Or have they just not got a clue

[Yolo2]

Jenny Harries today at the Government press briefing suggested that pencil cases will be banned at schools in case children share their contents, but lunch boxes will be allowed as she could "almost guarantee" that a child would not share their lunch with anyone sitting 2 metres away. What a load of utter nonsense. Is that based on any science whatsoever? If the Government are following the science, and this is the sort of dross the science is coming up with, we should worry!! How can a child not borrow a pencil but we can order takeaway food to our homes? How can the Deputy Chief Medical Officer "almost guarantee" that kids won't share their lunches. I'm afraid her medical training doesn't qualify her to have a better idea of the likelihood of kids sharing lunches than the average man on the street

So now we know pencils transmit Coronavirus (!) can we ever be safe using the supermarket? I handle my products, pass them to the cashier, who handles them, after touching all the products handled by every customer before me. (I understand some people have taken to bleaching their shopping but come on ) But shared pencils - prohibited. If kids can be trusted to not go near each other (?), can't they be trusted not to lend pencils?

We are in danger of utter madness invading every aspect of life. Social distancing, yes. Ridiculous rules from government on pencil cases etc. is quite another and is making things seem ludicrous.

I'm guessing the parents of four and five year olds are under Forty, so are less likely to die if the kids pass it on. This can be the only science, to try and increase herd immunity. So are you saying the govt and scientists are lying to teachers about how safe they are as children don't infect others? Are they just treating teachers as canon fodder as they have with care home staff. Gosh I wonder why the unions aren't happy.

I’m a teacher and think all these letters from schools are disgusting trying to put parents off returning their children to school.

They don't need a letter to do that, social media is full of parents refusing to send children back. The scaremongering from day 1 on this has been appalling, from both social media, the press and to be blunt, the government itself.

Boris thinks he has problems now, it's just about to get a whole lot worse for him.

UK plc is in a frantic rush to reopen as it knows it has to be able to present reasonable 3rd/4th quarter growth figures as it tries to avoid disastrous opening rounds of post Brexit trade talks with the rest of the world. Of course this means British lives will be lost which otherwise wouldn’t have been. Brexit consequences are already hitting home in brutal fashion.

That's fine then because it is always the coroners who lead the baying mobs when something goes wrong. I thought it was frequently the gutter press but if you can assure us that won't happen we can all relax.

Oh for God's sake, stop being so bloody dramatic. DH back at work as HCP. Should we shut the practice again and sit at home with a blanket over our head in case something goes "wrong" (when it actually didn't) and is reported in the press? No - think we'll get on with actually helping patients

Stop being so totally feeble.

We are risk assessing constantly and updating SOPs - both of us aghast that a school would refuse to administer an epipen if that is correct if properly trained staff are available due to COVID risk - you hsve to be lacking something as s human being to watch a child who needs an epipen administered and not do so. If that is correct, suggest teachers should be a lot more worried about that.

@PhilCornwall1
Schools shouldn’t be reopening until September. It isn’t safe. It’s too rushed. The only reason we are being rushed to reopen is because the U.K. economy is in a perilous position thanks to the Brexit the Tories have dumped on the nation.

The Tories are right when they said it won’t be “business as normal” with China in the years ahead. It will be Britain on its knees and taking whatever Beijing sees fit to give it. The U.K. is up shit creek without a paddle.

@SimonJT they've been told not to administer his Epi pen???!!! That's horrific.
So they could let a child die instead of potentially contracting an illness that kills very very few healthy people?
I think I'd be taking that higher to be honest.

@Cam77 as soon as the schools and colleges are open, ours are going back, they want to we are happy for them to.

The state the economy is in right now is nothing to do with Brexit.

What is magically going to make it any different in September?

I think people have lost a sense of perspective over this virus. Yes it can be dangerous but when you look even at prof Whitty it’s very clear that even those who are older and vulnerable have an astonishingly small risk of dying and for most of the population statistically you are more likely to die being run over. That’s not to say people shouldn’t care or be complacent but the level of hysterics is unreal. We know the govt had to imply it was deadly to all in order for people to stay at home - unfortunately it seems to have worked too well as some people seem scared to even set foot out door! You can’t catch this through the skin. Wash hands more and don’t touch your mouth / face etc. I want children back at school but with out this level of utter hysteria
The virus isnt going anywhere, but these measures cannot and should not become permanent in society ! Kids need to go out and play with their friends and teachers need to give them a bloody cuddle if they’re hurt !

If anyone is very vulnerable take your own measures to reduce risk and of course proper protection for front line workers

The real dangers are the vast economic damage which undoubtedly is goi g to cause misery to many and increase deaths, the huge numbers of people dying as a result of delayed treatment for other things and society breaking down over the mental health issues this is going to cause. Seriously as a society we need to get a grip and just be sensible ! Wash your hands

I am getting fed up with these emotive, almost blackmailing emails to parents. Some I believe are fake news.

Everyone has to individually risk assess for their family. Some will agree with others and stay off school, some will go to school. This is the new normal however much people don't like it, we have to get used to this new normal and make it as nice as it can be.

