Help me decide whats best to do about primary schools returning

[jugglingjelly]

I'm single mum to primary-aged dc, there's only me to look after them & keep them safe. I'm CV in group 6. No invite for vaccine yet and I know it could be a month or more to wait. Covid rates here are high-ish for the uk. I guess risk of me dying is low, but risk of long covid is high due to a health condition. That would be fairly disastrous for our family in terms of keeping my income & our home & generally being a single parent. But kids badly need to be in school, I know this. How do I balance their short-term best interests (back to school on Monday) with possible long-term best interests (home until vaccine +3weeks) I'm so scared for them and me.

Were they in Sept - Dec? If so I'd send them in as rates are at least lower now. I'd get them (and you) to take vitamin d and make sure you all get lots of sleep and eat well to try to help. xxx

Yes I sent them in sept-dec, I was much braver then! It feels like I've really lost my nerve. Or maybe its because the end is in sight and it wasn't in sept? We've all been taking vit D all year

What part of the country are you in? Many places have started Group 6 now and are going fairly fast, so you might well be quite soon. My surgery is going through Group 6 by age, and is down to low 40s by now and soon moving lower. Hopefully you will be soon. In worst case scenario, can you home school for a couple more weeks and then keep isolating over Easter, by which point you should have had at least one jab, plus a week or two (they want all 9 groups done by mid april at a minimum, and it looks like it could be much sooner than that). Also, the first couple of weeks back at school might be the safest, as people have been isolating up until now, so sending them back before Easter might not be that dangerous (depending on rates where you live), and by the time they go back after Easter, you will likely have been done.

I can totally understand your concern but the cases have reduced a lot to a point they were back in the autumn. Assuming they went to school then? We can only hope that cases will continue falling, mixed with lockdown and the hope of vaccinations will mean cases will continue to drop to a good level. Better weather soon too! My children have gone to school throughout this lockdown!

When schools to back the rest of us will still be in a lockdown so It’s not going back to normal quite so the risk will be pretty low for your children and you I think!

Of course it’s your choice though. There’s only been one case throughout this whole thing at DC’s school and it was a teacher who hadn’t been in much due to lockdown. No one else caught it!

My gp surgery isn't giving out any info about where they are with group 6, so it is so hard to plan. Yes I suppose it is deciding on whether the 4 weeks of school before Easter are worth the risk. When I don't really know what the risk is. Aaarrgghh! Sometimes I really miss having another parent to make these decisions with.

Thanks so much for replying, it is helping me think it through

Have you spoken to the school. They may have plans in place to support children with CV parents.

Try and book on the "book a covid vaccination" nhs page.

I've been trying to get dh (group6) booked in and finally it's letting me book.

Look carefully at the local rates. In our area (East) they are still almost triple what they were in September. I have been given no new mitigation for my classroom. Still just an open window and a class of 35.

I can try to keep the class socially distanced and spray the tables every break and lunch but truly it is a nonsense. You yourself know whether your kids are likely to even try to distance when with a class. Some kids are better than others. I would ring school and get a clear picture about whether they would continue to support home learning or not first. Some heads are amenable and willing to allow masks in primary but really, there is little they can do aside from that. Some primaries are still eating lunches in classes, others are all in the hall again. I would ring and check what is in place and then make a judgement call.

Personally, we are mad to open where we are.

Are you sure risk of long COVID is higher due to your medical condition, who has told you this as no one knows who will be impacted. I’m in group 6 and that doesn’t mean I’m more likely to get long COVID.

I think you have anxiety.

For all the furore on MN I predict the vast vast majority of children will be in school on Mon.

There are pharmacies dispensing the vaccination to front line health and social workers and unpaid carers near us, they are also not aski g to see id

You might be able to book the vaccination online for yourself rather than wait for a go invite. Whereabouts are you op?

I will caveat my response that I am on the anxious side so this might not be a balanced view, but the end is in site with the vaccine, it won’t be long now. The 3 weeks before Easter seem to be a gamble the govt are taking because it’s the cheapest/easiest/quickest way to get schools back (if it works). They have said that the Easter holidays are a natural firebreak if schools returning goes wrong and cases rise too far. I don’t want my family to be part of the cross fingers and hope it’ll be ok sending schools back pretty much as they were back in December. I live in Kent, and during lockdown 2 our cases kept rising and rising despite tier 4 and lockdown 2 restrictions because of the new variant. Schools were carriers of much transmission and cases. The number of cases out there now are far greater than September and we seem to have no real extra measures in place. Also, children seem to display different symptoms to adults yet officially can only test if with the core 3 symptoms, so I believe it is wider spread in children than tests showed because they might have it and not test because if not having an official key symptom.

But then you weigh that up against your children and how much they’d get out of going back to school for 3 weeks before Easter.

Take Zinc, 10000iu Vitamin D3 and Vitamin K2 and get on with your life.

@KeepWashingThoseHands

Are you sure risk of long COVID is higher due to your medical condition, who has told you this as no one knows who will be impacted. I’m in group 6 and that doesn’t mean I’m more likely to get long COVID.

I think you have anxiety.

For all the furore on MN I predict the vast vast majority of children will be in school on Mon.

Or she has a condition that makes long covid more likely, which is the whole reason she is in group 6? Group 6 has a lot of conditions, just because yours doesn't increase the risk of long covid doesn't mean OPs doesn't. How about we trust the OP that she knows her own condition and has researched the risks it brings? Being anxious about a genuine risk which she is trying to sensibly weigh up does not mean she has anxiety. And even if she does, it doesn't mean her concerns should be dismissed.

I honestly think the fear/ obsession with post viral fatigue aka long covid is getting out of hand.
I would get the kids in they need normality and their education

I found that looking at the case rates per 100,000 in my area helped me decide. Where I live (quite a big rural area, but with a few big towns) the case rate is 24 per 100,000. That is 0.024% of the population in my area, so really reassured me that the risk was really very low.

@NapCracklePop

Don’t think ANY medical practitioner could tell you which pre existing conditions cause long COVID. That’s the whole point. It’s not that I don’t “trust” the OP, MN is literally awash with fake news so I’m highlighting that risk maybe be far less than perceived.

Thanks for all the advice. Yes, I know my condition unfortunately makes Long Covid a likelihood, which is why its a factor in the decision. As a single mum, I have to be well enough to care for my kids & work to keep a roof over our heads. I'm still mulling it over, leaning towards keeping them home until Easter. I'll try to talk to the school this week.

I think it's a tough decision however if you are in group 6 you WILL Be vaccinated very soon.
I know my kids and you know yours and I know that mine really do desperately need to go back to school. I will be sending but it's easy for me to say as I'm not CV.
I don' think you'd be unreasonable to delay until after the Easter holidays as by then you'd expect to be vaccinated plus a few weeks. In this case I'd hope your school was supportive. However worth checking out your specific area on the government website. If numbers are under 100 per 100,000 I honestly think that's very low (it's only just below 200 round here which makes me a bit anxious).

I didn’t think there was any clear data about who was most at risk from long Covid?

OP, I would send them in. Rates are low. You yourself are not very high risk.