To be realistic, are they at any more risk than hospital workers or shop workers
Or even the childcare they're pushing the children on to
That’s exactly what they’ve done before and exactly what may happen again this week
At the moment Id say they should be allowed to return as well, once everyone in that age group as been offered a vaccine.
Why should a return to schools be linked to being offered a vaccine??? Omicron is so rampant I doubt vaccination is in anyway reducing transmission and it certainly doesn’t stop transmission. Kids have always been low risk to Covid and this new variant seems to infect the upper respiratory system not the lower.
For me the reason schools might stay closed is because there isn’t enough subs.
The qualifying part of that statement being "At the moment".
Do you foresee a situation where certs may possibly be required to attend school?
There is evidence it reduces transmission, even with omicron.
Kids are low risk but the risk isn't negligible. Id much rather the kids have their immune system primed rather than being naive to it. We have a safe vaccine approved for that age group. For the sake of a few weeks we can get them vaccinated in that time - hopefully.
Id tie that in with how rampant the virus is at the moment, the close contact situation etc, and i believe there is a strong case for delay.
Fishing expedition? 😅
I'm not a fortune teller. I would hope not. But I wouldn't count anything out. If there was a new VOC and public health deemed it beneficial i'm certainly not going to protesting in the streets against it.
Something tells me you might though 🙄
I was just asking your opinion.
Thanks for casting aspersions at me though.
Also the fact you can't get a PCR test for days now would have to be taken into consideration.
I don't think that will work. There are so many boosted people who have caught it, the vaccine simply isn't preventing transmission or people catching it. Either Omicron is mild or the vaccine is stopping people getting ill which is great.
Either way the vaccine is no use in schools right now. Assuming you convince every parent to rush in to vaccinating their child it would take two weeks for the first dose to show benefit and they would still be waiting for the second dose.
I'm very on the fence about giving it to my kids, it was approved on a study of just 2000 children, very little information has come from countries that have used it, that in itself is odd. And all current variants are mild in children. Given that it's not stopping transmission what it the benefit to the child.
That wouldn't stand up to a legal challenge
cant see schools opening when advice is to stay at home. what harm is online for 2 weeks , the peak will be over then and looking at other places cases drop like a stone after peak
What stay at home advice?? Seriously unless a school can’t get subs why are people talking about online school/closing the schools? School is more then learning maths etc. Kids have had enough of closed schools. Teachers are vaccinated and boosted if they want to be.
Could be staffing issues. Vaccinated and boosted can still get infected. Will vary from school to school but some will not open due to high number of staff Covid positive while other schools may not be affected at all. It's going to be bit ad hoc for next while.
There are teachers who haven't been vaccinated and have been in school since September. Why would that be different?
Either way it doesn't matter for the opening of schools.
If you think that vaccination isn't worth it because children only get a mild version, then there is no problem opening schools..........except if your unvaccinated child gets a serious verson.
At 2-3 days' notice that is pretty doubtful as an official policy, even if schools are half empty. It's been a core mantra of government during all of this, to keep schools open.
For some it wouldn't be a big deal and for others where working from home is not an option it's a major problem if the schools close.
As throughout their tenure, this government will defer and deflect. It will be left to individual schools to close, which of course they’ll be forced to do.
The parents will be denied their free child minding service but blame the lazy teachers, as ever.
What harm ? Not everyone can stay at home and not everyone has a minder lined up ready to hop into action on Thursday .
Kids getting a milder does has nothing to do with the vaccine it's just how it is with Covid.
The reality is though if you are sending your kids into school next week the chances are extremely high they will get infected.
Its an awful position for parents. And even more worrisome if one of them is vulnerable or interacts with the vulnerable.
Id like to see them vaccinated first. Even one dose was show to have good results with kids.
The Government could do a sort of hybrid return to school (but they won't).
I was talking to a friend who lives in the US over the Christmas break. She was reminding me of what their kids' school did last year. Parents could opt to send the kids in or keep them at home and link in via video. They had to chose for an entire period of time like half a Term ( we could do 3 or 4 weeks here). My friend and her Husband were both WFH so opted to keep the kids at home as that worked for them. Others sent the kids in. All kids in needed to wear Masks even the younger ones.
Obviously this kind of thing can't be rolled out at short notice but what really frustrates me is the all-open-as-normal or all-closed approach. No effort to try to plan out other options.
Do you really believe teachers are a child minding service?
No economy no teachers get it?
Hybrid can work for secondary but not necessarily for primary as there is a lot more than just learning at work. Here's a recent piece from WAPO about the European experience.
The closure or delay of schools reopening would be criminal at this stage. The evidence regarding tiny covid risk to kids and the harm school closures do is overwhelming at this stage. Here's even more commentary on it.
Must have a read. Thanks. It's just an option to be considered. Short term until 5-11 are vaccinated or this wave of Omicron subsides.
My friends' kids are both under-11 so in Elementary School in the US. Yes, it was hard at the time on both the kids and the Parents but they were both fine. They are both fully vaccinated now since end of November and they are back to school in-person today (and have been since September).
The only reason why schools couldn't open would be due to lack of staff. I don't see how anyone at this stage could argue for an extended closure due to safety concerns.
I think thats a great idea that would meet all needs and keep students and teachers safer - You'll find though in Ireland the authorities go out of there way to find the problems rather than seeing the benefits. Im guessing the dept of Ed and unions will quote GDPR, confidentiality, technology, wifi , lack of training etc etc as reasons not to do this. They wont see it as viable down to several easily solvable reasons.
