Is it ok we are just letting our kids get Covid?

[Moonopoly]

DD5 has just tested positive for Covid. There have been several cases in her Year 1 class but school remains the same. Under the old rules the ‘bubble’ would have closed and she would perhaps have stood some chance of not getting it.
Is it ok that we are letting the government pursue a herd immunity policy with a novel virus amongst our kids?
We seem to be the only country doing this?

Well if there are lower levels of covid in school there will probably be less parental anxiety

and masks are likely to reduce covid in schools and hence reduce anxiety about it

@herecomesthsun

Well if there are lower levels of covid in school there will probably be less parental anxiety

Not from me! But I guess I should have predicted that response!

on the other hand if there were higher levels of covid (and it looked like schools were about to close) there would be higher levels of parental anxiety...

@Faffinator Presumably you're teaching in a primary school then?

In secondaries, mask wearing wouldn't be for very long because most children are likely to take up the vaccination if the 16-18s are anything to go by (it only started recently, plus lots have to wait 4 weeks after having covid in that age range and they're already at almost 55% with the first vaccine).

The ventilation and filtration would be the best thing, though, as that is a more permanent help for all sorts of respiratory illnesses, fresh air is always a good thing anyhow, and it doesn't require any individuals to do anything for themselves.

That's what should have been installed in every school in the country over the summer holidays. That would then have protected the rest of the classes and the staff from the unvaccinated before jabs are available, and afterwards if there are still some who won't or can't have the jabs.

@herecomesthsun

on the other hand if there were higher levels of covid (and it looked like schools were about to close) there would be higher levels of parental anxiety...

1. Schools won't automatically close just due to higher levels of covid. This wave in kids is likely to peak and then fall.

1. You don't speak for all parents. Some are primarily anxious about covid and others have different concerns.

But anyway enough. It's like trying to communicate with a cult leader.

I think that herecomesthesun is talking both about covid itself and the anxiety around that, but also the anxiety of schools closing year groups or the whole school, because now there's no support for families needing an adult to take time off to look after an ill child, or possibly spreading it to CEV relatives who have not made enough antibodies.

These aren't fringe "cult" fears, they're very real, very practical ones.
We want this over. And the road to that is reducing cases.

I'm pretty ambivalent about masks.

However the Scottish numbers rose dramatically after term started and have now started to come down and this is with mask wearing.

It will be interesting to contrast this with English figures with no masks, see if any comparisons can be drawn.

Masks may offer some protection from infection for fleeting contact, or if a proper medical grade mask is worn, but if my teen is typical, a disposable mask worn all day probably below the nose where possible, isn't going to do much particularly if you're in close contact with your friends all day.

But fine let's ignore actual evidence from Scotland and say masks are the answer.

Well, I notice there is a thread on these boards on which school closure is discussed as now happening, so it is a reality for some on here as we speak. It has happened already.

Hopefully, it won't happen on a large scale, as we want to keep schools open.

@duffeldaisy I teach sixth form. Our vaccine take up seems about 50/50 so could be lower in the 12 - 15 cohort. But it's obviously going to vary widely by area.

I have noticed a couple of closures due to fuel issues but it takes a lot to get a school closure. DS never shut and it had well over 30 cases in one year alone

@Faffinator I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't keep going up, especially as they're not going to want their A Levels disrupted, and it'll make it easier for them to go to gigs and so on in the future.

Even having 50% is going to make a difference, though in a packed classroom then just one case is enough to get into the air and make others ill. That's why it'll be helpful to have more masks/ventilation for a while - for the ones who can't have it for some reason, and for any vulnerable staff.

We've now been given a rough timescale of vaccines happening in a few weeks in our school, but after all these months of keeping ours safe, missing out on things, I'll be really upset if they now get it in these next couple of weeks - and then won't be able to be jabbed for another 4 weeks after that - or probably far longer because they're not offering vaccines outside of schools, so they'd have to wait until the nurses come back round again.
Once they've had it and had the time for it to create some immunity, then I will be able to relax more again.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/how-covid-19-can-damage-all-five-senses

[quote beentoldcomputersaysno]@wondersun completely rational and accurate post in my opinion[/quote]
Thank you, sorry missed this, it’s all bonkers and all playing out how we thought it would 😢

[quote Bizawit]@wondersun completely hysterical and misleading post.[/quote]
Jog on Val.

[quote theemperorhasnoclothes]@wondersun

great post. The gamble this government is taking with our children's health is also one not repeated by any other nation. Masks in France, vaccination in the US (and masks in many states too). Most countries are trying to mitigate against risk in the classroom.

As a result there WILL be fewer children who die or are disabled and there WILL be fewer families badly affected in those countries compared to the UK.

We're run by rich people whose kids are in private schools with small class sizes and who have private health insurance. Their decisions show they don't care about our kids health. We should be getting angry.

When will people wake up?[/quote]
Eton are now mitigating you the max - don’t blame them at all. I think you’re right the decision makers have no interest in our kids’ health. I really can’t believe there is not more rage. There are mitigations that work.

Even is catching covid in this country is inevitable do we really want to see what happens if we catch it again and again, or with high viral load because everyone is breathing it out or with overwhelmed hospitals and ambulance waits.

We should be livid, keeping our kids off if we can, writing to our MPs and shouting on social media.

@wondersun

As a result there WILL be fewer children who die or are disabled and there WILL be fewer families badly affected in those countries compared to the UK.

Covid is here to stay. The measures taken in other countries won't ultimately stop people getting Covid - even NZ's recent strict lockdown showed that Delta can't be suppressed to zero - they will simply spread the impact over a longer period of time. With possible variations for the numbers vaccinated, it will all even itself out.

@wondersun

You seem to be arguing for restrictions for ever and ever. Only that would prevent us from catching Covid repeatedly over our lifetimes.

It's about a palatable level of risk. There may be a risk of catching it forever. Pretty much having no protections for kids and no boosters for teachers, whilst cases are so high, means they have a choice to attend school or get covid. This is pretty poor. That's putting it politely. It's pretty shit on inperson education too.

No I'm not ok with kids getting civid but feel we really don't have much power to do much as slow vaccinations and poor mitigations in schools