While the UK Government remains entrenched in its assertions that children must be in school in the lead up to Christmas parents are left with two options;
Keep their child home from school in the lead up to Christmas.
OR
Send their child to school with a mask, visor and goggles to reduce risk.
Unfortunately, we are aware of a number of schools refusing to allow children to attend school in PPE that makes them feel safe. This practice is affecting mental health of parents and children and needs immediate review.
SARS-CoV-2 can enter the body via the eye and with so many children in classes, we feel children should wear visors in school.
The UK government makes the following Covid rcommendations:
Schools are unable, or failing, to meet these recommendations due to;
Unclear guidelines
Numbers of Children in School
Age and design of buildings.
This study from CDC looks at the presence of mucosal antibodies in the tears of COVID-19 patients.
"Although the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA and the clinical presentation of eye symptoms is well documented, the presence of a specific immune response in the eye has been poorly investigated, although this may be very important to better understand the virus pathogenesis.
Our preliminary results, obtained in 28 COVID-19 patients, showed the clear presence of mucosal IgA in the tears of COVID-19 patients with different degree of symptoms and disease stage, suggesting that deepening the investigation on IgA role in the disease may open new perspectives for SARS-CoV-2 patient treatment and that IgA detection may be used as a potential"
The results show that 35.7% of COVID-19 subjects have specific antiviral secretory antibodies in the eye. Their detection may be extremely helpful in clarifying, at this level, virus pathology and epidemiology."
Long Covid Kids are asking parents to make informed choices that protect the long term health of their children.
With so much information available, and many headteachers requesting to close their school early and take learning online, we are confused.
Why is the UK government forcing parents to send their children to school?
LongCovidKids.org is a parent and patient-led campaign & support group for parents of children with Long Covid. Our story started with a short film on long-lasting symptoms of Covid in children & we are working on The Long Covid Kids Study with PeopleWith