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Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2020 9:14 pm
by Heebie Jeebie
Are they actually saying that 0.02% of school age children will die? Or is that based on the percentage of the ones who have tested positive, ie those who have been symptomatic? I mean it's depressing, but I hope not true. It would be too awful to contemplate.

I don't think you're overreacting TC. You have been shielding and must feel at much higher risk than the rest of us do - and even we are nervous. If anything at all can be reopened, I feel that schools will give the highest value in terms of education, social skills, repairing the relationship between children and parents and allowing parents to work. Opening pubs is about keeping the economy going but schools do that and a whole load more. I think that's why it's deemed higher priority.

Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2020 9:14 pm
by Ruby
Science teachers love a bit of pyromania. :mrgreen:
Topcat wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 8:03 pm I must be overreacting to this, I just can't see how. Fuck the risk to me by youngest returning to school, I simply don't want my children (ha! one is 21! :lol: ) to be exposed to this shit if they don't need to be.
I get it too. I am just resigned. I think shielding can also make you very nervous about going out in general.

Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2020 9:14 pm
by Mountain Goat
Five, your husband on fire. :lol:

I am glad I don't have to think about the schools issue because, christ, it's impossible isn't it? There's not really a good answer.

Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2020 9:20 pm
by Little My
FiveO'Clock wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 9:08 pm I don't know where you are, Little My, but this tweet was from the US, I'm not trying to upset those in the UK who are having better results.
Ontario. So we have better stats than the US and the UK, but I'm concerned about things fully opening with cases spiking and a potential second wave. And, frankly, the border is a worry.

Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2020 9:27 pm
by Luce
I think shielding has meant that you have, quite understandably, a skewed perspective. Or I have. Or we both do! But having had children back in school, full time, for 5 weeks (many tests got carried out, all came back negative) during June/July then I feel significantly safer than when we were in lockdown. I accept that we might all have been just very lucky? I felt very, very nervous that first week. Felt absolutely fine by the third week.

If you broke your leg, you'd not dream of not using a hospital. Schools come under the same category for me, at the moment.

I do draw the line somewhere though and don't think I'd consider it if I lived in the US.

Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2020 10:00 pm
by FiveO'Clock
Luce wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 9:27 pm I think shielding has meant that you have, quite understandably, a skewed perspective. Or I have. Or we both do! But having had children back in school, full time, for 5 weeks (many tests got carried out, all came back negative) during June/July then I feel significantly safer than when we were in lockdown. I accept that we might all have been just very lucky? I felt very, very nervous that first week. Felt absolutely fine by the third week.

If you broke your leg, you'd not dream of not using a hospital. Schools come under the same category for me, at the moment.

I do draw the line somewhere though and don't think I'd consider it if I lived in the US.
The results you've had make me feel much more hopeful about the situation. That said, I cannot understand how anyone will not get coronavirus from another individual if in the same room for 6 or more hours a day (assuming someone has it, of course). From the little we do know, the viral loads indoors (without outside air being pumped in) will almost guarantee transmission.

While the hospitals were still open for emergencies, such as breaking a leg, they did stop non-emergency services for a long while and I would consider those services more immediately important than rather kids are back to school or home school for even an entire year. But I think the hardest part for parents is not actually knowing what risk they are choosing for their children. It's all so unclear. Our children here were sent home on March 13th. We don't know how many would have been sick had the schools waited a couple of weeks until our Spring break. We don't know what will happen when children return to classrooms in the fall. We don't even know the long term effects on asymptomatic children exposed to Covid. I just don't want children to be the guinea pigs.

Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2020 10:16 pm
by happyhighlandcoo
Thanks for all the teacher love and understanding :love2:

It has all been said already about remote learning being impossible to replace a classroom, loads of work and mostly pointless, especially for young children.

As a teacher, I'm scared of going back to school and fully understand your concerns, TC. They'll be so exposed and whilst they can be kept apart sometimes, it is very difficult to keep up all the time and I can't even start to imagine break, lunch, PE lessons etc. We need to go back so much but equally I don't know how it'll be safe and worry too about staff sicknesses, having to isolate, children being in and out all the time. But then I couldn't imagine keyworker supervision and it was OK, then I couldn't imagine R, Y1 and Y6 being in and it was OK so I guess we just have to try.

Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:31 am
by Luce
I think this is why it is ONLY viable if the numbers are low enough, since it is self-depreciating if the R number is low enough. I've no idea if no one in the school caught it because it just wasn't around or the measures in place were enough to dampen anything down. Before this, any kind of virus usually goes round a school quite happily but maybe all the hand washing, bubbles and social distance attempts were enough to quell it.

