Pulling Your Kids out of School?

tryagain on 19/03/2020 - 12:18

So a number of people have decided to pull their kids out of school, one of my kids' classes only has about 50% attendance.

This is something I have given quite a lot of thought too, what is good for the country (keeping schools open and kids going) isn't necessarily what is best for my family.

The people first on the bandwagon seemed to be the paranoid overprotective types of parents, although they are likely making ill-informed decisions, that doesn't necessarily make them wrong. You only have to do some quick maths to see that with the current rate of doubling of 3 days (and the probability that the current numbers are possibly around 9 days behind actual due to the delay in symptoms, getting tested, and then getting the results back) to realise that in about a months time it looks pretty scary.

Given my families young age range and otherwise lack of current health complications, I have decided that the likelihood of it being life-threatening is very remote and I have decided that being infected early in the curve wouldn't necessarily be the worst option, but if schools do go back after the holidays, I may then keep them home. This would be to try and avoid getting it in the peak when health services are most stretched.

I understand the fear that many parents are facing, but the reality of withdrawal due to fear of getting it means you are likely going to have to keep it up for 18 months for a vaccine to be available, being predominantly housebound for a year and a half with kids isn't exactly enticing, or even feasible for that matter for many people either.

So at the moment, my kids are still going to school, I will probably reconsider if the health system collapses or when modelling shows we are nearing the peak so that in the off chance we need serious medical intervention, we are hopefully able to get it.

Over to you what are you doing and why.

Poll Options

  • 36
    I have pulled my kids out of School already.
  • 11
    I will likely do it before the School holidays.
  • 11
    No plans at the moment, but I might, depending on how things play out.
  • 89
    While the School is open, my kids are going.
  • 32
    I don't have kids.
Education & Work COVID-19

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 19/03/2020 - 12:27
    +8

    My kids still going. Learns more at school than at home and good to know there's less kids going now. Makes it safer for our little 1.

    • tryagain on 19/03/2020 - 12:33

      I suspect the chances of getting it at the moment (very small) would be similar to when herd immunity has kicked it, so my logic says if the risk is too great now, the risk will still be too great until a vaccine is available. If you had kids with underlying health issues it might be a different story, but I suspect it's fear not logic driving many decisions at the moment to withdraw.

      • iDroid on 19/03/2020 - 13:42
        +18

        That's the exact reason why this virus is spreading so fast and well.

        Remember, the main reason to not send kids to school is the exact same rationale as other social distancing. We need to slow the rate of infection.

        Even if children are not at risk (questionable), they are excellent at spreading the virus. That's what we need to stop.

        Since it's asymptomatic in many and can spread before symptoms appear we have a 6 - 14 day lag in confirmed cases (not to mention the lack of testing).

        Using analysis of the rate of increase we can know that if Australia has about 600 confirmed cases today, then we can safely assume there's already at least something like 8,000 - 10,000 unconfirmed cases in our population already (that's how this works), they'll be the confirmed cases in 14 days time. Those 10,000 are infecting others right now, really, they don't know they have it yet (or ever).

        The less we test now, the worse those number above are (ie, it could be a lot worse if we've been low on testing)

        How quickly is that 10,000 going to grow? In a month from now we will have something like 60,000 - 100,000 infected, the next 14 days after that brings us to 500k - 1M infected. This is not a story, the math is pretty simple and we're getting a clearer picture every day as we get more data.

        We need to stop thinking it's going to be different here or it's just a big panic about nothing. The more the data comes in the more we see it's not going to be good.

        Hope like hell you don't get seriously ill with any illness over the next 6 - 18 months, there may be no bed for you.

        We all need to act now, not doing so is selfish.

        This explains the situation reasonably well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSQztKXR6k0

        • bahgsy on 19/03/2020 - 16:04
          +9

          I made a handy table based on current infection rates, with an average time to detection of 9 days.

