Those lovely people at the Daily Mail (Daily Heil) certainly think that we should:
There are one or two problems with this newspaper story. Well, there are dozens but I have to summarise to make this post readable. Let's start with the Mail's lying. The vast majority of teachers are against opening the schools at this time. Nobody thinks its a good idea. Everybody thinks its a terrible idea. The unions are doing merely what you would expect in trying to protect their members. The newspapers here heavily support our Conservative government and have seen their physical sales and advertising revenues collapse during the pandemic, so they are pro easing the lockdown.
As I've said many times, easing the lockdown before you have proper test-trace-isolate procedures puts you at risk of losing control of the virus. France has fewer cases than us and better (well... less inadequate) testing procedures and even they are having problems trying to open up.
Schools are a particular issue too. Even the limited re-opening which the government are bringing in will create massive virus spreading centres. The lower end of Primary school is due to be one of the first back. Yes, these young kids are very low risk in terms of dying but they are very high risk in terms of spreading the disease. I work as a primary school teacher myself and let me tell you that the zero chance of getting children between four and six years of age to social distance effectively. Anyone with any experience of a primary setting thinks that this is nuts, which it is.
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Let's just presume for a moment that we do send children back to school on June 1st... Yay, parents get rid of them for a few hours a day.
How is social distancing going to work in practice??? In some schools, corridors aren't wide enough for pupils to pass each other maintaining a 2m distance, even if they hug the walls.
Class sizes down to 15... half each class size - where are you going to teach the half of the class that doesn't have a room??? Even if you use halls, gyms, dining halls etc... indoor space is going to be a problem.
Alternating years... yeah, until Johnny in year one gets the virus and it spreads like wildfire - How are you going to deep clean the school everynight???
No parents on school grounds - Okay, add to the chaos already on the public footpaths outside school, not only making it harder for children to find parents but for Joe Public to go about his business too.
Second Peak... as the weather cools in the autumn, there's a chance this thing could come back again... what then???
Sick bays... not all schools even have a place for injured children to get first aid in a private setting. What happens if Rosie starts showing symptoms during lunch break??? Stick her in the corridor and infect the entire school.
No, if the government reopens schools, then it is the teachers and parents duty to not turn in and save us all from a second peak.
@HootyTheNightOwl Also, its hard enough to social distance now, when we have the key worker kids in. I do support us looking after key worker kids but it just illustrates how ridiculous it would be to opem half the school.
