Chat about Novel Coronavirus - 2019-nCoV - COVID-19

Yeah, "happy" was the wrong term - shouldn't have thrown that in.

I just think it is significantly more complicated than those posts make out - like the negative aspects of lock down will be mitigated by somehow lifting it.

Imagine the negative impact on mental health if, post lockdown, you end up infecting a relative or family friend and they die.

This virus is pretty awful, so there is no alternative simple world where we open things up, go back to relative normality and only some old people die. I think it is a lot more complicated than that.

damage the long-term wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of children.

Missing a couple of weeks of school is going to have fuck all effect on even 1 kid.
Even assuming this term is completely out and they manage to not do anything at home it will have minimal impact. Those due GCSE/A levels aren't having them. Those not taking significant exams miss 10 weeks or so of their school career. Big deal. They've probably kicked off their tiktok career in the meantime.

Missing a couple of weeks of school is going to have fuck all effect on even 1 kid.

Being stuck indoors with their mum and dad 24/7....eh jury is out

They've probably kicked off their tiktok career in the meantime.

Ha!

lol this is a pretty cavalier attitude to children's mental health. Young people are already struggling with anxiety and other mental health issues on a massive scale, I doubt the message of 'you can't go out and see people otherwise Granny and Grandad might snuff it' is going to help with that particularly.

There's also a developmental concern here. Not being able to see other kids for...who knows how long lockdown will last, let's say 6 months...for a 4 year old that's half a year (or 12.5% of their life so far) of missing out on crucial social development, interacting with other children and adults.

rep

+1 on the anxiety front. Also, lack of exercise, lack of extracurricular activities, lack of socialising, lack of outings with family for treats/celebrations, not being able to see friends or extended family, not being able to go more than a few miles let alone away on holiday etc. etc.

This isn't just about losing a couple of weeks of school. It's a massive life change that children will likely remember and will be affected by even if they don't.

The number of counselling sessions Childline undertook went up by 30 times in the first week of lockdown compared to the fortnight before. This is brutal and terrifying for many kids, and for many reasons.

Zoom calls with classmates/friends/family are seeing us through most of it, but the biggest thing missing is for our 10yo to be able to get away from us. There's now no time she spends without one or both of us around her. Sure she gets space within the flat, she can watch telly or sit/play/read in her room, but that's different from being at school where she gets away from us for 6-7 hours, or a playdate or sleepover with a friend. My wife or I can go on a walk on our own, she can't really.

I dunno, I spent a month of my schooling in QLD for Expo 88 and I still remember that month in a positive light compared to the other 19-odd years of schooling.

Looking at the neighbours kids (settle down pedos) this seems like quite the novelty.

no time she spends without one or both of us around her

10yo's aren't allowed out by themselves these days?

Is that domestic abuse helpline? Reports of spousal abuse going up ties in with that. No work, no school = no place to get away from the arsehole abuser.

My 4 year old starts school in September, and pre-school\childminder were really ramping up with preparations for this, she is naturally pretty shy, so I do worry about her going into her shell and starting school being a real shock for her.

^ Has she got any nursery mates going?

Sure fine btw. :o)

annoyingly we are on the boundary of two primary schools, and she is the only one of her nursery group who got into the "better" school. We do have one friend who used to go to the same childminders, so we are doing video calls and messages with her as much as possible.

My second starts in September all being well too. 😎

Bricked it with the first but they soon make buddies.

Looking at the neighbours kids (settle down pedos) this seems like quite the novelty

Kids in our cul-de-sac are all playing together in the green in the middle.

Their parents are chatting at a 2m distance. Not sure they understand.

Yeah, "happy" was the wrong term - shouldn't have thrown that in.

I wasn't being deliberately narky about that, but I think it's a interesting example of how our thinking about this can be shaped by our (completely normal) emotional response to really hard choices.

I just think it is significantly more complicated than those posts make out - like the negative aspects of lock down will be mitigated by somehow lifting it.

Well at one level... of course they will? If lockdown has negative affects and we lift it, then those negative effects cease (or at least cease accumulating). There will be other consequences, but the effects of lockdown can be removed by removing the lockdown.

Imagine the negative impact on mental health if, post lockdown, you end up infecting a relative or family friend and they die.
This virus is pretty awful, so there is no alternative simple world where we open things up, go back to relative normality and only some old people die. I think it is a lot more complicated than that.

It is a hugely complicated situation and there is a lot of work going on to understand the social, medical and psychological ramifications. Things won't be quite the same again, but I think there will be a relative return to normality with Covid-19 as an endemic disease (like flu) with a vaccination against it. The question is, how do we get there with minimum damage overall.

^ Genuinely thought I had done this through my kid.

Had my Mum giving me temps via whatsapp every morning for a month.

Those (with the exception of HK) were the other countries mentioned.

Singapore managed to introduce some airport filtering of possible cases early in the year. The UK never even managed a poor version of that, so it’s relative.

I suggest Singapore’s two months lockdown and likely double digit deaths suggest better coping with the virus than months more warning, two months lockdown and five digit deaths.

That’s looking in from outside though, so I’ll defer to your judgment.

Domestic abuse is one part of it, kids can call with any problems they may have - bullying, loneliness, family breakup, as well as the core issues of negligence, violence, sexual, verbal and mental abuse.

Just imagining what it’s like for a child to be locked in with an abuser without the usual interactions with other trusted adults is horrible. And that’s before you take into account the families who were barely functional before this, and the impacts of claustrophobia, fear, boredom, poverty, insecurity, alcohol etc and so on. This is a heartbreakingly shit time for so many children - so much lasting damage will be done.

Deaths by age group - maybe some of you guys should look at the FACTS. About 1% of them are the <50's. Which are just normal seasonal (endemic) flu figures. Here is the data from Italy.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1106372/coronavirus-death-rate-by-age-group-italy/

Keeping the >50's and other high risk groups in lockdown would work.

10yo's aren't allowed out by themselves these days?

She could but there's nowhere really for her to go. It would just be for an aimless walk and she can do that kind of thing when we're all out on a walk.

She used to walk to her tennis lesson and back, or go to the playground a few hundred meters away but none of that is possible now as it's all shut.

Those (with the exception of HK) were the other countries mentioned.

Singapore managed to introduce some airport filtering of possible cases early in the year. The UK never even managed a poor version of that, so it’s relative.

I suggest Singapore’s two months lockdown and likely double digit deaths suggest better coping with the virus than months more warning, two months lockdown and five digit deaths.

That’s looking in from outside though, so I’ll defer to your judgment.

From what I've read about the migrant workers of Singapore there's a nasty spike coming down the track for the country.

Running down to the postbox to post letters to family is a good little independent journey we've found.