Covid-19

[Lily]

That's how it spirals. Poor Mr G, that's a lot of pressure.

[Kleio]

The one person meeting instead of meeting another household just makes no sense whatsoever. I mean cap it at 6 or something in case you get two large families I guess, but why my mum and dad could go to the park, or I could meet my mum at the park or I could meet my dad, but not both simultaneously defies all logic.

I’d read it’s all about the R number.

If you’ve got it and are asymptomatic, meet up with your parents then technically, you’ve given it to two people so R is 2. If however, you only meet up with one person, give it to them who then go home and give it to another person then technically R is 1.

There has been no chat at all on our class Facebook about who is going back and I’m really intrigued who is/isn’t sending theirs. I get the feeling (from actual friends rather than school Mums) that the school has been advising/asking quite a few not to return. It seems the ones who are doing school work at home are being kept away.

[Ruby]

OK. I don't know who to quote as so many of you asked but in my experience, it definitely breaks down as follows;

Working class : absolutely keeping their kids at home.
Middle class private sector : absolutely sending their kids in.
Middle class public sector : keeping their kids at home but conflicted.

There seems to be zero correlation between people who are furloughed/not furloughed/able to work from home/unable to work from home etc. And obvs this doesn't take into account key-workers' kids.

[Ruby]

Also, I thought I might be imagining it, as in some ways it's counter-intuitive, but this info from the Institute of Fiscal Studies seems to support it.

https://twitter.com/JolyonMaugham/statu ... 40224?s=19

[smalex]

Interesting! In my mind I'd thought there seemed to be a correlation between affluence and sending them in. Anecdotally the people I know who are least affluent are the most empathetic about not sending them. I hadn't got as far as public/private sector though!

[Loralei]

Empathetic or emphatic?

I don't fit my category but possibly have a public sector mindset

[smalex]

Oh emphatic!

[Loralei]

I didn't mean to be pedantic but they are very different takes

[Disco]

Allegedly the Abbott and Roche tests are 100% accurate.

It's the Abbott test this guy I know has taken, and now he's elaborated to say his girlfriend had her cough before they went to NY and while they were in NY which was the first and second week of March*, then he lost his sense of taste and smell for a couple of weeks and that was the extent of their illness.

*I've just checked his photos on FB for the dates because I'm half hoping I've already had it from when I was ill in late Dec through to mid Jan but I think my illness then was too early so I doubt very much I've had it.

[smalex]

I didn't mean to be pedantic but they are very different takes

Yes

[Ruby]

I don't fit my category but possibly have a public sector mindset

Isn't P public sector? Or third sector? I think you might be Public Sector by marriage.

[Mountain Goat]

I wonder if it's mainly about how exposed you are to CV and how real the threat feels, and Public Sector By Marriage would put you in this category.

[Ruby]

I think that, maybe, too. How exposed you are in general to bad shit happening to you or those you know.

[Squirrel]

That’s fascinating Ruby thank you!

I’ve only briefly had the conversation with two friends with reception age children. The wider conversation has almost entirely passed me by other than on here and news articles.

One friend is probably middle class but from an upper-middle background. The other is solidly middle class. Both keeping the children off because they’re only little and not at a crucial stage of their education, they have older siblings who will still be at home, and the mums aren't in employment and will be doing childcare anyway.

Among my Y2 parents WhatsApp group, 30% have a key worker parent and most of those children have been going to school anyway. So I guess for those families who have other children in the relevant years, it is maybe less of a big step psychologically.

[Pippedydeadeye]

That’s where I was heading with Ruby’s thoughts too. There are a few potential reasons for that split. It’s going to make for absolutely fascinating sociology phds in a few years.

[Mountain Goat]

It's making me wonder if the second wave might disproportionately hit people who generally feel "safe" and as though bad things don't happen to them, and are also a bit on the uneducated side so don't balance this instinct out with trying to understand the real risks. So wealthy, low education. Essex is in trouble.

[smalex]

What I would say about the less affluent anti school returners (and I mean, really, I am basing this on a literal handful of people, so it's not exactly representative!) is that they are taking other risks, by the looks of it (kids playing with other kids in the street, having people round for a bbq). Although its probably not unreasonable to think school is a bigger threat than playing with the neighbours kid.

[Luce]

OK. I don't know who to quote as so many of you asked but in my experience, it definitely breaks down as follows;

Working class : absolutely keeping their kids at home.
Middle class private sector : absolutely sending their kids in.
Middle class public sector : keeping their kids at home but conflicted.

There seems to be zero correlation between people who are furloughed/not furloughed/able to work from home/unable to work from home etc. And obvs this doesn't take into account key-workers' kids.

Snap! Same here! Most in our school will be sending theirs in, it seems. The kids who are being kept home in Theo's class are the kids who really, really need to be at school, in my opinion.

Definitely a difference between public and private sector but for us it is the doctor parents in my class who are the ones most likely to send theirs back.

[Rebel Pebble]

Oh god Rebs! I kind of don't want to do one because I'd be a bit gutted to get a negative, I can imagine she's pretty frustrated.

Yeah, she really thought she'd had it.

I'm fascinated by all this return-to-school-or-not sociological psychology.

[Ruby]

I would be interested in a proper academic study about how people have responded to lockdown. Going purely off social media, the main lockdown-cops on my local FB page are definitely not affluent middle class.