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

Oh and the just go to your “support bubble” as a single parent haha, so I’m supposed to offload them to a grandparent too old to be infected am I? Knobs.

@SulkingRoomPunk

I’m glad DC’s school has teachers made of sterner stuff than those on MN! It’s like you’re willing the return of schools to fail.

Or that we’ve been back with all pupils in school for fewer than 5 teaching days before a positive case is confirmed.

@FlamingoorPigeon No.

Nobel doesn't do stress.

She's the one supporting many teachers who are stressed. The teachers with a third of the class off waiting to see if they're infected.

The teachers with bugger all extra hygiene.

The teachers SI with their own children coughing away trying to get a test so that they can carry on teaching.

I am actually disgusted by the comments of some posters on here.
Complete disregard for all those saying multiple schools are facing serious disruption and parents and teachers concerned about this disruption for their children.
Could almost be like Boris and his chums are posting here telling us everything is fine

Well they’ve fucked up everything else. Did you expect this to be any different?

@OverTheRainbow88
What's your source for that please?

YANBU OP. I'm a police officer and currently off work with a high temperature, did have a cough, can't get a test anywhere, not even through work anymore. No home tests. We had two testing sites in my town but one has now been closed. Can't go back to work without a negative test.

Of all the things this government have and haven't done during all this, this is the worst.

@MarshaBradyo
We struggle on demanding they do more and wait - doesn’t do much.

Or assess the situation and change how we are doing it.

But our change shouldn't be that we limit testing and increase the risk of untested positive cases being present in the community. Our change should be the Government sorting themselves out and actually delivering on their promises.

An effective testing programme and an effective tracing programme are the two key pins in any plan to reduce Covid-19 infection rates. We don't have either and yet the message is that we should just accept this level of incompetence and blame who they tell us to blame.

Our leaders are not fit for the roles that they hold.

Who's voting that 'the government has done a sterling job'?!

I mean, really?

Even if you think the way everything else has been handled is good, how about the fact that there are no tests available?

And to the posters stubbornly clinging to the 'teachers are work-shy snowflakes' narrative, before long there will be so many teachers having to self isolate that they'll have to close the fucking schools anyway.

And we all predicted this weeks ago.

No problems locally that I've heard of. All schools operating with all classes in.

The five tests were achieved. There is no evidence that the increase in the r rate is due to schools reopening.
Testing is problematic. There is sufficient capacity but the logistics and delivery have fallen short.

I mean, I’m glad they tried to get everyone back. I don’t think they had any other option, to be honest. People wouldn’t have accepted schools remaining closed for much longer.
It’s just that the testing system isn’t robust enough to cope with it.
The idea in itself isn’t bad but it’s the execution.

At the risk of appearing to jump on a political bandwagon, I'd just point out that local county elections in England are in May next year, having been postponed for a year, and most of these - some 21 out of 24 - are Conservative.
If you're unhappy with what this current Govt is doing and don't want to wait 4-5 years for a General Election (by which point, you never know, you may not actually want to vote the Tories out anyway) then your opportunity is next May, it seems.
May's Brexit mess did it at local borough election level for the Cons, Johnson's Covid-19 mess might do it for them at local county elections.

@Matilda400

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/health-52906909

This one says 20%

My FIL is a GP and sent me something that suggested 30%- will have a look for it

Yep.
I sat waiting in our quarantine area today with a 4 year old with an awful sounding cough, his Mum came and surprise surprise, she can't book a test.
My school have staff off with symptoms that have been trying to get a test for days.
Absolute bloody shambles!!

Slow clap for everyone fool who voted Tory.

@MiddlesexGirl

No problems locally that I've heard of. All schools operating with all classes in.

The five tests were achieved. There is no evidence that the increase in the r rate is due to schools reopening.
Testing is problematic. There is sufficient capacity but the logistics and delivery have fallen short.

So given that logistics and delivery are part of the system, we don't have sufficient capacity then. Capacity comes from the entire testing programme not just the labs.

However, it's actually the labs that seem to be the problem now. All the summer techs have returned to uni and the testing system is desperately trying to recruit any lab tech that they can get their hands on.

Dont care, just glad that they are back at school!

This thing About banding about false positives. If you don’t have it then why are you getting tested ? So in other words even more people with colds getting tested than we thought . And if it’s proved to be a false positive it means a second test must have been done so no harm done .

I felt at the beginning the government were damned if they do and damned if they dont regarding lockdown.....but I've run out of patience now - BJ spouting about moonshots and world beating test and trace. It's not a competition ffs, we just need adequate and functioning testing /t and t!!
And then for BJ, Priti Patel and Matt Hancock to blatantly lie and BS that testing is working , and that there is no problem with it, beggars belief....

@BillywilliamV

Dont care, just glad that they are back at school!

I'm guessing you haven't tried to get a test lately.

Btw - Singapore tested 33000 pre-school staff before they started up again.

www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/covid-19-all-pre-school-staff-swab-tests-reopen-circuit-breaker-12733162

They have very strict enforcement of rules and a very low death rate throughout. There is some limitation of freedom, but they are able to continue education, hospital and gp appointments, you can socialise in a group of 5.

It is possible to have better control.

There is no consistency in the messaging.

Public are told that there are 3 symptoms: cough, fever, lack of taste or smell. We are told it is vital that those with symptoms get a test and self isolate.

Yet children at the school I teach at, when displaying on or more symptoms on the list, are being told by their GP that they don't need a test or to self isolate. They are turning up back in my classroom, still showing symptoms.

It's very stressful and not conducive to learning or wellbeing of the children.

@Unsure33

This thing About banding about false positives. If you don’t have it then why are you getting tested ? So in other words even more people with colds getting tested than we thought . And if it’s proved to be a false positive it means a second test must have been done so no harm done .

It's not false positives. It's false negatives so people with coronavirus are being told that they don't have it and then are continuing to spread the virus.

I can't vote (which I'm taking personally), so popping on to say YADNBU.

(As you know, I agree with you on All Things).

We are in Scotland in a big city. Kids have been back 6 weeks and it’s all going pretty smoothly. All kids got colds but no COVID, touch wood!

There are various loopholes apparently if you get the code from a test centre miles away you can still use it at a local one .

Now I can only vouch for that with one person I know it was in our local paper. But it worked for them .

I’m home because my partners daughter had a cough, I was the only person they could get in touch with (were all teachers so my partner and her mum had phones in bags in lessons). I collected her and we decided I would stay with her so the others can still work. She’s been home since Friday, I haven’t heard her cough once, we can’t get a test for either of us, my gcse classes are being covered by supply and she’s completely fine. I asked her if she was coughing at school and she said she coughed a couple of times because her drink was too cold and the other kids commented so she was sent home. Neither of us are allowed back until we get a test or it’s been two weeks.

If the tests worked we would be back already! School wouldn’t be paying £200 a day for cover for me when it’s not needed. We’ve only got 2 cases with it at my school and it’s siblings that have flown home from Germany, I’ve been nowhere to get it and neither has dsd!