The government have fucked up the re-opening of schools

[noblegiraffe]

They have, haven't they?

Back in June their five tests for reopening schools were:

First we must protect the NHS’s ability to cope, and be sure that it can continue to provide critical care and specialist treatment right across the whole of the United Kingdom.

Second, we need to see daily death rates from coronavirus coming down.

Third, we need to have reliable data that shows the rate of infection is decreasing to manageable levels.

Four, we need to be confident that testing capacity and PPE is being managed, with supply able to meet, not just today’s demand, but future demand.

And fifth, and perhaps most crucially, we need to be confident that any changes we do make will not risk a second peak of infections.

I'm pretty sure I know the reason for not reminding people of those five tests this time round, but particularly test 4 - capacity within the testing system.

I was listening to the radio today about how the lack of testing is damaging the NHS's capacity to reopen services as nurses with symptoms cannot get tests and therefore cannot return to work. The same goes for schools - if teachers cannot get tests, either for themselves or for family members with symptoms, then they cannot go to work. This has been the case even with priority referrals.

There also seems to be utter chaos around who gets sent home when there is a positive test. Some schools are sending home a year group, others close contacts. Teachers often have no idea if they'll be sent home if one of their pupils tests positive.

But surely the government are tracking cases in schools carefully? No, it turns out they're not even storing that data. schoolsweek.co.uk/its-official-dfe-doesnt-know-how-many-schools-have-covid-cases

And a survey suggests that covid protection measures in some schools are poor. www.tes.com/news/third-teachers-lack-soap-and-water-school

So with an abysmal test and trace system, less than adequate measures to prevent the spread, and a department that isn't on top of its brief we can expect more disruption to come.

Even if your own kids' school is fine so far, parents really shouldn't be happy with this state of affairs, particularly the lack of testing capacity that will mean children will be out of school or missing a teacher unnecessarily.

YABU: The government have done a sterling job
YANBU: The government have not done a sterling job

Just seen this.

91 schools in Manchester affected

apple.news/ADcA5QNKkTT2_wvPmXCkOJw

[quote FlamingoorPigeon]@noblegiraffe people can't get tests because too many are going for them with snotty noses and sore throats not a temprature or cough or loss of smell or taste.
You need to think about going off with stress I think, you are clearly very stressed about all of this and you aren't doing yourself or your pupils any good.[/quote]
Raising a perfectly valid complaint does not mean someone should be off work with stress.

Flamingoorpigeon despite the media and the news saying it’s a shambles as we can’t access tests and a thousand schools with cases in less than two weeks of schools opening you deem to think it’s all fine and dandy as it hasn’t affected you. Unbelievable.

You need to think about going off with stress I think, you are clearly very stressed about all of this and you aren't doing yourself or your pupils any good.

So because someone criticises the government's handling of a situation that means they automatically have a Mental Health issue and aren't medically fit to do their job?

Seems a bit of an overreaction.

@millymollymoomoo

I didn’t vote as I don’t like the choices Schools need to be open with all children in. End of HTH

Why would that comment help? You've missed the point.

Oh and bubbles won't close unless cases are confirmed...so parents sending children in going unaware of potential cases.

Plus I overheard a mum at pick up on Friday, another parent say, 'well I have a metallic taste in my mouth , but you can't get a test so what can you do....' SELF FUCKING ISOLATE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO...AND NOT SEND YOUR CHILD IN TO PLAY WITH MINE!!!

Sorry. I'll shut up now...just needed to get that out.

Apparently the government said children had to wear masks in places such as the school refectory and in corridors. Now, as the numbers rise, they are saying they don't.

arse and elbow springs to mind.

@Newstart20

Each school seems to follow the rules differently. One local to me says children don't need to stay at home with a cough unless you would have kept them home pre lockdown. If they don't have a temperature too then they can go in as normal. They also only close a class if there is a case and disregard siblings.

Typically, it isn't the school that gets to choose whether a bubble closes. It's down to the health team that have to come in to take control over any confirmed infection.

In practice, some of the schools have had to decide: they cannot get hold of the health teams because they are currently overwhelmed with how many schools have a positive case.

If only the Government had put time into properly planning...

[quote FlamingoorPigeon]@noblegiraffe people can't get tests because too many are going for them with snotty noses and sore throats not a temprature or cough or loss of smell or taste.
You need to think about going off with stress I think, you are clearly very stressed about all of this and you aren't doing yourself or your pupils any good.[/quote]
It’s good to know there are experienced psychiatrists on Mumsnet who are clever enough to give a diagnosis based on a few posts. I’m in awe.

Unmumsnetty hugs to you bupkis before someone bombs you with some remarkably unempathetic response.

What the fuck has the government been doing all summer for us to be in this ridiculous situation now? They’re a disgrace. How the heck are working parents supposed to get through this winter when they’ve no idea from one day to the next whether they’ll be at home having to isolate while trying to get a test and wait for the all clear. The incompetence and stupidity and sheer hopelessness of this government is shocking.

@Piggywaspushed

Unmumsnetty hugs to you bupkis before someone bombs you with some remarkably unempathetic response.

I am fully prepared to try and go off like a neutron bomb...but am so knackered, I'll probably just fizzle out and fall asleep.

The whole thing is a huge shitshow. Anyone got any idea what our coronavirus Alert Level is? Remember that set of criteria that would guide decisions on lockdown easing?

It's almost like this Government make up sound bites and pretty messages without any substance in the hopes of baffling us for a little bit while they blunder around ineffectually throwing money at their friends and achieving nothing.

We need testing to be better, more capacity and quicker processing.

The problem is that cases were starting to rise in August due to people not adhering to the guidance etc over Summer. Schools never stood a chance when cases were rising in their communities. If only people had actually done the pretty simple steps to avoid infections rising, i.e. hand washing, social distancing, etc.

@FatGirlShrinking

You're not allowed to point that out. Don't use the Government's own words against them! They can't be expected to keep track of their own lies and then live by them.

913 schools now have positive cases of Covid according to ToryFibs on Twitter.

It seems to be going up by about a hundred schools per day at least...

@Bupkis. I was wondering what you'd decided to do about DS & how you were getting on. It's shameful you have to either face fines or deregister. But as I said to you on another thread I'd keep DS home to enable DH to go to work & DD's to go to school. And obviously to keep DS well!

I really think in DS's situation & with the shitshow they have created, they'll be unable to enforce fines.

Rant away if it helps any!

@noblegiraffe can you stick to the coronavirus forum please along with the other hundreds of these boring school doom threads

Well as I believe that SD for children is cruel and that education is a fundamental right then I'd say the government in Wales has done ok. Your choices weren't exactly neutral, so YABU for a biased question alone.

My children have been back at both primary and secondary school for 6 weeks now with no rise In cases, no classes sent home and teachers are not dropping dead as some predicted. I feel perfectly safe and happy to send my children

It's not schools making the decisions on who to send home. They're told who they need to send home.

Thankyou @MJMG2015
I think we have decided to keep ds off.
We are waiting for his GP to call back about supporting our decision.
It just pisses me off. Boris Gobshite Johnson blathering on about our Moral Duty....and then leading us into this shit storm.

People are naive to believe this government. They have sdcrewed up everything till now. Trusting them with our kids has been a mistake. No lessons learned from countries such as Israel, South Korea. I don't know how the wellbeing is improved if they have symptoms, got Covid. No one knows long term impacts.

Each school seems to follow the rules differently.

Each school had their risk assessment reviewed by local health bods. I'm on the management team at my school, we wanted year group 'bubbles' for lots of reasons, but were told that due to our community, we had to keep bubbles as small as possible. Lots of our children multi generational households.