          Date Detected Infected
          12/03/2020 160 1,068
          13/03/2020 198 1,319
          14/03/2020 248 1,629
          15/03/2020 298 2,012
          16/03/2020 376 2,485
          17/03/2020 453 3,068
          18/03/2020 567 3,790
          19/03/2020 700 4,680
          20/03/2020 865 5,780
          21/03/2020 1,068 7,138
          22/03/2020 1,319 8,816
          23/03/2020 1,629 10,887
          24/03/2020 2,012 13,446
          25/03/2020 2,485 16,606
          26/03/2020 3,068 20,508
          27/03/2020 3,790 25,327
          28/03/2020 4,680 31,279
          29/03/2020 5,780 38,630
          30/03/2020 7,138 47,708
          31/03/2020 8,816 58,919
          1/04/2020 10,887 72,765
          2/04/2020 13,446 89,865
          3/04/2020 16,606 110,983
          • SlartiBartFozz on 20/03/2020 - 21:16

            @bahgsy: The rate of growth of detected cases and mortality , both inside and outside of China has been like a roller coaster, and subject to many, many factors, the largest being population movement.
            Have a look at the historical trends on:
            https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-cases/…

            There is no reason to predict this on such a linear growth rate, that's just a simplistic Holywood/media interpretation that we're being fed.

            • bahgsy on 21/03/2020 - 09:11

              @SlartiBartFozz: Don't get me wrong, real exponentials don't exist. The rate of growth will dip as soon as preventative measures start taking hold. But that's just the data at current rate of growth.

        • tryagain on 19/03/2020 - 17:58

          I think your

          we can safely assume there's already at least something like 8,000 - 10,000 unconfirmed cases in our population already

          is likely overstating it, because most of those 600 cases were imported and not community transmissions, they have therefore been quarantined and therefore community transmission has been limited. Don't get me wrong the figure today is a lot more than 600, but I haven't seen anything to suggest that is at the 8000-10,000 level yet.

          Yes, there will likely be a case for locking down schools when numbers increase (likely after the school holidays), but in reality, we don't want infections to drag out for a year or two until a vaccine is ready, we want numbers to increase, just at a rate that the health system can cope with.

          • iDroid on 19/03/2020 - 18:25
            +1

            @tryagain: It's possible you're correct.

            Community transmission is in full effect in NSW and QLD and even if I'm incorrect, it's only going to be off by a number of days (4 - 14 or so) which doesn't really change anything other than our position on that curve.

            The message I'm trying to send is the mechanism of the curve function.

            Where we are on that curve is doesn't change much. The action we take now is still the same.

          • iDroid on 19/03/2020 - 20:34
            +4

            @tryagain: They list some formal statistics here: https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavir…

            At the time of writing it shows:

            • 259 are confirmed imported cases;
            • 72 are confirmed community transmissions;
            • 206 are still under investigation; and
            • 28 are unknown source.

            So assuming the best case scenario of only 72 confirmed community transmissions, we're only 4 - 5 days behind >600 community transmissions.

            It's likely that some of the 234 unknown (investigation + unknown) are also going to be community transmissions.

            That 4 - 5 day error margin is still very optimistic since some of the 259 imported cases may have contributed to some currently unidentified community transmissions.

            Exponential growth grows from small numbers very quickly.

            Anyone not familiar with exponential growth, this video explains it in the context of coronavirus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kas0tIxDvrg

            • bahgsy on 20/03/2020 - 10:27
              +2

              @iDroid: Additionally, the government's "there has been little community transmission" messaging is super misleading, as far as I'm aware, they're still not testing people generally, only when there has been a known contact.

              I understand there is a shortage of testing kits, however to come out and say there's no community transmission when they aren't testing seems dangerous.

              • iDroid on 20/03/2020 - 11:08
                +1

                @bahgsy: Agreed, all the analysis above relies on good data, and assumes our test coverage of actual cases matches the data from other countries.

                I'm not even convinced that imported cases make much difference in terms of likelihood of community transmission. Each of these imported cases shared a closed close environment with hundreds of other passengers on their plane, their journey through the airport, their transport home, their lapsing of self quarantine/isolation, etc.

                Imported cases may have lower rate of transmission than the typical community transmission, but I'd expect this only effects that single generation of transmissions, ie, some/most of those who got it from imported cases and are not yet identified/confirmed/symptomatic are spreading just like any other community transmission.

                Officials are attempting to track known case contact, locate and test those at risk - obviously a great idea. But realistically the ability to do that is incredibly difficult without using things like mobile phone location tracking to find all that have crossed paths/surfaces. Even then it's not practical to do efficiently/effectively.

                We do have some good news of vaccines in testing, treatments that seems to be working, etc. So it may work out a lot better than the scenarios painted here (and everywhere). But I think it's prudent to hope for the best but prepare for the worst (tolerable) case.

