School bubbles going. More testing - how will that work for primary school children?

[Tiddlywinkly]

Just that really. Plans will be announced today for a more 'proportionate' response to cases and close contact isolation. Testing will probably be cited as the way to achieve this.

I've had to get my 5 year old tested twice due to him displaying symptoms and it was truly horrendous. We both ended up crying. I'm just wondering if the government will have thought of young children in their plans. I guess if we can't perform the tests they'll have to isolate? Any thoughts?

@Redwinestillfine

So are school bubbles gone from 19 July or 16 August? Different places reporting different things!

19th July I believe

I think there will be backtracking by the end of August and it won't be the free for all that they're suggesting now in schools. Which will be utterly crap for heads as they will plan based on the current advice and no doubt have to come up with new plans at the last minute in the summer hols. So in short I'm not giving it any headspace until mid August at least!

@GrumpySausage

Does anyone know if the bubble guidance relates to nurseries too?

My DS breaks up 28tb July so won't affect our holiday if he bubble pops before then, but my DD goes to nursery right up to the day before of the holiday?

I think the bubble and self isolation if in contact is different. So your daughter would need to self isolate if it popped as it’s until the 16th July when the stop isolating comes in place.

We’re flying on tje 24th of July. My son goes to nursery and I’m dreading nursery calling us !

They have told schools to have outbreak management plans

@ineedaholidaynow

They have told schools to have outbreak management plans

Which is what?

@MarshaBradyo as usual with Government Educational Guidance that is not clear! But puts the onus on schools to get it right (also with no extra funding) Does mention bubbles might then need to be brought back for limited time

We don’t break up till 27th. So as bubbles are going from 19th July does that mean school can’t send contacts home from then? They say test and trace will take over but they aren’t going to be able to work out how sat close to whom? Does this effectively mean no isolation from contact in school after 19th July but isolation from contact out of school till 16th august.

@JS87 Gav W is incompetent. He probably thinks all schools close next Friday and therefore has said that date believing it wouldn’t be implemented until Sept.

@watingroom2 you’re not wrong but as has been the case throughout the pandemic, small percentages turn into big numbers the larger the group of people involved so we’re almost certain to see an increase in severe cases of covid in children. Proportionally it won’t sound like much until it does iyswim. Contextually small numbers aren’t going to translate particularly well when it concerns children and the emotional state of the nation is particularly fragile at the moment.

I think the government are taking a massive gamble with young children at this point. If the vaccines hold steady and infections increase in the younger age groups I’m not sure they’ve got a tight enough grip on the media to avoid a lot of very bad publicity. The education around covid and the consequences of only vaccinating 18+ (with a few exceptions) don’t appear to have been widely talked about which suggests to me that it’s going to be a shock to some.

A quick google tells me that there are over 12 million under 16’s in the UK. That’s over 12 million people for whom we can’t rely on vaccination to control an outbreak and we regularly gather together in schools. We’re currently hovering around a total of 5 million known cases (a proportion of which will be children) of covid for context.

There’s all the usual disclaimers of nobody really knows for sure what will happen but the more I think about it it’s glaringly obvious hole in the current strategy that I’m surprised has only been addressed with ‘kids don’t get that ill’ when looking at lifting restrictions.

I'll find it strange sending the kids to school to mix with people from covid positive households while everyone just ignores it and carries on as normal. Suppose, I'll have to get used to it (nervous laugh)

@JS87

We don’t break up till 27th. So as bubbles are going from 19th July does that mean school can’t send contacts home from then? They say test and trace will take over but they aren’t going to be able to work out how sat close to whom? Does this effectively mean no isolation from contact in school after 19th July but isolation from contact out of school till 16th august.

Not exactly. It just means that instead of the school dealing with it with advise from PHE, the test and trace system will have to ask the school who needs to isolate and then tell them to. It's an added, pointless step for a week or two but children will still isolate from school contacts.

To be honest, it'd be better for primary schools to keep bubbles until they break up (and I imagine most will) because if they just let kids mix completely again, contact tracing will be a pain in the arse and lead to kids in all classes being more likely to go off as contacts.

They have told schools to have outbreak management plans

Which is what?

Bubbles, masks and sending home close contacts to isolate, I would imagine.

Wonder if schools can activate their outbreak management plan on the first day of term!

I think it’s a shit plan on behalf to let covid rip through schools. I feel kids are being thrown in the deep end. It’s obvious cases are rising and in my area hospitalisations are slowly on the rise too.
Like most I’m not worried about my 11&9 year old getting covid, as I believe it will be relatively mild for them (fingers crossed) I do however worry that they will bring covid into the home and the baby will get it and it may not be as mild for her as it would be for her primary aged brothers. I am sure there are other parents who have babies in their homes and worry about older siblings passing the virus to their babies too.
I also worry about how anxious parents must be feeling who have vulnerable children. What an anxious and distressing time for them.

*Behalf of the government

@ineedaholidaynow

Wonder if schools can activate their outbreak management plan on the first day of term!

It's highly unlikely schools will ever be allowed to activate their plans. They'll have to have them so the Government can pretend there is something in place and qwell concerned parents but they'll never be used. Across the pandemic, schools have had plans, systems, traffic light / number-based programmes set by the Government, etc. None have ever been used. It's window dressing.

I know @Iamnotthe1. I am a school governor, currently feeling absolutely awful for the schools I govern. I hope everything will be fine, but really don't feel that it will.

Maybe they are banking on the majority of children who haven't had COVID yet to get it over the summer holidays, so it won't be an absolute car crash next term

Boris said the schools closing for the holidays was a good thing for transmission so I doubt it. We'll just end up with a bunch of kids missing time in the next time.

My biggest concern is the potential rate of long covid and how that may affect the kids, especially if the impact of that makes them more vulnerable when they get covid for a second time.

My biggest concern is the potential rate of long covid and how that may affect the kids, especially if the impact of that makes them more vulnerable when they get covid for a second time

I hadn’t even got as far as considering a rise in instances of reinfection

I’m still hoping this gamble pays off, they managed to pull off acquiring the vaccines and extending the time between doses so I hope that their luck sticks in this instance too.

They seem to have ignored Long COVID

@ineedaholidaynow

They seem to have ignored Long COVID

Yes because otherwise we will be living like this forever. And that would be a living hell for many.

We still don’t know impact of vaccine on Long Covid do we?

Not saying it’s necessarily good but it may improve situation from here

Reinfection has the potential to become common over the next few years:

• the messaging is "coronavirus isn't going anywhere and we just have to live with it like flu".
• we know natural immunity following infection only lasts 6 to 8 months. -under 18s aren't being vaccinated in this country.

It's possible that some unlucky kids could get it year on year on year.

If you mean children then under 12 won’t be vaccinated

And hopefully included in risk balance for 12 plus

I'm a primary teacher. I believe Covid will be left to run rampant in primary schools. Most children will be fine but a minority will not. Feel very worried for vulnerable pupils like my child with Down Syndrome.