DFE tells schools prepare for the worst.

[3asAbird]

www.tes.com/news/covid-schools-told-plan-more-remote-learning

Feeling so cross why allow schools to stop masks on may 17th.
When Hancock knew the delta varient was present in April 2021.

School outbreaks my councils 46 this week and a fair few in neighbouring county with some schools fully shut.
Lots senior transition days and inter sports tournament cancelled.

We know from Kent alpha varient took a few months get really bad.
Some say 6 week break act as firebreak.
I am bot so sure as people will travel and mingle and in some cases School maybe mirror community transmission which is on the rise.

I wish having would go for starters.
They said they making education a priority back in march.
This term has been rubbish for many.
I have no faith that autumn term be any different.

No mitigation measures on ventilation
No masks or compulsory testing.
No smaller class sizes.
No vaccines for under 18s.

People can go to football matches, festivals, on holiday just about fucking everywhere but god forbid we let schools be normal

I hope the Government closes pubs and non essential shops first, before closing schools!

The isolating and sendings home need to stop now. The elderly and most vulnerable are vaccinated and hospitals are fine.

Mass lockdowns, isolations and restrictions are not proportionate in the context of trying to prevent long Covid, nor to protect a tiny minority of the vulnerable.

The isolating and sendings home need to stop now. The elderly and most vulnerable are vaccinated and hospitals are fine.

If they are going to stop there needs to be a plan in place for the children who are vulnerable - because at the moment they are at school unprotected and the mitigating measures of isolating close contacts, masks (if still in place) and LFTs are the only protections there are.
It would be extremely naive to believe that these measures, and other restrictions have been enacted in order to protect children like ds, as stated by @AliceLivesHere earlier (It feels like to protect vulnerable children we race to the bottom and send children home to isolate are everyone loses out.) - those measures are there because of the factor that schools play in community spread. Medically vulnerable children have barely been an afterthought in this pandemic. Anything that has happened to protect ds at his school has been because I have fought extremely hard for it.
I would like isolatations to stop, but there needs to be a plan beyond, 'well everyone vulnerable is vaccinated, so it can spread around the children who will all be ok'. I would like ds and his sister's to be vaccinated, but that doesn't look set to happen for a while....so what now?
I would also like for isolations to be better supported - for parents who have to have time off work, and for children to be supplied decent remote learning. I am sorry that your children aren't getting it, @AliceLivesHere - it is appalling that after all this time it is not happening. I can believe it isn't, as I also struggled to get any home learning for ds, throughout his shielding year, he would not manage streamed classes, and it wouldn't be appropriate for the complex needs base he is in, and there was very little appropriate work sent home (hence my Twinkl subscription!) so I know how hard it is. Some schools are doing it, my dds have had good support during their isolations and the school closures. If isolations are going to continue, it really needs sorting out.

Hazey isn’t that vaccination for CEV / CV? Whitty mentioned it the other day. Not sure on timing

Mass lockdowns, isolations and restrictions are not proportionate in the context of trying to prevent long Covid, nor to protect a tiny minority of the vulnerable

So once again, however small a minority vulnerable children may be, why don’t they matter? Why is their vulnerability and their mental health being ignored? Do you understand that the vulnerabilities these children have were not self inflicted and consist of a range of conditions that any one of us could face at any time? Do you think it would matter more if it were your child? Or is it just because it doesn’t affect you you feel able to dismiss vulnerable children as nothing other than a nuisance standing in the way of your normal life?

I read a paper some while ago where it identified that about 8% of school aged children in the UK are at risk of severe covid disease. It's a significant number.

You can see in Bolton where delta is out of control that age 5-9 has been hit in a way it's not been hit before. Schools we're partially closed during the spring. But autumn rates were still lower.

The highest rolling rates are the 5-9, 10-14 and 15-19. 10-14 being the highest.

It must be chaos. And will be chaos elsewhere if something doesn't happen. This is why the 21st was delayed by exactly a month. Takes us up to school hols.

My area is a mild but early delta outbreak area and it's been noticeable how high the 5-9 rates have been.

My three year old is CEV. He has a rare health condition making him very sensitive to respiratory infection. He can become very ill from even a common cold and be hospitalised. He is a normal, happy three year old in every other respect and his condition shouldn’t limit his life in any way.

I feel so angry about the way CEV and CV children are forgotten. As a teacher I was told by HR that it was safe for me to be at work whilst he was shielding, but they would recommend keeping a distance in the home from CEV family members. He was two at the time!

There’s no prospect of a vaccine for him or for any of his peers. I can’t see the end of this for him.

And before anyone accuses me of being over the top, we have followed medical advice from his surgeon all of the way through. We haven’t kept him home just for fun.

