Among Friends

[RetRN]

Watch the rates of suicides and drug overdoses soar. if this country doesn't reopen the schools we are in for something I don't even want to think about.  The child and adolescent behavioral health units will be overwhelmed and not have enough qualified workers to provide the care, many of them are incompetent now. Parents, prepare yourselves. Parents are going to have to step up to the plate and I fear many will not. 

[suzyQ3]

While it's true that very young children don't usually get seriously from the virus, those ten and older are almost or totally as likely as any adult to have a server case and possible long-term effects. But any age child can infect others.

The countries that reopened schools in other countries were not in the middle of a surge in the virus.

[Still Raining]

I so admire DD and SIL, but DD is hard pressed to handle a little one who now is making forts for toys to huddle in together, sometimes in the walk-in closet.  This is going to hard to get over.

[bargainsgirl]

I do think that some children will fair better than others.  A LARGE part of this is of course how they see their parents handling this pandemic.  If parents try to be positive and not fret and complain about everything then the kids will pick up on that.  This is not easy for anyone but we just have to be patient and it will end...we just don't know when. Perhaps one reason so many kids are having a hard time is because so many of them have too much on their plate to begin with.  That is what they are used to and so a lock down is more difficult for them to handle. Just a thought.

[ECBG]

@Shanus Hopefully, all of the doctors will discuss mental health of children during this time when the children have their yearly checkups!

[Shanus]

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@vsm wrote:

The harm -- social, emotional, and intellectual -- being done to kids by keeping them out of school is unconscionable.  The younger the children, the less likely they are to get the virus, or to spread it.  That's what the science tells us -- according to the CDC, the NIH, hospital intake/recovery records across the country, and the experience of schools throughout Europe and Scandinavia. Private schools of every kind in the U.S. increasingly acknowledge this, putting hard data over lockdown ideology and making needed social-distancing and health-protective adjustments for older kids and for teachers younger than 60, so that kids of all ages can learn safely and steadily.  Flexibility and accommodation are what's called for, not the one-size-fits-all mentality of the science-deniers, which cripples children even more than it does their parents.

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@vsm   I get your frustrations and points made. The big concern is asymptomatic kids bringing it home and spreading it to others at home or other kids at school. 

[Shanus]

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@RetRN wrote:

Watch the rates of suicides and drug overdoses soar. if this country doesn't reopen the schools we are in for something I don't even want to think about.  The child and adolescent behavioral health units will be overwhelmed and not have enough qualified workers to provide the care, many of them are incompetent now. Parents, prepare yourselves. Parents are going to have to step up to the plate and I fear many will not. 

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@RetRN   Included in that soaring group are healthcare workers on front lines who are exhausted and seeing too much death, people who have lost businesses and life's savings staying afloat and anyone and everyone who had depression/anxiety issues before the pandemic. Being confined and isolated isn't healthy for these people either. 

[vsm]

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@Shanus wrote:

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@vsm wrote:

The harm -- social, emotional, and intellectual -- being done to kids by keeping them out of school is unconscionable.  The younger the children, the less likely they are to get the virus, or to spread it.  That's what the science tells us -- according to the CDC, the NIH, hospital intake/recovery records across the country, and the experience of schools throughout Europe and Scandinavia. Private schools of every kind in the U.S. increasingly acknowledge this, putting hard data over lockdown ideology and making needed social-distancing and health-protective adjustments for older kids and for teachers younger than 60, so that kids of all ages can learn safely and steadily.  Flexibility and accommodation are what's called for, not the one-size-fits-all mentality of the science-deniers, which cripples children even more than it does their parents.

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@vsm   I get your frustrations and points made. The big concern is asymptomatic kids bringing it home and spreading it to others at home or other kids at school. 

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That's what I thought, too, @Shanus . But the evidence is growing that -- asymptomatic or not -- children are not the "spreaders" they were thought to be early on. That's the critical point, and the reason why there's less and less justification to keep kids isolated at home, especially when weighed against the social, emotional, and intellectual costs of doing so.

[suzyQ3]

There is no conclusive study that children under ten cannot be spreaders. I would not rely on that. And those over ten are just as likely to spread the virus as are adults.

I would maybe have a different opinion about schools opening if it occurred ONLY after a district was seeing a sharp reduction of positivity rates and hospitalizations for at least two weeks -- and a blueprint for what the schools will be doing to prevent infection. Even then, I think some kind of hybrid would be a good start rather than a full reopening.

[Isobel Archer]

We basically had a complete failure of public school online learning here since the shutdown.  As to the coming year, initially parents were given the choice between in school and online, but now teachers have weighed in with their concerns over risking their lives and so we recently got the announcement that it will be all online after all.

Special needs are "on hold" since they can't do that online.

The bright spot is that I'm seeing a surge in the neighborhood FB groups of folks offering tutoring services.  Maybe that is the future.