Infection control doesn’t seem to be working on colds!

[justfinefornow]

I had just assumed that given all the measures we we were taking In schools etc to limit the spread of Covid - colds etc would be limited too but it feels like the infection control doesn’t seem to be working very well against colds - which loads of kids at school seem to be suffering from at the moment.
If colds are spreading freely what hope do we have that the measures we have put in place will work against Covid, especially if we are indeed in the second wave with limited testing and no effective track and trace?

[Splendidseptember]

Well my dc came down with them first week back and why not?. Wearing masks in corridors for older one, won't protect her from huge sneezes from her bubble or coughs or anything air Bourne..

Same for me I'm in large staff area, exposed to anyone coughing or sneezing...

[ScotInExile]

I agree. I'm currently enduring my third cold since the start of the year. How is the cold virus still spreading so easily yet I don't know a single person who has had the 'highly infectious' Covid?

[TheHighestSardine]

Colds are insanely infectious, rather than covid 'highly'. If they were anywhere near dangerous we'd all have been wiped out a million years ago.

[FiveGoToLidl]

I had a look at the stats this morning and there are still more people dying with flu/pneumonia on their death certificates than Covid 19

So a lot of other bugs/things circulating and doing the rounds!

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/weekending4september2020

[ElizabethMainwaring]

Schools can't control nits, so I don't fancy their chances against a global pandemic.

[ElizabethMainwaring]

Op, what are 'all the measures'?
There's no social distancing or PPE.

[justfinefornow]

@ElizabethMainwaring

Op, what are 'all the measures'?
There's no social distancing or PPE.

I’m sure you could find out what all the measures were if you needed to - I think it’s detailed in Gov.co.uk.

[ElizabethMainwaring]

I'm a teacher.
There aren't really any measures in place that can control the spread of an airborne virus.
30 plus people in a poorly ventilated room breathing all over each other for a prolonged period of time with no SD or PPE.

[justfinefornow]

Well if there aren’t any measures in place our HT has been making quite a bit of a fuss over nothing! One way systems, hand sanitizer before and end of class. Kids aren’t allowed in school unless being escorted by a teacher. Desks facing forward. 2m distance between pupils and teacher. Quarantined work to be marked. Face covering on school bus. Year bubbles. I’m sure I’ve missed a few.
It all seems like a load of effort for very little gain - colds are still circulating - so what chance against Covid when it starts circulating more freely.

[ElizabethMainwaring]

That's what I mean.
It's airborne.
Handwashing and deep cleaning is a bit of a red herring and a distraction.

[Bluewavescrashing]

I'm a teacher. The measures are there for the government to look like they have the situation in schools under control. Classrooms are far too overcrowded for them to work. Children from different bubbles share toilets and touch the taps, door locks, flushes etc all day long. We have all the measures described on this thread but it's not enough.to mitigate infection.

[ElizabethMainwaring]

Propaganda

[justfinefornow]

I agree it’s all window-dressing and the spread of colds to me proves how little impact these measures are having while simultaneously increasing workloads and costs - it all seems to be such a damaging waste of time.

[ElizabethMainwaring]

Yes, and I think that everyone knows this but just goes along with it.
The tide will turn pretty sharpish I reckon when the parents start to catch on.

[Bakeachocolatecaketoday]

@ElizabethMainwaring

Schools can't control nits, so I don't fancy their chances against a global pandemic.

It's not the schools job to control nits? It's up to the parents.

[ElizabethMainwaring]

The spread of nits happens in schools.
(Nit picking...)

[MitziK]

But nits aren't affected by the wearing of masks, are they?


And if few people are being diagnosed with Covid right now, ignoring the fact that not being able to access a test automatically means they 'don't have it', perhaps the measures are having some effect?

[ElizabethMainwaring]

Who are wearing masks in class Mitzi?

(And the nit thing was a bit of a joke. I'm trying to make a point that schools are absolute hot beds for spreading things)

[ElizabethMainwaring]

Every single secondary school near me, including my own, has at least one case that I know of.

[SimpleComforts]

Nits is a good example actually, if people took more responsibility not to take them into school......It's driving me mad, the way staff and parents are saying "what's the point of SD in our social lives when were at school with 30/300 kids?". That's exactly the point. The boat has sailed now but people could have taken more personal responsibility to get the transmission rates down before we went back, instead they decided to have big family gatherings and to hell with it because there was "no point".

[ElizabethMainwaring]

@MitziK, cases are going up! Haven't you heard?

[exLtEveDallas]

Door handles, toilets, lockers, sports eqpt. Even in bubbles, these things are shared and the Govt isn’t giving schools extra cash to pay cleaners overtime. We’ve squeezed the budget to allow midday cleaning on top, but that’s all.

[turnitonagain]

Utterly astonished that masks are not mandatory in classrooms. Science is quite clear at this point that spread from airborne droplets is the bulk of how CoV2 gets from person to person. Hand washing and alcohol gel aren’t going to stop a child with the virus breathing into the face of another. Well we can see that in practice can’t we.

[Bassarid]

I think that this is really good question and wonder why the government /scientists haven't mentioned it

[MurrayTheDemonicTalkingSkull]

@turnitonagain

Utterly astonished that masks are not mandatory in classrooms. Science is quite clear at this point that spread from airborne droplets is the bulk of how CoV2 gets from person to person. Hand washing and alcohol gel aren’t going to stop a child with the virus breathing into the face of another. Well we can see that in practice can’t we.

They’re not even mandatory in corridors. I’m in Scotland and I can count on one hand (one finger, sometimes!) the number of kids in each of my classes wearing masks when they arrive/leave. We’re told we can remind them, but nothing more forceful.