Tube and school risks when school opens: any reassurance or tips?

[Frequentflier]

Long story short, I am moving to London in September, and my 16-yr-old son will be going to sixth form in either the City of London Boys School or Highgate, depending on how his IGCSE grades turn out. ( MNers were v helpful to me during school admission tests last year. I had a different username).
Covid has messed up and delayed our plans, but we still hope to make it. I am now worried about sending my son on the tube and to school, as schools seem to be shut everywhere else. My son and I have no health issues, but my husband is Type 2 diabetic. He keeps it under decent control, but still worried that my son will be a carrier. Can anyone update me on precautions that schools are taking, or if the tube is terribly crowded? Highgate has a bus, but am not sure if it will work for us ( also expensive!)

Tubes seem quite empty at the moment but I don't know if that'll be true by Sept. According to my son lots of people on buses aren't wearing masks, maybe better on tubes. I'm worried about transport too but school itself will be just as infective. I'm afraid we just have to take the risk at this point - I have to go back into work then too. It'll be good to train them now to wash hands extra often. At least if your son is 16 I assume you can keep a bit of distance at home? Another thing to bear in mind is London had its peak early and is generally low now.

Thanks for the response. Guess I will just have to risk it and try to social distance as much as possible. My son wants to wear a mask but if no one else is, he may feel awkward.

School coaches are going to be a lot more popular this year I think.

And the vast majority of people on the tube and on buses are wearing masks. Some aren’t (or are wearing them in a slapdash manner) but your son certainly won’t feel awkward if he’s wearing one.

As masks become more mandatory (and it beggars belief that 4 months in, the govt have thought "oh, let's get what virtually every other country with fewer infections than us has been doing") the people who work on public transport will police it better and before long it will become the new normal. So I shouldn't worry too much about that. There will probably be sections of the bus/tube where you can't sit in order to facilitate distancing.

My dd will be back on the tube - no other option. Even if I didn’t work, with the current road closures driving would take about four hours out of my day, maybe five. There’s no safe way to cycle. Buses are slower and just as bad in terms of covid 19.

I’m worried she will not be allowed on her second tube, if it’s too crowded, and will end up stuck at the half way point where she has to change, unable to get to school or back home again.

As others say, tubes are pretty empty at the moment and most people are wearing masks responsibly. I know my dc's school are staggering start times, so he may not be travelling in the rush hour. Mask, distancing as much as possible and lots of hand washing - there isn't a lot more he can do. Take comfort that they can now treat Covid much better than in the early days so even if he does transmit your dh is at far less risk than in March