Despite over a year of COVID, lock-downs, and homeschooling, COVID hasn’t affected our family all that much… until this week!
I really did believe we were in the clear. COVID cases, deaths, and hospital admissions had been decreasing for weeks now, and all the while, the UK vaccination programme continued at pace, with the total now at almost half the population. However, for the last two weeks, the kids have been back at school, and our world has once again been turned upside down.
Our situation is neither myself nor my wife qualify for the vaccine yet, and as our three children aren’t in secondary-school yet, there’s no on-site testing. Result? if any of them get a COVID symptom we need to pull all three out of school and get them tested.
Doesn’t sound so bad right? Well when you consider the number of coughs and temperatures the average 4-7 year old gets on weekly basis, you’re looking at a level of education disruption that makes even homeschooling look tame (it wasn’t).
Sure, the teachers have their instructions passed down by the government, but the reality is, and we’ve learned this the hard way, is that it’s just not a sustainable solution, why?
COVID symptoms are not unique.
Children pick up similar symptoms from a lot of other harmless bugs picked up every day. Is it really worth pulling three kids out of school, the place they’re legally supposed to be at, and for which I, as a taxpayer, am subsidising, for the sake of a sniffle?
Speaking from experience, there’s already been one false alarm in the first week back and, in would you believe the following week, another, as yet diagnosed cough. So that’s 2 weeks back, and 4 days of education lost, on top of the 3 months at the beginning of the year. I’m sorry but that’s disgraceful, considering the vulnerable in our society have already been vaccinated.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a COVID denier at all, I have asthma and to be honest, I’m scared of my chances, but I can also look logically at the figures and the risks. We need balance to have any sort of a meaningful, happy, full life, and the scales, I feel, have definitely been tipped away from our children and our future.
No-one told you how horrible testing a young child really is
What nobody told you was that COVID testing really isn’t child-friendly at all. Have you ever tried sticking a swab up the nose (till you feel the resistance) and down the throat to the tonsils of a 4-year old girl for 10-15 seconds? At best it’s not a pleasant experience and at worst it’s cruel, to both the parent and child. Yet, those are the rules. Take ALL your kids out of school and take them to be tortured, at whatever inconvenience and expense it is to you or your family.
Thought you had seen the last of the nanny state? Well, it’s back with a vengeance.
When will we see a benefit from the vaccine roll-out?
As we visited the testing centre today, I also got my first glimpse of the vaccine roll-out in action. Droves of the elderly and 50+. The lucky ones. Eagerly awaiting their ticket out of this nightmare. But the reality is, nobody is getting out of this nightmare until either the government say so or there’s anarchy and revolution on the streets.
That’s right, until Boris Johnson, a proven liar, and the person responsible for getting us into this mess in the first place says so, we’re pretty much a prisoner in our own homes.
We all need to be free of restrictions, and soon!
So there you have it. Half of the country is now vaccinated, and the vulnerable and elderly, for which COVID has exponentially impacted the most, are safe. But as long as we’re in this current situation:
- Children will have their education unfairly disrupted at the parent’s inconvenience and expense.
- The taxpayer will continue to contribute the full amount, yet have restricted access to services.
- Our freedoms will be curtailed.
- Businesses will fail.
- People will lose their homes, jobs, careers, and livelihoods
- National debt will rise.
- Suicides and mental health issues will increase.
- Families and friends will be separated.
So what’s Boris Johnson’s problem? What are we waiting for?
Do we really want to live in that world?
Do we really need to live in that world anymore?
Just my opinion, but what’s your take? Drop me a comment below.