

@NorbertMeubles

Do what you want. Your OP sounds ridiculous as implies ALL the other mums and kids have been ignoring the rules while you and your kids have been sat at home being perfect and obeying every ridiculous rule (a lot of which don't make sense to epidemiologists as well as armchair scientists 😀) and now when something possibly might happen that you don't agree with you then decide you are going to go for it and break rules.

Did you ever stop to think that maybe the snapping point, like you are about to have, happened to these people a lot earlier? But never mind that, it's suddenly all ok now as it's you who has decided enough is enough? You are coming across as hypocritical and entitled.

Indeed I agree entitled, hypocritical and selfish.

If you really want schools to remain open for the good of children then people need to stop stamping their feet and wailing and do what they can to ensure they stay open by keeping other methods of transmission lower......... otherwise those same people will be wailing again in a few months time.

The vaccination programme is going well but more need to be vaccinated and it will work given the time.

Some of the posts on this thread...

@BettyBoomerang

If the 'leak' is true and they are stupid enough to open up all schools to all kids at the same time (thus leading to uncontrolled transmission of variants and increased risk of vaccine escape, further lockdowns and a redo of the vaccination programme) then I'm done with any kind of compliance.

I'm not staying at home like a fucking stupid sitting duck, waiting for my kids to come home with Covid anymore. The kids can see their friends, have sleepovers and we'll go out and about and visit friends and relatives and do the maximum we can.

You can pile in and call me selfish or whatever - I genuinely don't care anymore. I'm not putting my life on hold just for the government to fuck the recovery up again. I'm the most compliant of pretty much everyone I know but this is it for me, and many others I suspect (most of whom are already doing way more than me). If it's safe for my kids to go to school, then everything is safe.

I don't understand.

You think opening schools up all at once is risky (which as an epidemiologist I agree with) as it will will massively increase transmission.

But your solution is to drop all the restrictions you're following, therefore adding to infection rates?

I'm vaccinated, by the time the kids go back, will be nearly a month post vaccination.

I've had a SEN child going to school daily since september, i've had an NT child in school september-december and homeschooling since.

I've stayed the fuck at home, and followed ALL the rules to make sure on the offchance my shooping trip or my son in school bring it home, so we don't pass it on to anyone else.

I am MORE than happy to continue doing this, same as i did it in sept-dec, vaccinated or not, because i'm not a complete and utter selfish cunt.

We are ALL sick of lockdown, we are ALL sick of not seeing friends and family while there are Selfish Cunts breaking the rules around us, but i'm not going to throw a tantrum and chuck my toys out the pram and go 'fuck it' just because i don't like the way the government are reopening things.

MY health and my kids health, and my familys health are the priority, why the ever loving fuck would i ADD to the potential to catch/spread infection to the students/teachers that my kids will come into contact with?

@BettyBoomerang - it will be people with attitudes like yours who will cause another lockdown, not schools going back!

What I don't understand is why there are so many empty slots at the vaccine centres. The government said they want people to come forward. Currently doing groups 1-6 in our area - yet slots are free. Why are people in those groups not going online and booking a slot - why are they not full?

@MrsHusky

I'm vaccinated, by the time the kids go back, will be nearly a month post vaccination.

I've had a SEN child going to school daily since september, i've had an NT child in school september-december and homeschooling since.

I've stayed the fuck at home, and followed ALL the rules to make sure on the offchance my shooping trip or my son in school bring it home, so we don't pass it on to anyone else.

I am MORE than happy to continue doing this, same as i did it in sept-dec, vaccinated or not, because i'm not a complete and utter selfish cunt.

We are ALL sick of lockdown, we are ALL sick of not seeing friends and family while there are Selfish Cunts breaking the rules around us, but i'm not going to throw a tantrum and chuck my toys out the pram and go 'fuck it' just because i don't like the way the government are reopening things.

MY health and my kids health, and my familys health are the priority, why the ever loving fuck would i ADD to the potential to catch/spread infection to the students/teachers that my kids will come into contact with?

Hear Hear

I think most are not selfish but some are and they appear to shout loud or start threads on mumsnet!

@Inastatus Think you’ll find it’s people like you that will lead us to another lockdown