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.

I have some pp3s from a tiling shop. I won't have a spotter, but I will have a mirror. I have sufficient refills to have 3 per day. Wash hands, remove mask, place in dated bag, wash hands again.

Fripp I am talking about the risk to the OP, and the concerns many parents have that their children will catch.it in school and act as conduits bringing it home. But most parents of primary children are under 50 like the op. Often considerably under 50!!!

OP:

Your risk of death in your 40s if you actually catch COVID is only 0.15%, see attached table,
unless you have some underlying health issues which raise this significantly

Your risk of actually catching COVID is very small

• Despite all the MNers who claim to have caught COVID last year or whenever, it is likely that only a few % of the population have actually done so

To calculate your individual risk, you multiple those 2 very small numbers together to get a v v low risk indeed

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,

Wtf? How has this gone unquestioned? Are only men journalists?!

Face masks are not practical for teaching staff - not comfortable to wear for long periods and more important not that easy to talk through. Children need to see faces.
Face shields, though, would be practical. They also shield your eyes which masks don't.

People talk about "unless a mask is used correctly". I watched a video on putting them on and off. I've worn mine to the supermarket a few times and I put up with the itchy face. I tie my hair back. I have enough spares to switch at break and lunch. It's not rocket surgery.

You tell it to my poor face. I’m care sector and my face is on fire. i have a sore red line from the band. We have a whole training session on how to wear them, and the right way to put them on and take them off, they’re still pretty crap defence.

They are uncomfortable and pretty useless once they’ve been touched or moved. My gloves are poor quality and tear easily, our aprons look like they’ve been cut from carrier bags.

My son is a first responder for the fire and rescue service, meaning he’s part ambulance too. He responded to 80+ COVID calls last week, before they pulled them off the run because their PPE is too low quality.

Any crappy face mask won’t cut it.

Or do we have another group who say “Ooh, I never thought about infectious disease before, I’d have chosen differently if I’d known”?

I don't think teachers would have killer virus' on their pros and cons lists when choosing to train to become a teacher. But if you're so thorough as to think through every eventuality before choosing a career then well done to you.

@Rachie1973 you're absolutely right. I shouldn't brag about it being easy unless I've done it all day for a while. I bet it's absolutely crap and will be worse in the summer. Sorry for not thinking.

So will all teaching staff have constant access to hand washing facilities?

Will they be able to leave the class to wash hands when they choose to?

Children will have to learn to adapt.... imo ppe should be optional for everyone. No reason not to be

Assume gloves will be acceptable

But the measures suggested by some are not going to make much difference unless you wear indoor and outdoor clothes indoor and outdoor shoes, shut all the windows to stop dust blowing in, decontaminate every carton, every piece of homework, every leaf and twig.

You cannot do these things, any more than you can protect youself from virus laden blades of grass that someone else infected sat on in the park. It is everywhere. You cannot live like Howard Hughes. You would go mad. Perhaps some of us are. I m not even going to think about things like decontaminatinf my groceries, or my shoes or my coat or the post. How could any of us live like that in the forseeable?

@nellodee

It’s fine, I just think people are actually less cautious when they think they’ve got all this great PPE. They forget about hand washing, clothes being changed immediately, jumping straight in the shower.

We’ve managed to hold it at bay in our care home, we are actually quite proud of that. Simple things as they say lol.

It’s about minimising risk not eliminating it

What is the point of gloves, in non medical settings? They transfer germs from surface to surface, worse than skin. Unless it is a caustic or dirty product you are dealing with which has a timelimited clean up period the entire school would.be contaminated with low levels of virus, surely.

I need to go to bed, this is a crazy conversation!

I would be interested to see what advice a hospital infection control department would give after risk assessing a school.

Heyblaby Would you mind posting some links to articles that advise that all children not wear masks? The articles I’ve come across all seem to recommend cloth masks, with some provisos, and sometimes with assistance in putting them on, for children over 2 in contexts where they can’t socially distance? As we’re talking about school-age children in the OP’s situation then a classroom seems a prime example of a space/setting in which children won’t be able to socially distance?

Nettleskeins It may well be that children respond to certain facial cues but having worked with children with visual disabilities, for whom such cues are not an option, this is surely not insurmountable for all groups? After all these are far from ordinary times and standard ways of doing things may have to be adjusted to suit the situation. Also, I’m unclear about your point relating to people under 50 and primary children’s parents? Can people under 50 not have respiratory issues, diabetes, high blood pressure, severe asthma, have cancer or be recovering from it and therefore be vulnerable. Also, there are many families and particular communities where older family members are part of the household. As for lower face coverings there are Muslim women teachers and students throughout the world wearing them and managing to teach/learn without incident.