  • SBOB on 19/03/2020 - 12:32
    +2

    Let see how many are keeping them home post school holidays …

    If shutting the schools is the solution, it's going to be shutting them for months, not just a week or 2.
    Wonder how many can keep their kids home, isolated, entertained and educated for that period of time ?

    • tryagain on 19/03/2020 - 12:36

      If they invoke it now, then yes that would be the case. They could possibly do it just as we approach the peak though to flatten it a bit more, this could potentially be for a few weeks as opposed to months though.

  • Ugly on 19/03/2020 - 12:37
    +8

    I get the feeling that those who have already pulled their kids out of school are also the most likely to have 400 toilet rolls in the garage.

    The governments decision is based on the advice of a whole system of health professionals. For those who have pulled their kids out already, I'm wondering what that decision is based on, apart from fear and panic?

    • SBOB on 19/03/2020 - 12:40
      +4

      apart from fear and panic

      Wait, we have alternatives to those two????

      • rogerm22 on 20/03/2020 - 11:00

        Of course. There is absolutely no need for either. Just live your life.

    • popsiee on 19/03/2020 - 12:42

      I need my parents to go on the supermarket special early runs to get any TP or paper towels for my household . The raw data is available for everyone to interpret and unfortunately that is my expertise . In a nutshell watch the curve . Its alarming !

    • josetann on 19/03/2020 - 12:56
      +1

      Maybe they're looking at what other countries are doing. All the schools around here (Houston, Texas) are closed for the foreseeable future. First it was through the end of the month, and now it's through at least middle of April. As in the absolute earliest they can go back is after Easter. Lots of health professionals here too. I'm not too sure just what went into the decision, I know many are upset because who are the kids staying home with if the parents are working? The grandparents, i.e. those most at risk if they catch Covid-19. Then again, with half of everything shut down (no dine-in restaurants, no movie theaters, no concerts; the most fun you can have is going to the grocery store to see if they have anything you need), lots of parents have no choice but to stay at home and watch the kids.

      Wife works at a hospital. They're ramping up some capacity specifically for Covid-19 (not her department thankfully, she's in maternity). Hopefully this talk of over a year is absolute worst-case, i.e. the virus doesn't stop spreading after the warmer weather hits (here) AND hospitals don't ramp up capacity. But if we get both of those on our side…maybe things can get back to normal in a month or two. Fingers crossed.

    • dcep on 19/03/2020 - 13:18
      +7

      The governments decision is based on the advice of a whole system of health professionals.

      Gov decisions weighted more towards economy impacts than your well-being, hence preemptive steps are slow even with examples of fallout shown by other countries

    • Diji1 on 19/03/2020 - 13:27
      +4

      The governments decision is based on the advice of a whole system of health professionals.

      What planet are you living on?

      The Government is ignoring the advice of health professionals, which is to shut down schools, because it works for business.

      And killing people is fine if it means maintaining profits as high as possible.

      • SBOB on 19/03/2020 - 13:28

        Indeed….the greens would save us though right :/

    • JimmyF on 19/03/2020 - 13:29
      +6

      The governments decision is based on the advice of a whole system of health professionals

      Who said they will have to go on leave if their kids can't go to school as they have no one to look after them.

      The Gov decisions is also based more on economy impact than anything else.

      I get the feeling that those who have already pulled their kids out of school are also the most likely to have 400 toilet rolls in the garage.

      The curve HERE is following the same path overseas, so its going to be no different here.

    • one man clan on 19/03/2020 - 13:40
      +1

      The problem is the health professionals are giving conflicting advise all over the place. Why is Brendan Murphy more knowledgeable than any other doctor? Numerous other countries have also closed schools, presumably due to their expert advice.

    • iDroid on 19/03/2020 - 13:49

      This toilet paper hording and panic buying is tainting peoples perspective.

      Ignoring the panicking, this is a serious situation, not one to leave to others to fix.

      It's all cool to be the super rationale one when you don't understand the gravity of the situation.

      How's Europe going right now?

      That's us in 2 weeks. 500 ncov-19 deaths in Italy yesterday alone.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSQztKXR6k0

      Switch those odds - imagine if we started getting 500 - 1000 lottery winners every day, I'd think my chances were getting pretty good and would want to be in that!

      I don't like anyone's chances with this sucker, lucky to be young I suppose, but lots of us don't have that privilege.

