Thread by @MetroUK

Lisa Diaz faces a fine of up to £2,500 and family court action after pulling her daughter, 9, out of school during the first wave.

metro.co.uk/2021/12/06/mum…

The mum of two is adamant that she will only send her daughter back to primary school when she is double vaccinated despite the threat of legal action for poor attendance.

Lisa Diaz pulled nine-year-old Helena out of classes in March 2020 because she strongly believes government precautions for protecting children from Covid are inadequate.

Mrs Diaz said schools are ‘like petri dishes’ for the virus and she is continuing to home-school Helena, who is dyslexic, despite the threat of a fine and being taken to family court.

She also pulled her son, Alex, 12, out of his school during the first wave but sent him back around three weeks ago after he had both jabs.

Mrs Diaz, from Wigan, now faces being prosecuted by the local authority over Helena’s 20-month absence from Woodfield Primary School.

She said: ‘I am taking this stand to protect my family, including my clinically vulnerable mum, and to protect myself, as I have an underlying health issue.

There are no mitigations in schools whatsoever. Zero.'

'In primary school there is hygiene theatre [unnecessary cleaning processes including scrubbing of surfaces], which is useless, because the virus is airborne.

There’s no masks and there’s no ventilation apart from opening the windows, weather permitting.'

'In Belgium, they have introduced a rule about kids wearing masks aged 6+ yet there are big issues about masks here, which I don’t understand.

There’s no isolation of close contacts, so my daughter could be sat next to someone whose mum or dad or sibling has Covid at home.’

Mrs Diaz has followed comments from the government’s medical advisors and other official information, but believes this has not translated into a safe primary school environment.

‘Schools are like Covid petri dishes and that’s completely and utterly unacceptable,’ she said.

‘According to the Office for National Statistics, there are 80,000 children living with long Covid and we have got to get over the idea that Covid is a benign illness in children. The approach is criminal. You can’t have herd immunity without vaccines.’

Mrs Diaz has been sent a letter by Wigan Council saying Helena’s ‘poor attendance record’ could land her a fine of up to £2,500 and family court proceedings.

‘I’m hoping my daughter can be vaccinatedand, when she is, I will return her to class with a really high-grade mask.'

Helena does take part in remote learning before face-to-face education resumed and she is happy for her daughter to take part in lessons outdoors.

Every day I have been sending a synopsis of Helena’s work to the school to ask for help, but I’m ignored every single day.

She received a boost in her fight today when epidemiologist Deepti Gurdasani, of Queen Mary University of London, said on Twitter that ‘DFE policy has resulted in superspreading in schools’ and parents should not be prosecuted for removing children.

Mrs Diaz told @MetroUK she is not the only parent in England who has been threatened with court action because they have taken a child out of school over Covid arrangements.

‘My case is one of many and it’s an absolute farce.'