Evidence for parents: Schools are safe. 5 glaringly reasons why they are.

*Names have been change to protect identities 

As a father of two young children that has spent lockdown enjoying some great times, surfing on empty beaches, long walks and reduced traffic. They are now dearly missing their friends and the structured learning environment of our fine education system. As we learn a poll found that the majority of parents would not send their children back to school as soon as they reopen.

Yesterday we enjoyed a lovely day on the beach in Cornwall with our friends visibly ‘2m’ apart whilst the kids jumped about in the cold Atlantic surf – returning home that evening i was incensed whilst on the local community Facebook page to learn that someone had taken a photo and posted it on the public thread of some of our friends children, highlighting that they were not ‘understanding social distancing’ whilst in the sea. This is preposterous and even more so sinister that someone was taking photos of other peoples kids to post on social media. An ensuing spat then developed on the thread where i argued the case that children’s innocence should be protected from this fiasco and they should live their lives as normal.

Whilst maintaining the view that children shouldn’t need to enforce ‘strict social distancing’, the topic of whether it was ‘safe’ to send them back to school i once again found myself arguing with a majority of  brainwashed public. This has inspired me to post this – listing the glaringly obvious evidence why it is safe to go back and the need for them in the interests of their own well being.

1. The Royal College of Paediatricians have published evidence here (funnily enough i was challenged by *Karen Mawden on Facebook with her evidence from ‘Runners World’ when i presented this) that is overwhelming in showing the risk of infection and transmission is negligible. There was some response to this that was driven by this article from Full Fact that ironically links back to the RCPCH article – its like screaming in space sometimes.
2. An example here from Oxford Academic presents the case A SARS-CoV-2 positive child in the cluster in the French Alps that did not transmit the virus to anyone else, despite exposure to more than 100 people
3. The virus is mainly spread between adults and from adult family members to children. Percentage of infected children worldwide is also very small and contact research shows including  by WHO are that none of the children had infected other people. Link to article by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment
4. A recent literature review in The Lancet showed that, in previous epidemics, transmission in schools was very low or absent.
5. Iceland has analysed the results of coronavirus tests on 36,500 people. The tests identified 1801 cases of people suffering from the disease – and ten deaths. Each case was carefully tracked. In not a single case could the researchers find evidence of a child passing on the disease to their parents. 

If you’re worried about your child transmitting the virus back to you – or being infected yourself then you have the right to keep them from attending school but let that not be the reason for keeping the majority of children imprisoned. And until that time get them out there every day to enjoy and learn about the world and not let this fiasco spoil their wonderful minds.