Also the schools are scaremongering as there is nothing on the government guidance that states most of that email. You create your "bubbles" of children and they stay in that bubble. Nothing about social distancing in that bubble. Also the fact that these teachers are going to spend all day cleaning toilets and pencil cases while ignoring little Johnny with blood running all done his leg is farcical.

I think I'd be taking that higher to be honest.

I am going to email the teaching unions today and ask for clarification. I assume there had been some confusion. However, am a safeguarding lead at work and horrified by this. There maybe an issue regarding training which needs factored into the risk assessment but there should not be a blanket ban.

Let's see what they say

I'm concerned about the impact of the overuse and improper use of the term Mental Health on the whole population.

@PhilCornwall1
Of course right now it isn’t. But Britain needs to start frantically negotiating trade deals with the rest of the world. From Jan 1st we are on our own. This is a colossal challenge for any government to face at any time let alone during a pandemic. The government must be petrified. The only saving grace they have is that they get to pin the coming depression entirely on the Pandemic. But in a year or two we will begin to wonder why the EU nations are emerging from it while Britain is still right stuck in it.

Oh for God's sake, stop being so bloody dramatic. DH back at work as HCP. Should we shut the practice again and sit at home with a blanket over our head in case something goes "wrong" (when it actually didn't) and is reported in the press? No - think we'll get on with actually helping patients I had a medical appointment last week, the precautions being used were very different to what is being proposed for schools.

I was triaged by phone.
When it was decided Dr needed to see me a full history was taken so that the face to face time would be as short as possible.
Surgery was locked, receptionist put on mask, gloves and apron and talked to me through glass door before I was allowed to enter.
I had to put a make do mask on and used hand sanitizer before I could go into reception.
Dr was wearing scrubs, gloves, mask, visor and apron.
Consultation was very fast due to telephone call.

Compare that to a teacher just going into school and having half their class for the day.

Not quite the same is it.

To the poster who posted about the epipen i can almost guarantee if the need arises for an epipen to be needed no teacher or most adults (trained obvioisly) would refuse to administer it.

DH is a dentist and carrying out surgical procedures which are much higher risk than teaching children - which is a fact

Your point was that the press could misreport something about a tea her and therefore the teacher shoukd not go to work

My point was that if everyone took that position - we'd all just sit at home. Luckily the GP you saw didn't or they would have declined to see you on the basis that you could be on the Daily Mail with a sad face insisting you had caught COVID from your interaction with them

And if they do then they are absolutely in the wrong job

EU trade deal update on Wednesday:
EU diplomats said Gove’s proposal was incompatible with the government’s refusal to extend the transition period. “If we are going to negotiate specific tariff lines, even if it is only a couple of hundred, there is no possibility that we will do this by the end of the year,” said one EU diplomat with experience in trade negotiations. “That’s completely unheard of. It will never happen. But if we are going to go into a line-by-line negotiation, this will take two years.”

A second EU diplomat said negotiating even a small number of tariffs could take two or three years. “You cannot do this in six months’ time,” the diplomat said – a reference to the fact that the EU wants talks concluded by October to allow ratification by the end of the year.

.....The deal with the EU is just one of dozens which need to be negotiated. The U.K. is so fucked it isn’t funny. Still, I look forward to peeling some very bendy bananas!. 🇬🇧

@Sandybval
I agree. Neither option is good.

Your point was that the press could misreport something about a tea her and therefore the teacher shoukd not go to work Do point out where I said teachers shouldn't go to work. I think it hasn't been properly thought out, if someone had said to your husband just book half the number of normal appointments and reopen would you think that was reasonable or were there other steps that were necessary, like at my GPs surgery?

I made one suggestion to make it more workable, someone permanently supervising/cleaning the loo. It isn't practical for a teacher to be doing that while teaching/supervising 15 children.

So maybe you could look at it like you've looked at your husband's workplace and think what could make this work, not just jump to they've got to go back.

The government must know how four and five year olds are taught. They don't sit at desks all day. Can you imagine a five year old doing that?
Yes, I can. I am on my 50s and was perfectly capable of doing so at that age, as were my peers. I suppose it's the whole living up to expectations thing.

DH is a dentist and carrying out surgical procedures which are much higher risk than teaching children - which is a fact

Slightly off topic, but how often is he carrying out these procedures at the minute?

I have 2 friends who really need to be seen by a dentist, but have been told it's not severe enough. I've seen others on social media saying the same. I'm not minimising the risk, but it seems pretty difficult to get in front of a dentist at the minute.

SimonJT

“Students eat at their desks, this prevents food sharing, it was also pointed out that the teacher/TA cannot open lids etc for children.
-Lunch boxes (along with hands) will be cleaned on arrival”

No school lunches? What about the children who rely on free school meals?

You might find this helpful in relation to germ spreading at school OP (and others) it uses dye to show the spread, and it is worth watching to the end where he explains how hopefully more awareness of how germs spread will change people's behaviour forever, not just in relation to covid19, but also in relation to flu every year and any other virus

I apologise if this has been already mentioned, but, surely the children going back should be the ones who should have sat exams? Children of an age where they have a better understanding of social distancing?

@Chillipeanuts I’m confused by your post, where have I said that there won’t be school lunches?