mcsean2163 wrote: » Doesn't the influenza virus recede in the summer months?
Treppen wrote: » If people could stop saying that 'the risk to kids is low' that'd be great. It's about carrying the virus and transmitting it on, that's the big issue. Hence why schools were closed again in China... even though the 'risk to kids is low'.
meeeeh wrote: » And again there is very little evidence kids are transmitting virus in any significant way. And as fars as I know China closed schools in Beijing not the whole country. It's reasonable to expect in future response will be more localised and dealt with aggressive contact tracing and local quarantine. I know examples in another country where a class and the teacher was quarantined for 2 weeks and the rest of school continued as normal.
khalessi wrote: » Do you know what amazes me. That there is a discussion going on about the 1 hr 45 minutes time limit for pubs being discussed on another thread and that the document is unworkable. The discussion is fine but the fact that pubs got a document issued over schools!!!! Someone took the time to issue a document on pubs and we couldnt get any suggestions from the Department who have had since March to think about this. I think that is so sad. Pubs are more important than education it seems. Education is necessary pubs are entertainment and they have gotten more attention from our government. But it is ok we got soap
lulublue22 wrote: » That’s great that you are in such a position. There are many children who are not - those children are as much entitled to an education as any other child. The dep needs to issue clear guidelines which outlines procedures to be followed in relation to children and staff who may be adversely affected by covid19.
Treppen wrote: If people could stop saying that 'the risk to kids is low' that'd be great. It's about carrying the virus and transmitting it on, that's the big issue. Hence why schools were closed again in China... even though the 'risk to kids is low'.
wirelessdude01 wrote: » What country was that in?
Boggles wrote: » The Flu is "seasonal". We also have effective treatments and the occasional workable vaccine for it. Covid 19 is not the flu. It is surging in 9 states in the USA who have temperatures that will frequently hit the 30s this week. Fine weather is a blessing, because more people go outside, 18 times less likely to get infected outside apparently. The flip side of that though, is if gets too hot, it will force people inside to take advantage of air conditioning.
seamus wrote: » The government will want to organise schools in such a way that children are organised into pods with no social distancing. However the teachers' unions will not accept any solution that has not been approved by NPHET. This is the standoff. Primary schools are going to have to go back in September, into full classrooms, isolated from other classes. There is no other solution that will work. So either NPHET is going to have to explicitly endorse the "pod" concept, or teachers' unions are going to have to accept that NPHET is an advisory body who are not in charge and follow the instructions of the DoE.
mcsean2163 wrote: » Fwiw, deaths are not surging in us, possibly due to immune systems being better in the summer months. People can get the influenza virus in the summer months too.https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/ Deaths way down. IMHO, the best time to restart schools would be now. In the summer. When people are generally more healthy. Anyway, who cares about logic or facts or jobs for private sector workers or the economy.
mcsean2163 wrote: » Cases are not the same as deaths. For example, more testing will reveal more asymptomatic cases. Good to see the deaths per day declining since the April 17th peak despite the surge upward in South America.https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
Moragle wrote: » It’s a joke that there’s still no clear guidelines for schools but as I said in a previous post, September is far too far away to reopen schools. Schools need to reopen by the end of phase 4 July 20th at the very latest. I’ve massive sympathy for teachers and if they have to reopen on a phased basis so be it. I’m a community pharmacist, not only are me and my staff unable to socially distance while working, the hse didn’t even fund our ppe. From the minute the schools closed it’s been a total struggle for childcare. Unfortunately teachers may not be able to properly socially distance while teaching but guess what, nearly everyone who worked through the height of the pandemic couldn’t. Sometimes you just have to get on with things. And our kids deserve better than waiting till September for a day a week in a classroom
downthemiddle wrote: » You can say it as often as you like but schools will not be reopening until September. The function of schools is not to provide childcare.
Sanjuro wrote: » I'm as eager as most parents for our children to return to normality, or some semblence of it. Believe me, my 6 year old is really being affected by the lack of friends, structure and education. But if things are to return to normality, then September is probably the most logical time for it. The start of a regular school year. Things hopefully will run as they should and the extra time between now and then would hopefully give schools the time to put into place whatever they need to to cope with this new normality. The real problem is with the DoE. They are constantly letting schools, teachers and parents down with ambiguous information and inability to lay out a concrete plan.
Moragle wrote: » But the problem is you wait until September and it still won’t be sorted. That’s why it has to start sooner to iron out the problems
downthemiddle wrote: » Or you could put a proper plan in place for September instead of experimenting now to see what could go wrong.
Murple wrote: » Could you please explain how you would envisage a 'pod' system working in a primary school?
Murple wrote: » Thanks for clearing that up. I realise cases are not the same as deaths. Boggles said that Covid-19 was surging, not deaths. Also, it’s an unfortunate consequence that more cases often means more deaths. A surge in cases now can often result in a surge in deaths in a week or two. And in the US, they are reducing the number of tests so it will also start to look like the case numbers are declining. Optics are very important and when it is mainly minority groups that are badly affected, it’s easier to cover it up. As for asymptomatic transmission, the evidence is not conclusive on that. Any data gathered is from small studies in limited settings. It may not be true for every country. It has been proven that the Covid strain that hit Italy among others was much more aggressive than that which was found in some other countries which were less affected mortality wise.
seamus wrote: » This would tally with the data that also says that people who are asymptomatic do not spread the infection.
