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Schools good news

44 replies

bigbumbiggerheart · 30/09/2020 17:17

Brilliant that Chris Whitby has just confirmed covid infections NOT going up in children anywhere in the country despite schools being back.

OP posts:
Echobelly · 30/09/2020 19:02

Let's hope - I haven't heard of any cases in kids in either of my kids' schools yet, and out area is supposed to have a relatively high level of infection. It does seem that primary schools should have low levels, I'm less sure about secondary. DD's secondary is split over two sites Y7-9 and 11-13 so that might help contain things as well.

VillageGreenTree · 30/09/2020 19:19

Well done to all the teachers, TAs, school cleaners, office staff, canteen staff etc for all the amazing hard work you have put in to make schools as safe as possible.

ASchuylerSister · 30/09/2020 19:24

I wonder if a lot of kids aren’t getting tested as their symptoms aren’t typical of Covid so we don’t have a true figure of how many school kids have it.

Where I work we’ve got a lot of family members of our students who have tested positive or have the classic symptoms but can’t get a test and our students who live with them either have no symptoms or just a sore throat/bad stomach so aren’t eligible for a test.

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GameSetMatch · 30/09/2020 19:27

I don’t trust any of those Sats, they are all manipulated to get the messages they want across. Is it really that there’s no movement in child covid positives or is it that parents can’t get tests or can’t be bothered to move sick children to get a test or do parents not want their child to do a test. I’d take all those graphs with a pinch of salt.

WalesAppearsToBeSlightlySaner · 30/09/2020 19:32

It's great news and there is no reason to believe children are less tested than anyone else, in fact colds associated with schools opening caused the testing system to collapse.

FluffyPJs · 30/09/2020 19:34

Neither the school I work in (primary) or my sons school (secondary) have had any positive cases. My class has had 99-100% attendance so far this term, and so have most of the rest of the classes in my school. All staff are in school.

SummerHouse · 30/09/2020 19:35

I had a negative test for DS. I don't know anyone who would voluntarily put the whole family in isolation for 14 days rather than get a test.

Oki215 · 30/09/2020 19:50

Hi. Just want to say the data was very misleading. The first graphs showed that people in the age range of students in secondary school had moved from one of the lowest positive test results to the 3rd highest. This was not broken down by age. The graphs you are referring to only referenced the percentage of positive test results in each individual age group. It did not reference how the number of people getting tests taken in that age range had changed. So if 100 people in the 11to 16 age group where taking the test prior to September and 6% where positive test results then that would only be 6 people. If it is now 1000 people in that age range taking tests it is now 60 people. The numbers where left out. There were no actual figures supplied so the graphs are meaningless

lljkk · 30/09/2020 20:07

News has yet to reach outside world that the A11 is finally fully dual thru Elveden.

Schools good news
lljkk · 30/09/2020 20:08

oops... wrong thread, haha Blush

AutumnleavesturntoGold · 30/09/2020 20:21

I don't want to sound pesmistic or doom mongering but it's been warm and sunny, dc able to get outside.
However people have been ill with sorts and no testing available.
I think we will have a clear idea by October half term, colder, Windows closing, beak times inside..

helpfulperson · 30/09/2020 20:27

In Scotland we have been back at schools 7 weeks and under 12 haven't distanced for about three months. There is no evidence of much transmission in schools. Something is different with children. We don't understand what but there is definitely something.

PollyPelargonium52 · 30/09/2020 20:46

I thought they would be fine all along.

Rockbird · 30/09/2020 20:49

Two cases in DD1's secondary school but none in DD2's primary or the primary that I work at. Fingers crossed it continues like that!

Delatron · 30/09/2020 20:56

It’s great to hear some positive news about schools. And adds to the evidence regarding children.

tempnamechange98765 · 30/09/2020 21:13

Thank god there does appear to be something different in small children eh. I haven't hugged another adult other than DH since March, including my parents who I am close to and my sister who gave birth recently.

But the fact that my DPs have been able to hug their DGC and hold their brand new DHC too genuinely warms my heart.

tempnamechange98765 · 30/09/2020 21:14

(And before the COVID police pipe up, I'm in Wales where we had extended household measures as well as no requirement for under 11's to social distance.

funandgammon · 30/09/2020 21:20

Hmm...

Schools good news
psychomath · 30/09/2020 21:29

The first graphs showed that people in the age range of students in secondary school had moved from one of the lowest positive test results to the 3rd highest. This was not broken down by age. The graphs you are referring to only referenced the percentage of positive test results in each individual age group. It did not reference how the number of people getting tests taken in that age range had changed.

You need to take both sets of data into account here. The first graphs show that the total number of positive cases has increased among people of all ages since the start of September, but it's increased slightly more among people in the 10-19 age range than among people of other ages. (Unhelpfully, that group also includes most freshers, which muddies the schools data somewhat.) That suggests that more people in that age bracket are currently testing positive compared with people in other age brackets.

The second graphs show that the proportion of tests coming back positive have been relatively stable since the start of September for both primary and secondary age children, while in other age groups the proportion of tests coming back positive has increased. This suggests that more tests are being carried out on school age children than other age groups (which makes sense because every child with a slight cough is more or less forced to get tested or stay home for ten days), which accounts for some of the increase in positive results.

Ultimately neither set of data tells the whole story. You can't just look at the first graphs and say that the infection rate is increasing fastest among teenagers, because teenagers are also being tested more than other age groups, which will lead to more cases getting picked up. On the other hand, you can't look at the stable percentage of tests coming back positive and say that infection rates aren't increasing in children, because the total number of tests is increasing, so a stable percentage of positive tests still means an increase in absolute numbers.

On the whole though, I'd say the data supports the idea that so far teenagers aren't getting infected at a significantly higher rate than the rest of the population. And considering the total lack of social distancing at the school where I work (despite our best efforts), and assuming that's the case in schools across the country, I think that does suggest that school-aged children are less likely to spread the virus - at least amongst themselves - than people of other ages.

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