Government working on plan B for schools.

[itsgettingweird]

Finally!

Why it didn't occur to them back in March rather than 2 weeks before term started I don't know.

Maybe it's been forced because no one has fallen for their lies and blaming teachers and unions.

apple.news/Ajr8j038FRi6pZvHUWDdZbA

There are lots and lots of people, like my DH, have been out working with the general public for the last six months without masks and haven't caught anything. We have also been to the supermarket and out and about without masks and are still alive and well to tell the tale.

@Fatted

There are lots and lots of people, like my DH, have been out working with the general public for the last six months without masks and haven't caught anything. We have also been to the supermarket and out and about without masks and are still alive and well to tell the tale.

God, have a think about it, would you? Do any of those jobs or a.visit to the supermarket involve spending an entire day with 30 people in a small space.with no social distancing and little ventilation?

Ffs.

I think wearing masks in communal areas of secondary schools is a good thing. Children have used them in shops and on public transport so they will adapt to this change. It’s not as if they will need to wear them in the classroom all day, just when moving around the school site. The schools will include mask hygiene when teaching students about good hand hygiene.

Masks stop some particles, sometimes, depending on the mask, from reaching other people. A mask will catch some aerosols in a cough or sneeze.
IN a group of 30, I think that's OK.

Ok. So for those who are scoffing at teaching being a higher viral load job, you need to firstly have a memory (as the government have backtracked and whitewashed over lots of data and articles linked to this when they wanted to reopen schools) and ensure that you have all facts to hand.

In the link I'm going to add in, it clearly states that the primary school teaching staff exposure is around 50 with, clearly, medical workers such as nurses having a far higher exposure rate of 80/90. So from that information one could say that teachers need not worry.

But when you then look at the rest of the data and notice that other professions/jobs that have far far less viral exposure are being 'allowed' to wear masks (and in most cases, being expected to) you can then see how disgusting and questionable it is that teachers have up until this point effectively been banned from wearing a mask.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/dvc806/occupationsexposureetodiseaseedata.xls

For any primary teacher in here, you have the right to wear one. The unions state that we have the right too and this is backed further by the HSE that states that all employers should support an individual employees decision to wear a mask. This overrides any DFE advice as this is employment rights and all you have to do is put it in writing to your Head that you will be wearing a mask. Any Head that puts in writing back stating that you can't is on very very tricky legal ground as, if you then go on to catch COVID-19 at work this would be their fault as they did not allow you protection.

I'm so fed up of it being painted as a vocation where teachers should go above and beyond, etc etc. Nope. It's a JOB.*

I’m not a teacher but I’m going to frame that to keep on my desk, so much shit we are expected to put up with to meet “objectives” during a pandemic, even when the objectives are unrealistic, undeliverable and plain down risky to everyone participating.

@Fatted

There are lots and lots of people, like my DH, have been out working with the general public for the last six months without masks and haven't caught anything. We have also been to the supermarket and out and about without masks and are still alive and well to tell the tale.

And there are lots of people who have...

It's like the analogy of 'oh, I never wore a seatbelt and I never got hurt'

Or.

'I had a drink and drove. Never hit anyone'

They need to be wear something in the classroom. They will be in it for hours.

Open windows and masks,some of the time and visors.

@GetThatHelmetOn

I'm so fed up of it being painted as a vocation where teachers should go above and beyond, etc etc. Nope. It's a JOB.*

I’m not a teacher but I’m going to frame that to keep on my desk, so much shit we are expected to put up with to meet “objectives” during a pandemic, even when the objectives are unrealistic, undeliverable and plain down risky to everyone participating.

Thank you! I'm just so sick and tired of all the rhetoric and bullshit designed to bully people into unsafe working conditions. When schools we're reopening the amount of martyrdom-esque posts/posters/literature that the government put out was shocking. It was that teachers should go out there on the front line and do their duty like other keyworker a (but with no PPE - even though all other key workers with higher viral load environments could wear it). Disgusting!

If teaching is so safe, why have the government prepared this documentation all about what to do when a colleague dies from COVID-19? Do other professions apart from medical ones have this? I highly doubt it...

www.gov.uk/guidance/steps-to-take-following-the-death-of-a-colleague-in-childrens-services

People need to read/research more.
This is very scary stuff.

I work in infants so no sd and no masks. This weekend i developed a new and persistent cough. Test results weren't back till today so had a day of absence. Now, im not sure kids spread covid in tge way they spread other things, but the fact is thst without a test it's incredibly hard to tell why you have a fever, loss of sense of taste or smell or a cough and covid has a myriad of cold type symptoms associated. That's a lot of staff absent for tests to be on the safe side. Surely a mask to reduce cold and flu bugs spreading, minimising that amongst staff and therefore minimising absence is generally beneficial to children /teens?

@Fatted

There are lots and lots of people, like my DH, have been out working with the general public for the last six months without masks and haven't caught anything. We have also been to the supermarket and out and about without masks and are still alive and well to tell the tale.

Oh wowsers!

1. how do you know you weren't asymptomatic?
2. I haven't been in a car accident, doesn't mean I don't understand they are to be avoided.

The absurdity and abject selfishness of the mindset of the 'I've been out to places and I'm fine' brigade never cease to astound me.

You can be a symptomatic.
You can then pass it on to someone else and it could kill them.

Let's repeat that

IT COULD KILL THEM.

So, you're alllllll fine so you go and see your grandma, or your mate who has underlying health conditions and they get sick. Very sick.

But, hey - you were fine...

So within the context of teaching. The emphasis from the government has squarely been placed on how little children suffer from COVID-19.

What about the teaching staff who can be infected by the children?
Studies are showing that children shed higher viral loads (most recent, I believe is a Yale study)

Lots of teachers are clinically or extremely clinically vulnerable yet they're not allowed masks.

Apologies to pedants for the typos. Same phone but an update has slightly skewed my keyboard and it's equally infuriating to me!

@Artykitty666

Apologies to pedants for the typos. Same phone but an update has slightly skewed my keyboard and it's equally infuriating to me!

Hope you're feeling better x

Why can’t teachers where those head masks you see hairdressers etc wearing. The clear ones? That way people can lip read. In fact why aren’t they more popular in general?

Mainly it's because they're a bit crap. They need to be work with a mask to be effective

@Carycy

Why can’t teachers where those head masks you see hairdressers etc wearing. The clear ones? That way people can lip read. In fact why aren’t they more popular in general?

Are you on about visors? They do sweet Fuck all without a mask also. They offer protection for your eyes from Covid

@Carycy because they do nothing! Masks do very little but visors do even less!

It’s completely pointless. I hate it
On off on off thrown about , germ spreading
No use whatsoever it’s all just to appease people who want to ‘ do something’
Visors do bugger all Too

I work in education. I’ll be wearing a mask. My employer says it’s my decision. The children will cope I’m sure.

You can't teach in a mask
They hire teachers who wear a burka. So if you can teach in a burka, you can teach in a mask. Unless you are saying you can’t teach in a burka, which I believe is religious discrimination.

underneaththeash

You cannot teach wearing a mask

And yet so many teachers in so many other countries do.

To paraphrase that saying 'if you don't like it resign'

If you don't like it home school.

You can teach in a mask. I’ve been doing it for two weeks in Scotland. My pupils seem to be coping perfectly well with it. Not going to lie, taking it off is a relief but it’s perfectly bearable.