      • b0rnwithabeard on 20/03/2020 - 09:52

        important to point out though, Italy has a much older population than a lot of other countries- in fact they have the fifth oldest average age of its people in the world, so it’s kinda expected that a virus that kills older people easier is more likely to ravage that country

    • cloudy on 19/03/2020 - 14:18
      +3

      The governments decision is based on the advice of a whole system of health professionals

      And considerstoin of the economy going into recession and thus their own chances of re election.

      Think Melbourne grand prix. Won’t cancel, won’t cancel , let the Italian team in before cutting Italy off the travel list, and won’t cancel until a team pulls out due to contracting the virus, oh cancel morning of the first practice.

      Money talks. Loudly too.

  • skid on 19/03/2020 - 12:39

    Will the kids that stay at home be at a disadvantage when it comes to exam time?

    • tryagain on 19/03/2020 - 12:43

      I suspect this depends on how many stay home, if it's 10-20% then I imagine there wouldn't be too much special treatment given, if it's 80-90% then I think they might do things differently.

  • nepalesesquirrel on 19/03/2020 - 12:44
    +2

    I bet the same people withdrawing their kids from school are the same people that have been panic-buying everything too.
    There are people within out community/families that are more vulnerable of course, such as people with health issues and the elderly, but for most of us the virus itself is not a major problem. In a lot of cases a child could have it and not have any symptoms, so although not too bad for your child, but a litle concerning for those they are in contact with, such as grandparents etc.

  • scrimshaw on 19/03/2020 - 12:46

    Most of my neighbours aren't withdrawing their kids from school citing that school holidays are soon approaching but they will rethink it come the next semester.

    The school I used to work for has reported a few sick kids who need testing, but no sick staff members (yet) but there is alot of talk amongst staff members stating it's better to proactively shut the school down rather than wait for these kids to come back testing positive.

  • iampoor on 19/03/2020 - 12:57
    +3

    My kid is at home as he was coughing and sniffling, did that so that other kids wouldn't get sick.

    He has then however subsequently passed that on to me so now I am working from home as I don't want to get my colleagues sick.

    Situation is kinda sucky but hopefully more people stay at home if they are unwell instead of infecting other people.

    • tryagain on 19/03/2020 - 12:59

      Yea, with my daughters class attendance of 50%, I suspect the greater proportion of those are actually sick with a cold as opposed to just staying away out of fear.

      • iampoor on 19/03/2020 - 13:03

        If that is true it's great, that would mean your daughter isn't going to school with a class full of asshats.

        • tryagain on 19/03/2020 - 18:36

          I suspect it has a lot more to do with the teacher saying "anyone who shows any symptoms will be sent home", and some students then figuring they could conjure up a cough or two and get some time off 😆

    • jjjaar on 19/03/2020 - 13:38
      +4

      Isn’t this the practice we should have been following anyway? If you’re sick, stay away from others.

      If people have needed coronavirus to prompt them to do this, then firstly, they suck for not having done it all along and secondly let’s hope they maintain this practice for the remainder of their lives.

      (Not saying you iampoor haven’t always done this, just noting that many haven’t and it sucks)

  • [Deactivated] on 19/03/2020 - 13:42
    +3

    It's important that children go to school to learn about Darwinism, evolution and survival of the fittest to combat all these Darwin deniers about right now.

    • iDroid on 19/03/2020 - 13:51

      I just fell in love with you a little.

  • p1 ama on 19/03/2020 - 14:06
    +4

    Lots of evidence showing that there's no point taking kids out of school and that doing so will actually expose them to more risks.

    Here's a good explainer from the papers this morning: https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/why-is-the-govern…

    Story of how a school closure could seriously affect real people: https://www.theage.com.au/national/how-do-you-handle-a-pande…

    Lastly some comments from a real expert: https://www.theage.com.au/national/top-global-health-expert-…

    To summarise, the chief of the WHO's joint mission to China said he only saw very few examples of outbreaks in schools. The direct quote is: "We have no evidence schools are driving transmission. Your cases, your close contacts, that adult population, that seems to be the big driver." Takeaway point is that we should be tracing contacts of cases more aggressively (i.e. in the way Singapore has), and stop the nonsense on closing schools.

    If you want an example of a country which is doing a good job at the moment, have a look at Singapore. Schools remain open, my friends there tell me they're still going to work, but plenty of checks, penalties for breaking rules and very aggressive tracing of cases through surveillance and records. We're literally sitting around arguing over toilet paper and whether the AFL should continue like children.

