Close the schools!

I agree, Happysexagenarian. If we had locked down COMPLETELY in March, we could have avoided some of this spike.

Not for nothing are countries who have been actively tracking, tracing and enforcing quarantine having lower numbers. That COULD be us. But our government are more interested in lining the pockets of their mates than giving the vital tracking / PPE work to companies that can actively and efficiently do the work. And thanks to the same government defunding the NHS, we don't have the ability or the space to enforce and monitor quarantine for the infected.

Bbbface

Most of you are grandmothers yes?

I’m a single parent of two children.

Trust me - the impact of closing schools on mental health and education would be much worse than not closing them.

I disagre. My daughter is a single parent. And YES, my grandson is suffering. A lot. His development is delayed due to no nursery.

Of course keeping schools open for mental health and education. That is QED. But the choice is actually between good mental health for some and serious illness or possibly death for others.

Both my daughter, I and the other grandparents all agree, better this than the alternative for our beloved boy. He won't go to nursery until either the virus is massively reduced or there is an effective vaccine.

blondenana, it isn’t anymore harmful ,but does spread more and so the number of deaths rises at a commensurate rate with the number of infections. And your children would be safe as the one ,single, wonderful thing about this virus is that it seems to leave children relatively unscathed. There was a total lockdown in the beginning., but the virus just waits until we read emerge. I wish people would think before they urge it ‘ for as long as it takes’ If the economy is decimated, rampant unemployment etc, where will the taxes come from that pay for our NHS, our Welfare State ( such as it is ) etc ????

I agree about schools but they will still run the streets together. I watch some of them coming home from school past my house all hugging and sometimes snogging each other. They just can't seem to understand how dangerous this is for their older family members.

Well, unpopular as I will be, I have to say if things go on the way they are there will be no economy, thus no jobs, no future for the young so YES things MUST get back to normal soon ....there have been and probably will be, many mutations of this disease as there have been with flu, bird flu, etc etc and I am afraid we just have to learn to be sensible and to live with it. Mass hysteria does not help anyone

If this new variant is less harmful than the original, why are there suddenly more deaths again, when the numbers were dropping
I also think schools should be closed, for as long as it takes
There should have been a total lockdown in the beginning I believe
I'm sure children can catch up, especially the older ones,
I would rather have my children at home and safe than risk being ill with this virus, and passing it on to others

@Happysexagenarian

Let me guess
You’re

Retired
No children living at home

But Nannan2 school is a safe place for key workers children . My DD and partner are police officers, how would you feel if a crime couldn’t be dealt with as numbers of officers were too low due to ‘ one being at home for child Care ‘ ???Or likewise for Drs , nurses, the people in the shops you buy your food at. I’m sorry you are sick of hearing how important education is , as a recently retired teacher I value it much more highly.

These days it is not unusual for both parents to work and women are positively encouraged to do so now. Let's face it they don't get their pensions until later on in life now.

Yes, OP, I know exactly what you mean from a health point of view but, if people are expected to work, who is going to home school the children or watch over them?

Online lessons may well be given but I should imagine plenty of parents have to supervise.

There is no right or wrong answer. It must be so hard for parents of school-age children and for the children themselves.

I think it's a complicated situation. But am glad the tone has changed, a few months ago the hostility towards teachers on here was awful. Sone people seemed to have a real grudge against those in education it was unpleasant to watch.

But Happy, the country would go bankrupt.

I personally think there should be a TOTAL nationwide lockdown for 3 months, and I mean total - England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland - closing county and national borders and only allowing food and medical supplies in. Yes, it would be unpopular and we'd all hate it but if we really want to get on top of this virus it seems the only way. Too many people are still not taking it seriously enough. If this was Ebola, which I believe kills 90% of people who get it, then they might be more worried about it. Severe lockdowns have worked in other countries, surely it's worth a try however awful it might be or we're going to be living with this virus for a very l-o-n-g time.

I'll dive behind the sofa now!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Most of you are grandmothers yes?

I’m a single parent of two children.

Trust me - the impact of closing schools on mental health and education would be much worse than not closing them.

