AIBU to want to wear a mask again in my classroom

@EmsHugs - have you thought about a fade shield? They are clear so the pupils can see your face but will provide some protection I would think ?

I think a lot of people have simply misunderstood the hygiene theory about healthy exposure to environmental bacteria. There was an Olympic athlete who was hoping to strengthen himself for e-coli in the Seine during the triathlon by not washing his hands after going to the loo (!). That's the level of health misinformation we have reached. Now people here telling a pregnant woman she needs to catch viral illnesses while pregnant to help her baby. We're all just Donald Trump talking about drinking bleach now.

There are about 400 trillion viruses living in your body right now. That's not a joke figure. Regardless of how you behave you will be full of them and exposed just by virtue of living, but they are not all equal. Trying to avoid a potentially deadly or disabling virus like Covid by using respiratory protection doesn't mean you are living in a bubble. Also, if having Covid again and again works as protection against having Covid, why is everyone so ill all the time? I've never seen so much "summer illness" around like in the last few years.

you absolutely do not owe the parent an explanation. You have a health condition, you need to wear a mask. End of. Coming from a different country with a very different attitude to mask wearing, a teacher wearing a mask would not be a big deal at all and in fact, kids with respiratory illnesses are still being encouraged to wear masks and only recently stopped being required to at myDC school. People are a lot more tolerant of different People’s comfort levels with illness.

The parents are just being nasty. Covid has become so politicised in many countries and it sounds like they are trying to make a point. If you want to wear a mask, wear one. It is a very small adjustment at work that is probably pointless but makes you feel safer. I say this as someone who can’t help but feel slightly angry when I see someone in a mask but I also think that people should have the freedom to wear one if they want to.

Maybe take time off sick if your school is already back until you've had the injections? As you've been advised by your medical team that you have to wear a mask, it's irrelevant what a parent says and your school should be making it clear without revealing your pregnancy.

What will happen when you go on maternity leave? Will your subject not be taught until you return? Surely parents would want to avoid this so should be supporting your adaptions to stay in the role as long as possible?

Yes of course. I spend a fair bit of my working life dealing with complaints from parents and most schools seem to have one or two serial complainers who will find anything to complain about.

I'm sorry for your family's experience and I wish your grandson all the best for the future. People remember schools and nurseries being closed in the pandemic (often misremebering how long it lasted too - my eldest stopped nursery in March 2020 and was back in the building in June 2020) but what I remember from the second wave is how badly pregnant teachers were treated. The official advice was for teachers to WFH in the third trimester but as it was just advice schools didn't need to follow it and I don't know a single primary that did.

Why is it different??

OP has a right to address her own health concerns as she sees fit.

The people telling you not to mask are entitled bonkers, OP.

I'm sure if the high school students sit still and listen attentively, they'll manage.

You shouldn't be dealing with these complaints, this is now a matter for SLT. Any contact you get from this parent should just be forwarded onto your line manager and given no further thought.

It is literally not your problem.

@ArabellaScott Whether they should go back to school from a moral / scientific point of view, then absolutely not. They are still contagious and just because they feel ok, does not mean the people they pass it onto will be ok.

Politically, we have been told to to send kids back because we want their parents to be back at work as soon as possible. But this is a false economy, because the less we do to prevent the spread of the virus, the more people will go off sick. If everyone took a little bit more responsibility and stayed away from people until they’re definitely not contagious, or at the very least wore a good mask in that last day or two of infection, then the cycle would rapidly slow down. People would then not acquire as many infections and would then not pass on as many infections. But the government (and employers!) are doing nothing to help this in terms of explaining the importance of this and providing adequate sick pay etc. So we go round and round in circles…

'You may get some immunity against the specific strain you just got, but it does nothing for different types of strains or different types of viruses.'

Exposure to type A or type B flu as a child confers at least some measure of lifelong immunity.

It’s really very simple. Getting sick doesn’t prevent you getting sick (or indeed your unborn child). You may get some immunity against the specific strain you just got, but it does nothing for different types of strains or different types of viruses. Then every time you get a virus it negatively affects your immune system (because your immune system is not a “muscle” that needs repeatedly working out!). Sometimes it will only affect it little bit, but viruses like Covid absolutely batter your immune system. Hence why people who get Covid, then later get “just a cold” will suffer for much longer/in a worse way than they previously did pre-Covid infection.