    • Lurk Hartog on 20/03/2020 - 10:17

      Singapore has also just had it's highest jump in cases (47). This virus is not going anywhere. Alternating periods of lockdowns (when growth is too high), then reopening things when growth is more contained, indefinitely until a vaccine is developed seems like our future.

  • slow on 19/03/2020 - 14:25

    What about the kids' mental health if they are being kept inside?
    My kids are very active and already feeling restless and frustrated due to having all their team sport activities cancelled. They like the social aspects of school and not having that for months as well will just add to it

    • iDroid on 19/03/2020 - 14:34
      +2

      That's the thing about a potentially deadly virus pandemic. It can an inconvenience and force people to adjust to a new way of day to day life for a little while. Not a big deal in the big picture though.

      Keeping social interaction may benefit your children, but if they become infected and pass it to your parents, they may not have grandparents any more.

      I know which I'd choose.

  • [Deactivated] on 19/03/2020 - 15:07
    +2

    I went with the option "I don't have kids" . But this is only wishful thinking…
    My kids are still attending school and will attend till the bitter end.

  • dasher86 on 19/03/2020 - 16:54

    If people still think that we can keep schools open without enacting additional measures like Singapore then we are going to follow Italy's path.
    Have you ever tried to get kids to wash their hands and try to keep them from touching one another let alone far enough apart? How about getting them to cover their mouth when they sneeze?
    Bring them home now and they have less risk of catching it and passing it on.
    Keep them home.
    If they're home how are they going to get it? If they can't get it at home now are they going to pass it onto their carers?
    Even the press announcement contradicted itself.
    It could be all too late already.

    • tryagain on 19/03/2020 - 17:30
      -1

      You realise "keeping them at home" is only going to be effective if you keep it up until a vaccine is available in about a year and a half's time?

      • dasher86 on 19/03/2020 - 17:56
        +3

        No. It's about curbing the infection rate and 'flattening' the curve. The more we can slow down the transmission the better our health care system will cope.
        Somehow I don't see us building 16 hospitals in the next month. Or having enough health care professionals.

        • tryagain on 19/03/2020 - 18:15
          -2

          The cases of community transmission are still relatively small, most of the cases we have had have come from other countries. that source should have significantly dried up now. As China has experienced (if you can believe the figures) you can substantially slow the community transmissions (but unlikely stop), slowing them to a trickle with draconian lockdown measures as they have done is doable, but will cripple a country if you do it until a vaccine is available (18 months) it is likely to have severe economic repercussions. The idea of flattening the curve is still to have a curve.

          • dasher86 on 19/03/2020 - 20:53

            @tryagain: If we're not at greater than 3000 by next Friday I'll be you a beer (Corona).

            • tryagain on 19/03/2020 - 21:30

              @dasher86:

              If we're not at greater than 3000 by next Friday I'll be you a beer (Corona).

              I think your money is safe.

          • Stone Monkey on 19/03/2020 - 21:53
            +1

            @tryagain: I don't know how you can say community transmission is still small (especially in Sydney) with any confidence, when we are not testing more widely within the community. The testing criteria is still focused on overseas travelers and their contacts.

        • iDroid on 19/03/2020 - 20:44

          It's scary to think "how many respirators do Australian hospitals have access to" and compare that to the expected number needing respirators over the next few months here. Hard choices will need to be made about who gets them.

          Let's hope they're ramping up manufacture and distribution of respirators here. I'm not sure we have much manufacturing capacity here for that though.

          A vaccine will make a big difference, but I'd be foolish to bank on one soon (although testing has started, so anything is possible)

        • p1 ama on 19/03/2020 - 20:58
          +1

          It's about curbing the infection rate and 'flattening' the curve.

          Closing schools will not "flatten the curve", it will just delay whatever bad things will happen until when you open schools again. Flattening the curve involves effective quarantine of people who are spreading. Evidence says that is adults, not children.

          • dasher86 on 19/03/2020 - 21:13
            +1

            @p1 ama: Delaying is exactly what we want to do.
            That is what flattening the curve is.
            It will allow a pause, so we have time to rally
            Evidence says it's adults but this is coming from countries which have enacted other measures. Measures seen as too draconian in Australia.
            Parents are still sending sick kids to school.

            • p1 ama on 19/03/2020 - 21:21
              +1

              @dasher86:

              Delaying is exactly what we want to do. That is what flattening the curve is.

