anyone else tempted to keep their child out of school next week because of the swine flu epidemic?

[wheelsonthebus]

Just wondering how worried other parents are?

would keep DS off school if it was recommended by school or health authority - I beleive this has been the case for example in some meningitis situations.

Otehrwise no.

We had swine flu last year so less likely to get it again (no idea if same variant is going around this year) and although DS was worse than me - it certianly didn;t convince me to keep him off in future - its flu not bubonic plague. Of course if one of us was a high rsk indiviual (I was immunosuppressed for a while) then I might think more carefully.

Mardy - if it reached Captain Tripps proportions a la The Stand, then maybe I'd let them off homework for a few days! :)

Brilliant - thanks Riven. See you at about 7-ish then - am doing paneer and chickpea curry, poppadoms, chappatis, minty yoghurt, salad, tandoori something. Wanted to do Gordon Ramsay's tandoori cauliflower but the caulis in Sainsbo's were crap and expensive.

Ooh I have never made bhajis or pakoras. I may need to pick your brain again!

Our preschools close when there is a major outbreak as all the staff seem to get it first

So really, it is black and white for you? People have to be dropping like flies (or getting visions of old ladies in rocking chairs ) before it's not 'ridiculous' to think about making individual decisions about school? There's no situation between 'normal winter' and 'end of the world' that's worth a second thought?

You talkin' to me Mardy?

I think the only thing that would make me keep them off, other than end of the world, would be if one of them (or dp or I) had low immune systems for some reason.

I think people (and the press) hype things up out of all proportion and that's why people like the OP then worry when it's not necessary.

I forgot to :) at the rocking chairs!

I actually sort of agree with mardymare. But I think it's an individual thing. For some people they will not want to risk it if things get worse, and it may be that a 14 day curfew etc is better because isolation may be the key to reducing mass infections. But we are a way away yet.

I don't think we're at that point yet either. But I don't think it's by definition a ridiculous (or pfbish) thing to consider doing, which is what some of the people above are saying.

I think it is ridiculous to keep your children off school just in case they happen to catch something! Unless family members are in any of the "at risk" groups.

We have all spent Christmas ill. DH has the worse kind of flu I have ever seen myself. It would still never cross my mind to keep DCs out of school to prevent them getting ill again.

In fact I do believe that the children who are kept off school are the ones that grew up with poor immune systems and catch everything going.

Unless advised to do so, I won't be keeping my DC off school.

I do know of some people who kept their children away from school when swine flu was around last year BUT this was because the child or the mother was in a high risk group (often the mum was pregnant). However now that there is a vaccine available this isn't really necessary.

Mardymare - good on you for being brave enough to voice a different opinion for the masses. There is a big herd mentality on here sometimes :)

Mardymare- you're famous www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1343389/Swine-flu-explosion-fears-schools-head-Christmas-holiday.html

i think it would be a waste of time as you could catch swine flu any where.

my daughters finally recovering from having swine flu for 3 weeks yet me and her younger brother and sister have not cought it . her first week she was isolated for 7 days the second and third weeking she was spluttering and coughing around us and we are all fine.in the first week my daughter couldnt leave her bed or even reach to the bedside cabinet next to her to take her medication so it would be impossible not to spot a child with swine flu especially as they have a raving fever. my son also had a week off school in the build up to christmas not because he was ill but because the school was being carefull they just did not want him there so i expect where theres swine flu out breaks schools may close.

It is an interesting position to consider. I hate to quote the Mail but it suggests that two days ago there were only 15 childrens intensive care beds left in the country. Without a doubt, once children go back to school, there will be a sharp rise in cases, moe of whom will need intensive nursing. By closing the schools it would at least slow the emerging epidemic down, relieving some pressure on hospitals.

I agree. That the hospitals are struggling already is not a normal flu outbreak. It is for all those ignorant people, who walk around spreading their flu, that pregnant women, unborn babies and those others in at risk groups are put at risk, totally unnecessarily. If you don't know anyone who is in an at risk group, what do you care... Very intelligent they are!

I'm not actually necessarily advocating closing the schools. I'm not an epidemiologist so I don't know if it is the right answer, but I hope that those who really do understand these things are being listened to by government.

I suspect by now there is no ideal answer, vaccination of young children would have slowed it down but the words stable, door horse and bolted come to mind now.

my children have spent the whole xmas hols mixing with other families and children. They both had swine flu last year... i declined the jab for DD who was young enough to have it and myself ( i have v v v mild asthma)

I would not keep my children off school.

the other viewpoint is the cost to individual households and the economy if lots of people took time off work..the economy and country would grind to a halt, surely?

if there was a massive outbreak locally and the heads/LEA/HA advised children to be kept off, then yes, i would.

if my children had serious underlying health issues , then i would consider keeping them at home if there was a peak of local cases

but no, at present, it would not even cross my mind to keep them at home

I'm torn because my son has been ill almost non-stop with one thing and another since about October and his immune system just seems to be really low at the moment.

He currently has a cold and a hacking cough, brought home by my husband over Christmas, so I may keep him at home this week while he recovers from that. After that I think I'll send him as 184 cases per 100,000 kids still seems like a manageable risk to me.

My child is in an at risk group and has not been offered the flu jab. When I asked in Odtober I was told he would be called in, as they were working their way through risk groups. When asking again just after Christmas, I was told that flu jab is only available for pregnant women at the moment, and he would have to wait at least two weeks until jab was available. So children in at risk grouos have not been vaccinated. None of the ones I know have.

our gp surgery works quite differently. At the end of each september I phone and make an appt for dd for a flu clinic. They call up her records, see she has asthma and theres no problems. It is the same for dh.