But yes they should close ALL education at least until they truly know what/how these new variants affect us all.And that im afraid should include key workers kids and even the vulnerable kids- Gov't should sort those somewhere safe to be- and keyworkers - well could one parent work while other has the kids- then swap over- or maybe only only one parent is the key worker? Or perhaps in case of one parent family some other arrangement can be found? But All schools/colleges/uni's need to be closed- to help stop this spread- and keep teachers/kids/and their families safe!I am sick of hearing gov't say "oh they need their education"- yes they do- BUT THEY NEED NEED THEIR LIVES MUCH MORE!!?

Whatever decision is made about schools, or anything else, there will be those who accept, and those who oppose.

Who’d be in any government at the moment?

Without a doubt infections have risen this Autumn since educational establishments of all types have reopened. Also, colder weather means we all spend more time indoors, so I imagine that both are factors. I don't think that these are a direct cause of the virus mutating though!! Viruses are in the habit of mutating.

Thank you for all the very positive responses here, there are a lot more understanding folk out there than I previously thought! Because few are listening to the teachers who are readily describing the conditions they are experiencing - academy heads saying no change in school dates and times, the Government saying staff can move between bubbles, buildings inadequate for any form of distancing, testing not up to the job:
www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/22/plans-for-30-minute-covid-lateral-flow-tests-in-england-halted-over-accuracy-fears
Quite apart from the extreme levels of work that the online lessons require - lack of appropriate resources for such a task, home broadband levels inadequate, primary teachers in single form schools with no other colleague to prepare lessons with - and that's every lesson, every day and often with little response from pupils who also don't have the resources, family support or capability to be taught remotely when they have very specific special needs. It will need parents and students to boycott a return to school until it is a safe place to go and for the rest of us to highlight the hard work, care and support going on in our schools and question blanket decisions made by politicians and CEOs to just have schools open.

The new variant apparently affects children more than the original. There hasn't been any doubt children can spread the virus(es). Schools should be kept closed and children should wear masks when in confined public areas. Think Scotland's has had rules for children 5 years and over wearing masks for weeks now. What's happened with the official GP certified exemption badge. Never seen one yet worn by anyone without a mask. Overseas travel should be stopped with only a very few exceptions, not the novel length list currently applied.

Roswell- i understand why you're worried.But tbf its not that they're 'breaking the rules' - the stupid Gov't has given PERMISSION to mix on christmas day!! (Unless you're all in tier 4 of course!)

It seems obvious to me that schools will be hotbeds for the virus. Secondary schools at least! There most of the kids are virtually adults, you wouldn’t put 30 adults in one room would you?. Most probably without face masks too.

Where primary schools are concerned, I'm not sure that it's the schools themselves that are the problem.

In school, the children are kept in their class bubbles.

However..... it seems that one parent or carer often picks up several children from different classes and households so there's a lot of mixing going on before and after school.

The vaccine (2-dose version, anyway) should be almost as effective against both new strains, because although the change in shape of some of the protein spikes make it less amenable to being grabbed by the vaccine, the vaccine's other function is to wake up the T cells to attack any viral load. There was an interesting discussion about it on Radio 4 earlier in the week - forgotten which day, sorry!
Also, the Pfizer CEO said on a TV interview yesterday that now they know what they're doing with RNA transport, it would take them about 6 weeks to work up a defence against any variant that mutates far enough away from the original to make the vaccine ineffective. Of course then you need to do the trials; but new variants are not a reason to despair.

As a 65 year old Teaching Assistant working in year 6 I am feeling very nervous about going back in January, especially as a few of the children's families will be breaking the rules over the holiday.

I don't know where you read that. I live in South Africa. We are seeing many cases in the 15 - 19 age group due to illegal partying. There's been nothing about children in intensive care, and there were few problems in schools before they closed for the summer.

Sounds like scaremongering.

In the area where we live it is undoubtedly the pubs that are the major source of passing on the infection. Many have never made any checks on those entering and we all know that alcohol and social distancing etc do not go together.

Each time the pubs are closed the infection rate falls, but each time they reopen the infection rate quickly climbs. Those affected in the pubs then take it home to infect all those there which is then passed on to workplaces and schools

The pub owners claim there is no evidence to the above, but as many do not collect any data that means, no data, no evidence.

Simple as that I believe.