I'm really scared. Not allowed to wear a mask at work

[LavenderLilacTree]

It's just to vent really as I know there is no way round it.

I am really scared. I am a TA and when all the pupils are back in school we aren't allowed to wear face masks or any PPE. Social distancing is not going to happen.

The government have said only go back to work if it's safe and you can ensure social distancing, well it's not going to be safe for me. Government say to wear face coverings in enclosed spaces but teachers and TAs are not allowed to.

I am scared. I am in my 40s and have 3 children in Yr 8, Yr 7 and Yr 5 . I know it's a 3% chance of dying but to me that's not an insignificant risk. I would never take part in any activity that had a 3% chance of dying.

I just feel like the government doesn't value my life. This is a deadly virus that KILLS, i want to wear a mask. My life matters to me, my husband and my children.

It's scary at work at the moment but we only have 4- 7 kids in. When we have a full school it's going to be impossible to stay 2 meters apart so therefore you feel I should at least be able to wear a mask.

I love my job and the children at school but I don't want to give my life for it. I just think I should be able to have some form of protection. It's like my life doesn't matter.

@DahliaDay yes- if you go over to the lungs threads you will see I'm not alone! I think we are up to week 8+

Our school have sent a questionnaire to all parents and it asks us about concerns and whether we'd currently seen our children. Myself and DH agreed that we don't have enough information currently to make the decision. We don't know what procedures are going to be in place, how the school will ensure that the children there aren't showing signs of covid - because there has been a definite culture in schools of children being sent in (at the schools request often) unwell and spreading things around. Personally I would not want to have the responsibility of my own child possibly giving covid to a teacher/Ta/cook etc, and possibly make them very ill or possibly they then to pass it on to someone vulnerable and who dies from it. Whilst it's correct to say that the risk to children is low and the risk to healthy adults is low the fact is we've never been faced with a disease like this one before (& before people jump up and scream flu - this is NOT like flu) and people are rightly taking a very cautious path.

Hi I work at a Nursery and we have 14 children in one room with six staff and no masks. Social distancing is mpossible with children under five. I worry every day but we are looking after the children of key workers so it has to be done. I just wish there was more clarity on face masks. Stay safe everyone thanks.

Spinakker, it's a few hours a day for a few months at most. They will be fine. It's not like the children are never going to see anyone smile.

@hmmyoureallythinkso

"After 30 minutes or more the mask actually is the perfect host or place for bacteria to breed. So if it had gotten in you are more likely to get a higher viral load."

There is a massive difference between bacteria and viruses. How do you get a higher viral load from a mask when they can ONLY reproduce inside a host cells, not in a fabric mask?

I hope people who have been sneering are also working with no PPE or social distancing! I'm sure some people on this thread have no idea how abysmally low a TA salary is.

Have you considered child minding or becoming a nanny? I'm sure there would people who would rather have someone like you looking after their kids than sending them into school.

I would get a male friend to phone the school posing as a journalist and ask the question why aren`t staff allowed to wear masks, they will take notice of that.
WTF did I just read?

I see that the OP hasn't been back to clarify why she pulled a 3% fatality figure out of her arse.

I am not a fan of the "should be taught in school" get out clause where people delegate parenting to teachers but come on, basic risk assessment is seriously lacking in SO many people. Terrified of leaving the house unless wearing a full hazmat suit, but will jump in the car without a second thought to drive around.

Let's hope the teaching assistant OP isn't helping kids with learning percentages.

ONS figures reported in Schools Week show that 65 adults working in schools have already died from Covid

Unless they trace the history of each infection these stats are meaningless. Did their partners catch the disease first (from a different occupation), did they travel to work on public transport, did they holiday abroad during February half term, do any of them have second jobs?

@PineappleDanish as I mentioned previously, many of us who have had COVID 19 have experienced a very protracted and unpleasant illness. Many are still experiencing awful symptoms after 2 months. Doctors are now starting to say that this virus will do long term damage to people, even those who have not had severe cases. I think we need to widen the focus from fear of dying to include fear of being ill, (and it can be very frightening) and fear of long-term repercussions to health.