              If your plan is to close down schools without implementing the measures which you call "too draconian", you will not be able to open schools for another year. Problem with the popularisation of the quip "flatten the curve" is that most people who use it have not learned the epidemiology required to understand how we "flatten the curve" or what "flattening the curve" actually is.

              Lockdown is a "pause" button which gives you a chance to enact those further measures. When you release that pause button, you are exactly where you started. You have to use the time during the "pause" to actually do something. If you simply just close down schools, this will do very little and potentially even cause harm. Say what you want but there is research on this.

              Lockdown has to be swift - just 2 weeks of lockdown, trace all of the cases aggressively using "draconian" measures, quarantine and then open up society again. This is the Singapore model.

              See my post before:

              Lastly some comments from a real expert: https://www.theage.com.au/national/top-global-health-expert-…

              To summarise, the chief of the WHO's joint mission to China said he only saw very few examples of outbreaks in schools. The direct quote is: "We have no evidence schools are driving transmission. Your cases, your close contacts, that adult population, that seems to be the big driver." Takeaway point is that we should be tracing contacts of cases more aggressively (i.e. in the way Singapore has), and stop the nonsense on closing schools.

              • dasher86 on 19/03/2020 - 22:44

                @p1 ama: I never said I didn't want draconian measures..I'm all for it in this case, Singapore is a great example.
                I'm just saying you will need to close schools if we do not do this.

                • p1 ama on 19/03/2020 - 23:12
                  +1

                  @dasher86:

                  I'm just saying you will need to close schools if we do not do this.

                  That is a fundamental misunderstanding. You need to choose schools if you DO take the draconian measures. If you do not, then closing schools is pointless.

  • Nikovegna on 20/03/2020 - 08:13
    +1

    We’re leaving our kids in at school for the time being. The part we’re concerned about is visiting grandparents, because the last thing we want to do is pass anything onto the most vulnerable people in our family. So we’re going to be visiting at a park and in sunlight. No contact. It’ll be hard for the kids and grandparents but the kids could pick anything up from school.

  • chichi on 20/03/2020 - 09:43

    My son is still going to school. He’s always been great with the washing hands thing but I can’t say I trust the rest of the kids to be washing theirs. He travels on public transport too and our buses are gross at the best of times. Peak times the bus is jam packed with kids.

    Last weekend I saw a woman and kid wearing face masks at the shops. The kid removed his mask and coughed into the air (no covering the mouth at all) then put the mask back on. Woman didn’t say a word to him - just kept shopping.

  • Lanceswift on 20/03/2020 - 10:27

    It makes no sense to close schools unless you lock down the whole country. You (and me) are just as likely to bring a virus home to our kids, as a teacher, parent or other child are to bring it to a school. So until the government grow a pair, keep your kids in school until everyone is sent home to sit it out,

    • iDroid on 20/03/2020 - 11:23

      The whole idea is to perform social distancing holistically.

      All parts of the plan (close schools, unnecessary social gathering, gatherings of 100 or more, etc etc etc) are equally important to be effective. Which is one reason many of us are confused/perplexed that schools will remain open while implementing other hard line social distancing rules. It makes our other social distancing efforts less effective.

      Every child that stays home decreases the spread, even if just a little. Even if they are infected at home, they're not at school spreading to all other families at that school.

      It's not about stopping the spread (that would be awesome), but just to slow the spread so our medical systems can cope with the load. When they can't, people unnecessarily die and not just from coronavirus. When the hospitals are full, you really don't want to be getting any serious illness.

      This virus has the potential to effect a lot of people regardless even if not directly.

      It's we're concerned about public health, that is, people not dying or being left with chronic lung disease, then our main objective is to slow transmission and increase medical capability.

      Good video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSQztKXR6k0

  • PlasticSpaceman on 20/03/2020 - 11:36
    +2

    We've kept the kids in school for now, but are seriously considering starting school holidays a few days earlier for two reasons:
    1. Initially it was believed that younger people were not being impacted, but most recent data indicates that the young are definitely at risk (https://www.businessinsider.com.au/30-percent-us-coronavirus…). This is also likely to mean (due to their better health on average) that younger people are more likely to be asymptomatic, which is also starting to be tracked in the stats (https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2020/03/coronavirus-new…) so in other words kids currently attending school could be spreading the disease unintentionally.
    2. We have two family members who have health issues - immuno compromised/asthmatic/etc - so catching something like this puts them at a much higher risk of complications leading to needing to go to hospital. This is in addition to my father only just starting to recover from old school influenza and pneumonia contracted in hospital after a serious fall.