User it’s very difficult but every other child in the class having acquired natural immunity before he starts would help him not hinder?

We won’t be able to stop every case or identify it as children are not symptomatic often. Without vaccines for young dc immunity can be more useful than not

Zero mitigation in my kids school other than year group bubbles of 250 kids. Masks gone, ventilation minimal, school no longer informing parents of cases (unless isolation req.), whole year groups doing exams unmasked in the gym with one door open in the corner. Crap crap crap. Just waiting for one of them to get it and share with the rest of us.

User it’s very difficult but every other child in the class having acquired natural immunity before he starts would help him not hinder?

If every other child in my primary school caught covid, on current average figures, the result would be 3 children in hospital.

1 in 100 children with covid are hospitalised and 7% of people in hospital are children. Would you want this for your child's school/ friends?

There need to be mitigations to minimise the spread. Currently isolation is our only option because the government won't fund or look at alternatives.

mobile.twitter.com/jneill/status/1401860709538013186

[quote lonelyplanet]User it’s very difficult but every other child in the class having acquired natural immunity before he starts would help him not hinder?

If every other child in my primary school caught covid, on current average figures, the result would be 3 children in hospital.

1 in 100 children with covid are hospitalised and 7% of people in hospital are children. Would you want this for your child's school/ friends?

There need to be mitigations to minimise the spread. Currently isolation is our only option because the government won't fund or look at alternatives.

mobile.twitter.com/jneill/status/1401860709538013186[/quote]
See Chessies post below. Mitigation slows down spread but won’t stop it and end number is same.

Huge cost and disruption. This has been for adults and reducing hospitalisation not for children.

@MarshaBradyo

Hazey isn’t that vaccination for CEV / CV? Whitty mentioned it the other day. Not sure on timing

He said, There are two possible reasons you would want to vaccinate children potentially, but with caution, and this is the point I’m trying to stress. the first would be those groups who are actually at high risk of Covid, and the JCVI will be bringing forward advice on this. As yet, there has been no further information, we are waiting for an appointment with ds's paed, to discuss further. At the moment ds would still be too young (he is just 11), but we hope if the JCVI allow it for cev 12 +, then he might be persuaded to give it off licence. Previously he has said that no consultant in our area (including him) would be willing to go off licence, and he only knew of one child (over 12) who had been given it, as they were in residential care and extremely vulnerable.

It is a waiting game, and very finely balanced.

Mass lockdowns, isolations and restrictions are not proportionate in the context of trying to prevent long Covid, nor to protect a tiny minority of the vulnerable
At the moment we are not in lockdown
The other things are not in place to protect the tiny minority of the vulnerable, they are there to curtail community spread.
Can I just ask, what would you do?

I’d open everything up as normal now, @HazeyJaneII.

Mitigation slows down spread but won’t stop it and end number is same.

But mitigation can temporarily slow the spread and reduce the numbers of children put at risk of covid complications, until they are better protected with vaccination.

@WouldBeGood

I’d open everything up as normal now, *@HazeyJaneII*.

What do you consider 'as normal'? Normal as in pre covid days?

@lonelyplanet

Mitigation slows down spread but won’t stop it and end number is same.

But mitigation can temporarily slow the spread and reduce the numbers of children put at risk of covid complications, until they are better protected with vaccination.

You’d like disruption for every case until they are 12 or 18?

And even then in that many years each child would likely get it anyway

Yes, @mrshoho, exactly

PCR release from quarantine after travel why are children not using same?

Only after day 5, so results back by day 6. So more often than not only able to go out and about on day 7, so 3 days earlier than without.

Also has to be a private PCR to release at £60 minimum cost per person.

@MarshaBradyo

Vaccination might help in secondary but how long do people want primary to isolate for ten days for every case?

When the self isolation rules end for the general public then they should also be ended for all children in schools.

Why should children be treated differently to those aged 18+ when we know that children can and do catch covid and can and do spread covid?

[quote AliceLivesHere]@MarshaBradyo

Indeed "PCR release from quarantine after travel why are children not using same?"

Totally agree. Children have negative PCR yet still have to isolate - different rules for children than travellers. My point exactly. Why is this ok.[/quote]
Would you be happy to pay £60 for your child to be tested on day 5 and 'be released' at the end of day 6-7, rather than day 10?

Marsha that's the argument that was being made last year - that lockdown was just delaying the inevitable, we should all get it over with etc etc. But that didn't account for the vaccines.

You're also not accounting for the possibility of new treatments/vaccines more suitable for children being developed.

@AliceLivesHere

Again for the tone deaf hard of hearing my son has been isolating.... travellers don't after a negative PCR go figure. Keeps the drama llamas giraffes happy

Only for GREEN countries, of which there are very very few eligible countries.