The fact we face risk of death and disease every day doesn’t mean we should be blasé about new or additional risks @LilacTree1.

There is a middle ground between petrified and reckless.

Seeking ways to avoid, mitigate, reduce, manage and prioritise risk is intelligent. Wanting to take sensible precautions in the face of an emerging threat is a sign of sanity.

Thank you so much for that post Jessica. My thoughts exactly.

Government guidelines say no PPE for school staff. 😲

Many posts have been around dying from C19.

As some have pointed out, catching it has been a long and scary process - the healthy 9 year old upthread. Others will catch it and bounce right back.

My point - it's not just about dying from this. It's about possibly catching a nasty dose and then infecting others.

I'd still like to know about the long term effects of the virus on the lungs and other organs.

We rightly close schools if asbestos is found because we know how serious the repurcussions can be. Yet here we are with limited data, expecting school staff back with limited protections.

There are too many unknowns about the short and long term to not ask for protection.

OP I understand why you are anxious about returning to work in a school environment. We have had weeks of stay home, don't go near people who aren't from your household, daily death statistics. Then all of a sudden they are saying 'right off you go back to your job, mix with loads of people not from your household who will regularly forget to social distance.'
You are naturally asking if this is safe ? even with the highest level of protective equipment, nobody could absolutely gaurantee that you would be 'safe' from getting the virus. PPE reduces the risk, social distancing reduces the risk, washing your hands properly reduces the risk, coming home and taking your clothes off and having a shower reduces the risk.

The worry for me about wearing a mask in a school setting is simply about how will you manage that from a reducing the risk point of view. So you put the mask on when you arrive and then go in the classroom with children, do you take it off to have a drink at breaktime or to eat at lunchtime, so you are touching a potentially contaminated item and then reapplying it to your face ? Would it be better to take several washable type fineweave cloth masks, so you can take one off, wash your hands, have your lunch in isolation, wash your hands, put a new clean mask on. Once you put the mask on, you musn't touch it or move it at all unless you are going to fully remove it and wash your hands and apply a new clean one. No moving it up and down to talk or because you feel uncomfortable, otherwise it is pointless wearing it.

There have been some small studies done that suggest wearing a face mask of the fineweave cloth type do offer a degree of protection to the wearer, but I am not sure for what time frame they offer an element of protection and would be very suprised if it was a 7 or 8 hour day. It would also largely depend on how safely it is donned and doffed.

Looks like secondaries wont go back until September. At the start of a June, 7 weeks before the summer holidays, possibly 3 year groups will go back to primary. I imagine due to need to distance, clean more and not having a full staff available, it will be less than full time, staggered openings and lunch breaks - so it’s going to be a slow process and I doubt most kids will be in by Summer.

In the meantime children from poor families and who are vulnerable will have been out of school for 3-4 months by the time they go back. It will impact on them for years.

There has to be some perspective and balance here. Can you imagine if healthcare workers had reacted in this way - they’ve been massively, massively exposed, even in full PPE. Some of us live with them, so us and our kids are exposed everytime they come home.

i think your statistics may well be inaccurate but i do understand your fear (nhs nurse). To reassure you a little perhaps of the thousands of staff in my hospital caring for covid-19 positive patients we have had only one staff death ..but they had underlying health conditions. Masks afford some protection from spreading but little in the way of stopping you catching viruses... thats also depending on what type of mask they are and how effectively they are worn. The only effective masks would be the respirator FFP3 type and if youve ever worn one 30 minutes makes your nose run, face seat and itch and mouth dry. Many find they cause claustrophobia and anxiety. any mask isnt comfortable and is distracting. Regular users of masks are taught to "don and doff" (not as easy as you think for full ppe). Imagine accidentally touching your mask while slipping it off to eat or drink... you infect yourself as the mask has in effect soaked up the virus. i honestly don't know how things could work in a school either, as a parent I am not wanting to send mine back to risk increased exposure. i agree social distancing is going to be utterly impossible across the age range. Reassuringly overseas countries where children have returned are not finding school outbreaks. I expect your teaching unions will be all over this so try not to worry, let the information be assimilated and decisions made by them before making any rash decision. If people carry on as they are we will be having a massive second wave in which case nobody will be in school anyway