    I agree that for the most part we should try to continue with as many of our normal aspects of life, including school, just trying to keep being more aware of hygiene. The is however tempered with personal situation, and in our case it is starting to make more sense to try to reduce the risk of exposure. Fortunately none of our kids are in year 12, although one is doing a year 12 subject. I feel really sorry for those in Y12 as the stress of thinking about indefinite school closures will be awful.

    I am realistic though. I fully expect that we will at some time be exposed and potentially contract this disease. It is going to be virtually impossible to avoid it. With winter coming, we are also approaching peak 'flu time, combined with COVID-19 mutations (https://en.as.com/en/2020/03/17/football/1584450902_468482.h…) possibly complicating things. We simply want to delay the inevitable for as long as possible - ideally until a vaccine is available, or at least until the peak has passed and/or the hospital infrastructure has caught up with the demand.

    • skid on 20/03/2020 - 11:57
      +1

      I think starting school holidays early is a great idea and am somewhat surprised that this has not been taken up at a state level. It'll only buy a few weeks but those few weeks are critical at this point of the cycle.

      • tryagain on 20/03/2020 - 12:10

        In reality, 700odd confirmed (maybe 3000 odd actual) cases in a population of 25million is still very early days, if it's doubling every 3 days, the start of the school holidays we should still only be at about 100K cases, which is a lot, but still below what the growth rate at the peak of a flattened curve is likely to be, and well below the 10+mil who are likely to get it here.

      • PlasticSpaceman on 20/03/2020 - 17:06

        again, for us we're only considering it because some members of our family are at a higher risk than most for complications should/when we get it. It won't surprise me if the decision comes down to extend the school holidays though. I'm lucky in that I can do a lot of work from home, but the challenge for many families will be - if they haven't been laid off - how to work whilst the kids are still home….

  • andrek on 20/03/2020 - 12:23
    +2

    I am working from home. Both kids are still in school, but yesterday my son (14yo) injured his finger, pretty badly, so I decided to let him stay at home today, to make sure the bleeding doesn't resume. Its only noon and I'm already ready to kill myself. Don't know if I'll be able to work with two kids in the house.

    • andrek on 23/03/2020 - 07:14

      …. and my son’s school has been cancelled today.

  • Leo Getz on 21/03/2020 - 01:21
    -5

    500000 students attend public (government) schools in Qld, plus or minus a few.
    We can't just send them all home, for months, and expect teaching and learning to continue as normal.
    It is their right, and the law, to get an education.
    Anyone who has pulled their kids from school now is breaking the law.

    You, the parents, will need to home school your kids, you'll both be home anyway.
    Schools are unprepared and the system is unprepared to home school the entire student population.
    There are schools of distance education, but we can't just dump several hundred thousand students on them.

  • Ryanek on 22/03/2020 - 22:53

    I just hope that those that decide not to go to school, will not treat it as a holiday. They need to stay indoors.

  • fozzie on 25/03/2020 - 00:16
    Merged from Is Scomo Using The Kids and The Staff to Create Herd Immunity?

    Well after tonight it is clear to Me the he is using other people’s kids and the teachers to create herd immunity. He is keeping his kids home!!!!!

    Do you agree with me?

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8128255/Coronavirus…

    https://themorningsquire.com.au/morrisons-children-not-going…

    • tryagain on 27/03/2020 - 09:05
      -1

      Is Scomo Using The Kids and The Staff to Create Herd Immunity?

      Statistics from China showed less than 1% of cases were Children under the age of 10, so I doubt it.

  • sal78 on 27/03/2020 - 06:28
    +1

    pulled them out in monday. infections at various schools this week and students testing positive. all could have been avoided! stupid government

    • tryagain on 27/03/2020 - 08:35

      There is no avoiding it from the countries perspective, it's a case of how long it lasts for, too short and it will totally overwhelm the health service, to long and the the economy will be screwed, have a look back at the great depression to see what this would look like.

  • Euphemistic on 29/03/2020 - 11:53

    I changed my opinion since voting. Both my wife and I are still working so intended to send the kids as much as possible. Then they said schools were open, but recommended keeping kids home. Sent the kids last Monday to discuss with teachers etc about working from home but they have been home since. They will not be going back until this virus settles down and the govt start to relax the rules.

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