AIBU in agreeing with the NASUWT that masks should be worn in schools by over 11s?

[DomDoesWotHeWants]

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/28/unions-call-for-teachers-in-england-to-be-able-to-wear-face-masks

Given that they have to be worn almost everywhere else indoors by over 11s it would be the right thing to do. Adults working in schools have as much right to be protected as bus drivers and shop workers.

So AIBU in agreeing with the NASUWT that masks should be worn in schools by over 11s?

@Orangeblossom78 - is that the same Mark Woolhouse who has taken his family to a second home on a Scottish island with no cases of Covid? There is no way to tell if a teacher had caught Covid from a student, particularly given asymptomatic presentation in children.

I've said this a million times already but you cannot treat schoolchildren the same as shop customers. If I go into a shop I am in there for 10 minutes. Max 30 minutes if doing a "big" shop. And if I don't want to wear a mask at all I can buy online.

If I go to school I am there between 9 and 3. 6 hours is completely different to 10 minutes. I can see the value in wearing them when out and about in the corridors, but wonder whether the messing about putting them on and off would actually reduce the effectiveness, given you're not meant to touch them.

I wonder how many of you agitating for 11+ year olds to wear masks have worn face coverings in shops right through lockdown as I have, or have only started wearing them now you have to.

The rates of covid are very low now. As I've said on other threads, if we follow the rules properly now we won't have a second wave. But you have to follow the rules and not start hugging each other in a crowded pub, for example.

@SengaStrawberry

Is that in England as our schools have been broken up for a month, and also cases seem much lower here. I think 1 in 13000 was the last figure I heard. If there are more cases in the community then of course it’s more likely to be a problem.

Yes, it's published by Public Health England so is specific to England.

Unfortunately, no-one seems to be breaking down the data in the same way for Scotland. If anyone does have access to setting-based data for Scotland, please let me know.

@noblegiraffe

As government departments start preparing for a (possibly imminent per Johnson) second wave and with cases increasing people still insist that teachers shouldn’t have any concerns about going back to school with no mitigation measures in place for them.

Magic bubbles, magic teachers, magic teenagers

Yes that would be good @Iamnotthe1. Since schools have been shut except the childcare hubs since March I’m not sure how much there is. I did hear (anecdotally) that there were no cases of transmission at all in the hubs but not seen anything official. Of course those were younger kids as secondary children don’t tend to need to go

@cologne4711
The rates of covid are very low now.

The daily confirmed cases are still higher than before lockdown began.

The daily confirmed cases are still higher than before lockdown began.

But is the difference not the R number and how it is growing than the number of infections per se?

cologne4711

I am enclosed spaces, Breathing apparatus and scuba trained.

I have worn full hazmat suits an all different types of masks. For anything up to 20 hrs a day depending upon the job.

The masks that we are currently being asked to wear are nothing compared to that.

And lets be honest for most people its just a case of getting used to it.

[quote Iamnotthe1]@cologne4711
The rates of covid are very low now.

The daily confirmed cases are still higher than before lockdown began.[/quote]
⬆️ the daily rates are not 'very low' they are still at a level in England far too high to be dealt with adequately by track and trace.

We went into lockdown a week late, and it wouldn't have hurt to stay in one more week at the end THEN we might have had cases at a level we could have dealt with through track and trace.

People want to believe things are ok, but they are not.

@SengaStrawberry

The daily confirmed cases are still higher than before lockdown began.

But is the difference not the R number and how it is growing than the number of infections per se?

The R number has not fallen in months and is still listed as being 0.7 to 0.9. The changes being made were only supposed to happen when the R number was much lower and had "continued to fall". The Government is, essentially, ignoring the R number now.

The R number is made up nonsense as we have no effective way of tracking and tracing the virus.

I'm a parent and former teacher, it is a shame if people are too scared to give different views, facts or opinions.

www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2020/may/17/reopen-the-schools-or-a-generation-will-bear-the-mental-health-scars

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jun/17/children-need-back-to-school-plan-urgently-doctors-tell-boris-johnson

Might be useful reading too

"The daily confirmed cases are still higher than before lockdown began."

Very few people were being tested before lockdown began. Whether you think cases now are high or low you cannot compare the actual numbers between the two.

I’d put DD in a bloody hazmat suit if it means she can return to school. Five fucking months!!!!

@LadyofTheManners
Now, put down your reading material, get off your backsides and go and earn the, frankly unreasonable, payrise you've all been given that we all know the real heroes in nursing should've received and are being fobbed off for

Public sector payrises were proposed and agreed in January. They are not Covid-19 related despite what information the politicians and media are feeding you. Nurses were not eligible for these as they are already locked in to a three year payrise deal which increased their wages by 6.5% over three years. Nurses' wages are increasing this year, just as part of a different package.

LadyofTheManners
As I previously said and was shouted down and sneered at. Very low risk.

The irony of this is that you are calling posters "dementors" yet complaining when you get it back.

Your hypocrisy is amazing.

@Sockwomble

"The daily confirmed cases are still higher than before lockdown began."

Very few people were being tested before lockdown began. Whether you think cases now are high or low you cannot compare the actual numbers between the two.

That's fair. Equally, not everyone is being tested now and this is especially true for children who often present asymptomatically. We can, however, compare data on death levels.

Orangeblossom78
I'm a parent and former teacher, it is a shame if people are too scared to give different views, facts or opinions.

Presumably you are one of the 'army' of ex teachers volunteering for extra tutoring?

Definately not, most adults struggle to wear one for shopping, so i wouldnt expect primary school children or even early secondary to wear one all day. It would result in a lot of children not wanting to attend school. How many teachers have caught coronavirus from a child, either before lockdown or those that have been teaching throughout?

I've had my own children to home school thanks

@Iamnotthe1 The big variable on death levels is age profile of cases. 1000 cases will deliver different number of deaths if e.g. care home residents vs. 20-30s in gyms.

So we can't compare deaths directly (although low deaths are of course better).

The vast majority of new cases now are NOT identified as they will be asymptomatic.

@Flapjak

Definately not, most adults struggle to wear one for shopping, so i wouldnt expect primary school children or even early secondary to wear one all day. It would result in a lot of children not wanting to attend school. How many teachers have caught coronavirus from a child, either before lockdown or those that have been teaching throughout?

As has been said throughout the thread, there have been 183 outbreaks in educational settings in the last four weeks. The only setting with more outbreaks is care homes.

There is no data on who people have caught the virus from - that is not being collected.