@Spinakker - don't forget we have three weeks plus before kids begin going back and the government are changing advice based on the R number all the time. If the guidance changes and the school staff do have to wear masks your children will just have to get used to it - like it or not.

My DS has a heart condition and has appointments with people wearing masks. He has done since he was 6 months old. As parents we got him used to it. Some of his 'heart' friends spent months in hospital and attended an in hospital school so they were surrounded by masks. Kids only get stressed about these things if parents get stressed and make it something 'odd'. So don't make a big deal about it if the rules change and they'll be fine.

Would be better for kids to wear masks when the teacher needs to be closer than 2m (depending on age obviously) I really don’t think teachers could wear masks all day it would affect communication too much. Maybe visors would be helpful if working from a distance and masks if closer so at least children could hear better. Teachers need to feel safe but kids also need to get back to school and be taught whether that’s in 3 weeks or September.

Unless they trace the history of each infection these stats are meaningless. Did their partners catch the disease first (from a different occupation), did they travel to work on public transport, did they holiday abroad during February half term, do any of them have second jobs?

Exactly

12 people classed as accountants have died from Covid

I guess there are a lot more people who work in schools than there are accountants in the country

Certainly masks should be optional. Some posters are entirely incorrect when they say masks dont protect the user - some most certainly do.

I can see legal cases left right and centre by aggrieved school staff.

It’s also common knowledge that ethnic background has a big bearing on your Risk of death. I obviously don’t know OP but if she is white, 40, good health then her chances of being killed are statistically way under the national average which is already only a tiny fraction of a percent

Op, it’s not a three percent chance of dying. It’s likely to be half a percent over the whole population

And that differs across the demographics. I keep posting rhe stat but 3000 people have died under 65, of those 95 percent had significant underlying health conditions. So approx 150 health people below 65 have died.

Your chance of dying is miniscule.

The misinformation out there is appalling, media scare stories and so called experts wading in with their opinions and fake news.

Even Chris witty said last night it was one percent across the population likely much lower. The science is starting to show about 0.5 percent and that is heavily skewed to the elderly and the ill. For healthy adults and children the risk is incredibly low.

Don’t be scared. Your risk is lower than seasonal flu. Which has a ten percent death rate unvaccinated. You aren’t scared to go to work due to it being flu season are you and because you’re not vaccinated?

mamabears
You mention masks offer little in the way of protection then mention someone potentially contaminating themselves with the virus when they touch it to take it off?
So do these masks 'catch' the virus or not?

This link here gives the risk of dying by age.

If you are in your 40s as a woman, you have a 0.19% chance of dying each year. This means that 1 in every 500 women in their 40s die each year from normal causes.

The risk of a 40 year old woman dying of covid once infected is 0.15%, so less than your underlying risk of dying each year. Most of those who die will have underlying conditions so the risk to a healthy 40 year old is even less.

Of the UK deaths from covid 1% are in the under 40s. If the risk to everyone was the same as the risk to you, everyone would be leading normal lives. The risk is only really high for the over 65s, who account for almost all deaths.

medium.com/wintoncentre/how-much-normal-risk-does-covid-represent-4539118e1196

I hope this is reassuring. The risk to you is nowhere near what you think it is.

1. Masks are there for the protection of others from you if you're infected. They do not protect the wearer.

1. there have been 223 000 people in the Uk infected, and of those, 32 000 have sadly died. That's 0.3% infected, and 0.047% deaths out of the whole population of the UK.