School Closures and how Self Isolation will affect our ability to take on Child Care

[Blearyeyed]

I have been asked to post this information that I included on the Covid 19 thread earlier today by the Moderators because it may help you with some hard choices to come.

The UK Governments have announced that all schools will be closing from Friday.

They will not reopen until after the Easter Break and then plans to reopen will depend on the progress of the Covid Outbreak.

It is likely that other Countries will need to make similar decisions in time too.

Teachers and School Staff are also often Carers of High Risk People or have underlying Health Conditions themselves , some are in the older age group and this requires Self Isolation.

I know these decisions are not being taken lightly.

For members on the Forum this may cause some uncomfortable decisions in the future and it is better to be prepared to do this now.

The decision I am talking about is wether you can take on Child Care Provision for your Children/ Grandchildren.

Unfortunately, if you are in a High Risk group or Care for someone in these groups because of Age , Medication or any Underlying Health Conditions your answer to this request should be No.

There are three very good reasons for this advice and difficult choice :

1. If you require Self Isolation, Govt. Guidelines recommend that you avoid leaving your home or having visitors , including Close Family or Friends except for essential visits and Health Care.

The reason for this is obvious. If the people entering your Home are not Self Isolating themselves , no matter how careful they are being to socially distance in public, you cannot be sure if they are carrying Covid 19 , even if at the present time they are showing no obvious signs of cold or fever. Children under 17 are also more likely to be asymptomatic or show no symptoms than other age groups , but, even if they do not develop outward symptoms they can still carry it and infect others.

2. Even if Family Members , including Children, are only suffering from other diagnosed infections , catching another infection of any sort during this time will make you more at risk of catching further illnesses , including Covid19 if you come into contact with it. This is because fighting off any Disease will affect your Immune System and ability to fight another infection.

3. If it is not your usual job to provide regular Child Care / Babysitting , or, if you do provide help but the amount of this increases , it can have an effect on your existing Health Conditions , or those in your House that you Care for, and additional Stress , Pain and other problems . These things will cause a reduction in your General Health which in turn will make it harder for you to recover if you get an infection , including Covid 19. It will also be difficult to get urgent Healthcare or you may not be able to , or wish to , visit a GP Surgery right now to get extra Medical Advice and Treatment. Therefore , trying to protect yourself from Flares , additional symptoms or injuries is even more important than ever , and more considerate .

At the end of the day, it is your decision, but thinking about your course of action now is very important. Both , to help your Children have time to make alternative long term Childcare arrangements , and , to prevent the Stress of having to make these choices affecting your Health and those you care for. Being open and honest early on will make things easier for everybody in the long run.

I know it will be incredibly hard to take these decisions , especially as it goes against our Caring and Giving Nature's , but these are unusual times , and until Covid Protection is no longer required by so many of Us it is more important than ever to adapt ourselves and get understanding from our families about the difficult choices we are forced to make.

Take Care , keep positive xxx

[PMRpro Ambassador]

I have decided to leave replying on for now - it is a difficult and pertinent topic so I think merits a thread of its own as the Thread of the Day will be switched off tonight. I've edited your post to that effect!

[Blearyeyed in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks Pro..... Your right people will want to discuss it , or might want more advice .

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Blearyeyed]

My thoughts exactly

[Constance13 in reply to PMRpro]

My daughter has just telephoned us and said "we don't know what to do!! We feel we ought to come round but....."!

We just assured her she should keep away. We will inform her if we are in need.

[Blearyeyed in reply to Constance13]

Exactly , I think if all but our main help givers realise we understand that we need to reduce visits too the Stress of feeling guilty about Self Isolation will be relieved for us all and make this situation a lot easier to bear.

[Joanbill13 in reply to Constance13]

Exactly the same for us. Can you believe this is really happening

[Constance13 in reply to Joanbill13]

None of us have ever experienced anything like this. There were similarities in the war, food shortages, stockpiling, etc etc.

The enemy from the sky was bombs, this time it's if anyone sneezes over you.

What a mad, mad world we live in!!

[Blearyeyed]

It would be good to know that your Son could protect himself too though , people don't realise that young people with underlying health issues are in equal need to properly Self Isolate and it would help them all if people would make this easier for them to do by limiting their visits or need for visits in the next few weeks .

[Constance13]

Grrrrr! It makes you wonder that some people think they are "different"!!!

[PMRCanada]

I am the only relative close my son and his partner who have 2 boys and are expecting preemie twins anytime (she is only 28 weeks today). Schools are closed here for 3 weeks, and so far we’ve kept our distance with no visits.

When she does go into labour I’ll be called upon to watch the boys for who knows how long. I’m thinking of asking her mother, who is currently not working in retail as the store has temporarily closed, to consider bringing her 14 year old to the house to take over ASAP when she is on her way driving to the hospital (she lives an hour away in the other direction).

It is difficult because they will certainly need me, at the very least in the short term, and I have already agreed to be on call. This posting encourages me to have a further conversation to minimize my time there.

I feel for those having to make such decisions.

While all this Covid 19 stuff is going on, life is still chugging along, babies are being born, people are dealing with fatal illness/dying, etc. Even our step dad who had a CT scan that revealed a significant mass in his head, had his first appointment with his neurosurgeon cancelled. Geez, sure hope he sees his urologist next week at an out patient appointment as almost certain it’s cancer and he is to be sent for bone scan to check if it’s spread.