And the odd month of lockdown etc for children and families is not a complete emergency, in my eyes. But by September it will be pushing 6 months and to me that means School is becoming an emergency situation that needs to be prioritised over most things.

School was a very different place for those 5 weeks, by the way. It felt exceptionally weird to us adults - no assembly, no school trips, no plays/productions, no play-dates or sleepovers or birthday parties to talk about, no lunch room, no chatting with parents in the playground. It's hard to believe those things don't make a difference because they were so noticeable by their absence. To the kids, though, they felt totally normal within days and that seemed to be same for all the ones I knew about it. It felt like they all had a much needed spring in their step. They got routine and structure and could see/talk to other people and feel safe and normal. Crucially, it also meant us adults could breathe for a second and try and get our shit together.

Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2020 2:21 pm
by Starry
E has started to forget the names of some of the girls in her class. They are due to go back as normal in four weeks. No social distancing for them as they’re considered to young, but probably staggered breaks and drops offs.

She’s in camp this week with a lot of the kids from her class. Numbers have gone up a bit here, which is worrying.

Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2020 11:07 pm
by Luce
Our numbers have gone up a bit too, I think. My local area has had just 4 cases of Covid in the last 10 weeks. That's out of about 30k people. Which feels lovely and reassuring at first. But those four were more recent rather than spread out over the 10 weeks. I'm hoping that a 400% increase is less scary when such small numbers are involved but still.

Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 4:54 pm
by Rhodonite
Numbers up here, thanks to the pubs in Aberdeen. They've traced 120 contacts, through track and trace and 32 of them have tested positive, so far.

Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 4:58 pm
by Marth
Being old so I don't know, but are "fun pubs" open? Those where no one sits down, and everyone is trying to cop off with each other?

I thought just those tabled pubs were open where you have to sit down and stay put! I can't imagine how I would have felt at 17/18 when I lived for going out, partying. It was my whole life. (Not condoning).

Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:07 pm
by Rhodonite
It certainly seems to be all of them here, as far as I can tell (based purely on what I'm seeing on social media). Though I don't know what the official rule is.

This is a photo of people waiting to get in one of the bars. Allegedly just as packed inside, though that bar wasn't the source of the outbreak. A few bars and pubs have made the decision to close for the next couple of weeks to try to reduce the spread.

Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:13 pm
by Marth
Thanks. I cant see how those sort of dancey stand up and party pubs could possibly open safely.

Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:18 pm
by sally maclennane
Pubs here have 1m social distancing, and its not just table service.

Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:59 pm
by emma_p
Marth wrote: Tue Aug 04, 2020 4:58 pm Being old so I don't know, but are "fun pubs" open? Those where no one sits down, and everyone is trying to cop off with each other?

I thought just those tabled pubs were open where you have to sit down and stay put! I can't imagine how I would have felt at 17/18 when I lived for going out, partying. It was my whole life. (Not condoning).
The youth of Whitstable are congregating to party by the beach car park every night. It was really bad on Friday and Saturday night. I made the mistake of going to Sainsburys (only place open, everywhere else shuts at 4pm!) at about 6pm on Friday evening to pick up a few bits for our the last minute beach picnic and I genuinely thought I'd got in line for a club instead. All the kids were going in individually to buy 4 packs so it took ages.

There were groups of about 50 kids - no social distancing. The beach is awful with litter in the mornings :cry:

Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 6:12 pm
by Rhodonite
So even shutting the pubs isn't going to stop the young ones from gathering in large crowds.

Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 6:30 pm
by ParisGal
Here they're shutting beaches to avoid the partying youths in holiday hotspots where they'd normally be clubbing etc.

Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 8:38 pm
by Luce
I'd hugely prefer the pissed youth to gather outside rather than inside, though. I feel like a right stick in the mud but I'm completely appalled by nightclubs being open. Or basically anywhere that sells booze. It's just so unnecessary, other than economically. It's not doing any good for anyone's health or mental health. I think I've lost all perspective over it.

Re: Corona Virus

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 9:35 pm
by Heebie Jeebie
I've just been out for dinner for the first time since February. Social distancing in place but no contact details taken (unless they don't need them because we booked) and we eventually left when the music got so loud we were having to shout. It was nice to be out and have food brought to me and cleared away after but not an amazing reunion with the pub or anything I'd be desperate to do again.