Use boots dual defense spray or vicks first defense. I haven't caught anything in the two years since I started using boots dual defense daily.

The parents are the ones claiming 'anxiety' for their dear child, was that child 'anxious' by mask wearing during the pandemic? A teacher's health and well being trumps hysterical, trouble-making parents, if they don't like it then they can move their precious child.

It depends what type of mask it is.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/covid-19/covid-19-symptoms-and-what-to-do/

'What to do if you have symptoms of COVID-19

Try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people if you or your child have symptoms and either:

• have a high temperature
• do not feel well enough to go to work, school, childcare, or do your normal activities

If your child has mild symptoms such as a runny nose, sore throat or mild cough, and they feel well enough, they can go to school or childcare.'

(my bold).

So, should children go to school or not with Covid?

I think you should be allowed to wear one, and have a right to wear one. If parents complain, that’s up to the school to adjudicate - but don’t let a single parent dictate what you feel is best for your personal health. Does your school have a policy/risk assessment for staff who are pregnant?
@EmsHugs

I really feel for you, OP. Can you ask your GP/surgery to bring the immunisations forward, explain the situation?

'many parents send their children in with viruses etc with little though to other children and staff'

Many parents have been reprimanded by schools for poor attendance because their children have had repeated viruses.

But "protecting herself from covid", she is also isolating herself from all other respiratory illness.

Instead she should get the covid booster, and catch colds.

Agree with this and I notice myself now when I get sick, how a cold now will linger for so long. Others have commented on this too. A cold used to last a few days, now it's a few weeks

Your first responsibility is to do whatever you feel is necessary to protect your unborn baby.

I strongly agree. But gaining as much immunity as she can, is the best way to do this.

I would rather have a very uncomfortable pregnancy to help prevent an unwell newborn.

Yes I agree it’s one of those parents.

OP has explained to the pupil that she needs to wear a mask and they seemed to accept it. But the parent won’t let it drop apparently, though it’s not actually something they can insist on.

@Mumoftwo1316 Please stop giving such dangerous advice. No matter how much you want to pretend it is, Covid is not a cold. It’s is SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). The clue is literally in the name. In a large number of people it causes long-standing respiratory, neurological, cardiovascular and a whole load of other problems. There is absolutely no benefit to her or her baby catching it. The best thing the OP can do to protect her and her baby’s health is to not get Covid (or at least get Covid as few times as she is able to).

Wear the mask - do anything you can to minimise any risks.

My daughter was about 24 weeks pregnant (close to the last trimester) in September 2020 and did not want her daughter to return to school that September after the long time that the school was taking key worker children only. DGD had not been in school since the first school restrictions.

She was told that her daughter would be deregistered if she didn't attend.

So she felt that she had no choice but to send her in.

My daughter had Covid during the extended (three week) October half term (many school staff had Covid at this time). She was hallucinating and very ill. An ambulance was called on two occasions and both times they advised her she would be better off at home because 'she didn't want to be in hospital'.

She went into labour on a Sunday and presented herself at hospital - she was isolated (a zipped up room) and was still testing positive. She was told that she would not give birth within the next fortnight despite contractions every 7 mins (waters intact). She was sent home. She spent all night awake and in agony, knowing she was in labour (3rd child).

The next day she had her baby after her midwife was called who told her the head was crowning - he was 8 weeks early. He was born in the hospital corridor.

He has an area of brain damage which has led to seizures. He is nearly 4 years old and has the mental capacity of an 18 month old. He is affected by daily seizures and weakness afterwards. He had just started to put two words together but a large seizure earlier in the summer took his speech. His walking has deteriorated - he needs some sort of protection as he is black and blue because of falls (chipped front teeth, constant grazes and bruising). We think the seizures are causing more damage.

We don't know at this moment what caused the area of damage because no one will tell us.

We are frightened for his future.

Some time after the birth she was asked to take part in some medical research (letter) because she was covid positive during pregnancy/birth - which she refused because she was still so angry at the way she had been treated throughout the last few weeks of her pregnancy.

We are waiting for results of genetic testing - but my daughter is convinced the trauma she suffered around the time of birth is the cause of the brain damage. He was born 'floppy' and still lacks muscle tone - (he has low axial tone diagnosed, along with global development delay and other things).