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Coronavirus

What happens to the children?

(7 Posts)
Mollygo Mon 04-May-20 18:12:51

Several friends have contacted me to say they have been told they are expected into work soon.
Most want to go back, because they need the money, but they are not all key workers.
If they don’t go back they may not have a job.
What happens to their children?
On the other side of the story, how will Primary schools cope with increased numbers of children and social distancing, especially if some staff are self isolating for their own or their partner’s health?

Hithere Mon 04-May-20 18:17:08

This is our new reality.
There is no right or wrong answer, the world is a huge petri dish of experimentation

Hetty58 Mon 04-May-20 18:19:01

I suppose that if both parents live together and are off work, at least one of them can return. I'm worried about public transport, though. I can't see many people wanting to squeeze into the tubes for London any time soon.

SueDonim Mon 04-May-20 18:35:06

Why have they contacted you? Are you a child care provider? If so, I imagine guidance will be given soon.

As others say, this is all new territory, so everyone is feeling their way. If a non-key-worker job can be done from home then I would ask the employer to do a risk assessment before returning to work. One person could return to work, or maybe each could go work on alternative days/weeks.

Schools are being given advice as to how to manage the environment to make it safe for everyone. It could include only half the children going in, for half the time, meaning more space can be given to them. I’m not sure teachers would be any more or less likely to need to self-isolate than any other section of working age society.

PamelaJ1 Mon 04-May-20 18:45:25

My DD, her husband and child have been keeping to the rules of isolation. They were both furloughed.
I would be prepared to accept that none of them have the virus. I know we haven’t.

I would, in our case, suggest that DGS could move in here.
Whether that would be allowed I don’t know. If we could all be tested it would make a decision like that much easier to make.

growstuff Tue 05-May-20 07:48:16

Have none of them left home since lockdown started? They would need to have been totally quarantined (ie not leaving the house at all) for two weeks for you to be sure that nobody is a carrier.

growstuff Tue 05-May-20 07:50:49

My guess is that most primary school children will not be returning to school until September at the earliest. The talk is of allowing Year 6 to return first. Schools have been promised that they will be given at least two weeks notice before any return.