Children over the age of two should wear a face mask in public when social distancing isn't possible, the government has said.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/parenting/children-face-masks-uk-government-18233149

Page 27 new UK government guidelines:
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/884171/FINAL_6.6637_CO_HMG_C19_Recovery_FINAL_110520_v2_WEB__1_.pdf

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/parenting/children-face-masks-uk-government-18233149

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8257053/DR-ELLIE-CANNON-kids-wear-mask-no-one-does.html

www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/chest-lungs/Pages/Cloth-Face-Coverings-for-Children-During-COVID-19.aspx

There are also, from a quick Google, a range of articles explaining how to introduce masks, get children used to seeing them and so on…

FFP3 is the best for self protection, however is fit tested? At hospital 50% of people fail fit testing with the first mask tried, especially as the diy ones seem to be made for male face sizes.

Also if your placing in a plastic bag then it will need leaving for more than a few days probably as wet mask + plastic bag means ideal breeding ground. It really needs to come out and dry (and somehow be got out to dry without touching the front or waving it around and aerosoling virus (this is the step that has always defeated us at work trying to figure out how to safely reuse.

Finally valved FFP3 masks allow you to breathe out the virus so they are non-altruistic, ie you are still spreading it to others if infected so don’t comply with any guidance about altruistic wear in crowded areas - you could put a cloth cover on top but then it might be hard to breathe. I have some ffp2 for work and some ffp3 for diy but have just made basic cloth ones for wearing out to shop for all the above reasons

The ons data actually showed hcp deaths were lower than aversge.... I wonder why that might be??
Proper masks perhaps.
Hand washing is not going to help because you will be too close. They onky think 4% of cases migh be like that..
Consider the new app well they arent inncluding a close everything and decontaminate where the person was. Though to be fair i guess virus would be dead by then but they could notify everyone on number 11 bus that day and 72 hours later...
Tbh i dont fancy a 5% chance of hospitalization.
Plus as i trust this gov so little that 5% is pretty huge for those people as it is not a fixed 5% it more like this.
It's 5% chance of hospitalization but if the 111 wont send you an ambulance till you are blue or we hit a peak exceeding capacity then the fact you require hospital is actually =100% chance of death.
That is how some of the younger people died at home.
Plus of course the only reason we stayed in capacity was that we didnt admit people especially elderly from care homes and some people stayed home before told too and removed kids from school. And of course those 50k excess deaths if they had surviced longer would have used up the beds.
Nightingales whilst having beds dont have staff.
There was a risk of hcp not working because of lack of ppe.

I cant personally see why people would be keen to put them/their kid/ etc in the hands of the gov or nhs at the moment.
We wont all get the BJ treatment.

@Daffodil101

www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-personal-protective-equipment-ppe

HTH

@YounghillKang it is in the most recent advice 'Coronavirus (COVID-19): implementing protective measures in education and childcare settings'

Removing PPE is the point at which contaminantion is most likely, hence donning/doffing training for HCP's, there really is no way a very young child would manage it safely.

Yeah i thnk dp does the waving all the time with our post.e
Do they fit people for asbestos as surely they are breatging that in?

I presumed the masks filtered both ways.
Oh dear so people going
I have to go out my kid is sick but i need shopping etc or people going out wit h symptoms are spreading it.
But that does clarify the BS on here saying that hcp even are wearing them to protect patients.

Imo this is by far the biggest balls up.
Lying about masks to the public and lack of them.
Uf they had enough they would have used on non confirmed and well any patient coming in. So hcp wouldnt have caught it.
As with nursing homes the ppe was obviously needed well first week march. Especially as they knew they were discharging positives there.
Were people worried about scaring the elderly too.

The point of masks in schools by parent and child is to remove there being any virus in the air and on surfaces.
And a population wearing them means less transmission...
People just dont seem to see its all a circle.
If you do all these things an individual child orvadult not being able to do 100% correctly makes less difference.
With no masks chances of cv in school 100%.
It took probably 3w for us to get a confirmed case. Despite being in lowest area.
From a hcp parent. Now if the child were wearing a mask their infectious time in school would infect fewer kids.
If a teacher gets it they could infect 30 kids that is a lot more thsn the r0.

@keepdistance with all due respect, as a HCP who is working exclusively with Covid positive patients, you don't know what you are talking about.

With no masks chances of cv in school 100%

Nonsense.

No, I’m comparing stuff like pneumonia which nearly killed me twice. Could happen to anyone. This is after I had the jab. People die of flu after the jab.

@LilacTree1, but you have much lower chance of getting flu than a CoVid due to vaccination etc. In a bad year 40,000 people die of flu, an average year 10,000. The flu season can be up to six months whilst CoVid 19 has killed between 31,000 to 50,000 in two months, most of which has been the in lockdown.