UKH

I have teenage children who miss their friends and are pretty sick of remote learning (though they seem to be doing reasonable well at it). I've been giving some thought to the re-opening of schools in England on the 8th, and particularly the following:

1. Mask wearing and testing in schools will not be compulsory (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/25/covid-tests-masks-not-compuls...) [1]

2. Lateral flow tests only seem to detect about 50% of asymptomatic infections (https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4848)

3. My children's schools still seem to be putting emphasis on hand washing and surface cleaning (limited usefulness as the virus doesn't really spread that way) but not ventilation and avoiding concentrations of people (which have been demonstrated to be effective)

4. We're still running 10k new infections per day

5. Age 12-24 still have the second highest rate of infection [2]

6. Teachers (on the whole) aren't being vaccinated

I want children to go back to school but I don't trust this government. The safety of my children, and ensuring that they don't become a risk to their wider community, is ultimately down to me as a parent. So I'm very turn about this. I'm wondering how parents and teachers here are weighing this up?

[1] Testing being optional is just about understandable as it is an invasive medical procedure. Making masks optional seems extremely reckless to me. Even if I insist that my children wear masks, it doesn't protect them much.

[2] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/con...

I don't trust them either.  

In reality we will be lucky if we pick up even a quarter of the positive cases with lateral flow.  Better than nothing I suppose.  I think it will be less than that.  

I will be explaining to my pupils that negative on the lateral flow is not reliable, and that all windows and doors will continue to be open.  

I will continue with surface cleaning and hand washing anyway. Even if it doesn't help as much with Covid it might reduce other illnesses.  

I think the best thing you can do for your children presuming you will send them back is to make sure they have good thick masks that fit well, enough to change when they get wet, and warm clothing so they can go outside at break times and sit in classrooms with windows open. 

If the school aren't ventilating then that is crazy, and you should complain.  

I'd also look at the schools policy on mask wearing.  The school can presumably choose to require children to wear them unless they have a genuine medical exemption. 

Some schools are better than others at this stuff.  In the end it's your choice as a parent.  

Oh, and the reason we aren't being vaccinated?  We don't need to be because all the children will need wearing masks!!!

Prof Anthony Harnden, the deputy chair of the JCVI, said there was no good scientific reason to prioritise teachers who teach children wearing masks and have adequate ventilation.  

Meanwhile Nick Gibbs Schools minister 

"we hope that most students, the vast majority of students, will volunteer to have these tests" 

"We are saying it is not mandatory for schools to have masks in classrooms"

Ok, so bets for what date the next lockdown starts??

What a shambles. I'm sorry you are faced with such a decision. My take would be to keep them home, but I have no kids and haven't been trying to battle with remote learning! I have none of the emotional side that you will have so it's easy to look at the "easy" answer!

Good luck, whatever you decide

Me to.  I also have to consider the escalating series of consequences up to criminalisation if I don't engage with the system from March 8th - the government have made it clear it's send your kids in and risk spreading the virus up to becoming hospitalised and dead yourself, or the fines start.  But at least there will be space in the hospitals for people now, thanks to the increasingly visible effect of already having vaccinated lots of older people. 

Hopefully, by the time schools go back starting on the 8th, cases will be lower than they have been at any point since the third week of the last school term - so it will be safer than it was for most of last term, and significantly safer than it was towards the end of last term.

• This is relative though, and we've normalised living with a level of risk many people are . unhappy with - for obvious reasons.   

I'm increasingly convinced the temporary levelling off of case rates over recent data is down to reduced ventilation during the "Beast from the East".  I think ventilation needs to be strictly enforced across schools and also school busses - to the point I would remove all ventilator windows from the school buses, especially upstairs on double deckers where by many anecdotes, transmission control measures are a joke.  I think spot checks on school ventilation could go a long way. 

The recommendation of masks for children is more than I had been expecting.  Having no experience of being in a classroom as a teacher I don't feel I can comment on the pros and cons of expecting the staff to enforce mandatory mask wearing, but I can see why it could be fraught.

I'm a lot less happy than I was two weeks ago when cases were falling nicely; if the recent change turns out to be a blip due to the cold weather, it's just delayed the decay by a week but cases will still be falling, and still have a chance to be lower than at the start of the last school term within a week or so of reopening, and I hope will still continue to fall during the term (vs rising last September) as society goes ahead under tougher restrictions than at the start of last term, and as the vaccine continues to roll out - each person vaccinated protects everyone else as well by reducing transmission of the virus, and now the vaccine is coming down to ages who weren't self isolating so robustly, that effect should grow.

A tense few weeks ahead.

Meanwhile "friends" with 2 kids are desperate to get them back at school. They've been quite vocal about how overblown all this Covid nonsense is.

 They also sent letters to the schools complaining about the mandatory mask wearing and the dangers of testing i.e. the kids may get brain damage by inserting the swabs too far. 

She works as a HSE advisor in the catering industry..............pointless trying to debate with her because she's an "expert"

WTF, anyone who has to be around other people to carry out their job should be prioritised. NHS, private carers and teachers should be top of the list.

Did I here you cough a bit there Marsbar? Best stay home for 14 days just in case. 

And this is why Health and Safety gets a slating. I deal with lots of safety advisors every week and I can count on one hand the amount who's opinions I actually respect. Just because you have done a 1 day risk assessment awareness course doesn't mean you can claim to be an advisor.