[Blearyeyed in reply to PMRCanada]

Yes it's cancelled appointments for existing health problems that could need urgent treatment that are of serious concern. I'm shocked that something like that was still cancelled.

I assume your DIL will also be self isolating at the moment , pregnant women in the UK are getting the same advice , but that must be virtually impossible to do with young children.

It sounds like a good idea to have the other Mother on call to take over the childcare responsibilities while your DIL is in Labour and needs assistance afterwards , especially if she is off work herself and has the time to do it.

Perhaps , the other children can go to stay with the other grandmother for a few weeks to make child care easier to do , as long as they consider what social contact they have outside the house during that time , and still allow everyone to have self isolation protection they need.

Is your Step Dad staying with you to help making caring for him easier and prevent the need for home visits?

[PMRCanada in reply to Blearyeyed]

Our step dad lives with us full time. He’s the type to ignore health issues, so he was fine with this cancellation. Fingers crossed the urologist appt remains.

The childcare issue is tricky as the other grandmother lives an hour away (1.5 hours from hospital). DIL wants her mom around when she goes into labour, and her mom wants to be there too. The babies will remain in NICU aftetwards, but my son is already on family support leave as she was already in hospital for 8 days due to being high risk. So he can travel back and forth (1/2 hour) as need be to watch the boys too until she gets home.

DIL has a 14 yr old brother who is off school for 3 weeks as well, so he will also be a big help. We are trying to create a support plan together as a family. I can’t help but feel for others who don’t have the same support options.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Should be no excuses "I didn't have time to revise" this year

[Blearyeyed in reply to PMRpro]

They haven't actually finished teaching the full course curriculum which is the problem , even dedicated students grades would be hit by taking the exams at a usual time.

They have set online class assignments in place but this can still cause some difficulties if the pupil is struggling with a new subject. I think it's a wise step and will remove a lot of Stress for Teachers and Pupils alike.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Blearyeyed]

No, everyone is in it together now- all in the same boat.

[Blearyeyed]

This will be a relief for many and was a good step to take to help grandparents and people in essential services.

My husband will find it a great relief for his pupils as he was concerned about how the change in teaching would affect his students results.

[Hidden]

It seems likely that schools will be closed for some time. Wee Nicky Sturgeon has already stated that Scottish schools may not open again until after the summer. It seems unlikely that things will improve significantly in the next couple of weeks, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the situation for elsewhere.

So, if anyone is considering offering childcare, they may want to consider that it’s not going to be just a couple of weeks. And they may then be forced to withdrawing their help later, which is probably even more difficult. A caring and responsible family shouldn’t make the request; the onus is on them to look after the children.

[Blearyeyed in reply to Hidden]

You are absolutely right , this isn't like the usual do a few weeks in exceptional circumstances or a school holiday it will last for at least a month.

It would be a big strain on most people with underlying health issues to take on this responsibility regularly even if we believe we could manage it.

Our symptoms with PMR/ GCA at any point in our illness can cause Flares , Stiffness and Fatigue with little notice . One day we could be fine but after being run ragged , even if children are well behaved , the next day we could feel like we can hardly stand.

It's not reasonable for people to request regular , day long , Childcare from Us , but also , they need to have Childcare organised daily that may not have to be cancelled at the last minute because of illness by Us.

I'm glad the the Govt. made the request that Grandparents aren't asked to take on Childcare from the beginning. They know this would probably cause more non Covid cases in Hospitals as well as more at risk people getting infected when it could have been avoided.

[Highlandtiger in reply to Hidden]

Yes the First Minister did say that and I think that she was trying to be realistic and manage people’s expectations in so far as anyone can just now. Please bear in mind that the Scottish school holidays start (and finish) a month before the rest of the UK. But yes, it’s for the long haul....

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Highlandtiger]

And that is what they are now saying in the press conference from London. Some restrictions will be needed for anything up to a year to avoid the bounce-back reinfection which would be expected if they were lifted.

[Blearyeyed in reply to Highlandtiger]

The plans for absolutely everything are ongoing .

Most Govts have action plans in place for welk into the future , they are obviously conscious of the effect that stating plans like these may be required in the Public Arena can cause yet more Anxiety and Panic.

In the old days , before 24 hour news and discussion online it was much easier for them to take and prepare emergency measures without having to explain it every day to the tiniest detail .

They realise that to help people to act more responsibly in general and to stop greater pressure on the Health Services from people becoming ill from Stress or Injury by doing things that put them at risk they must be far more careful about announcing action plans closer to the time it actually needs to be done.

The only reason that much news and change rapidly happened in the last day was that they realised that the " hint" to high risk people to self isolate and the " hint" for people to properly socially distance wasn't being taken by the people who really should have been doing it. Plus , they finally realised by seeing who works in Schools etc. just how many people have Chronic Conditions or look after them , most people in these categories don't usually show up in the statistics. More than 50% of Teachers and Staff at my OHs School were in these categories.

[Highlandtiger in reply to Blearyeyed]

Yes I have friends who are teachers and the situation had become unmanageable with so many off (following government advice). It was inevitable that this would happen eventually....just a matter of time.