1600 paediatricians have written to the prime minister

[havefunpeleton]

Demanding schools reopen or risk scarring a generation. Reported in Times today.

I am hoping this will be the push needed to ensure this madness ends and all our children can go back to school full time in September.

[quote havefunpeleton]@Hearhoovesthinkzebras it was a question specifically aimed at mumsnetters with a legal background. Feel free to ignore if that's not you[/quote]
No thanks. I seem to have a better understanding of schools, Covid and employers duty of care than you do.

Ok @Hearhoovesthinkzebras can you enlighten us on the 24 cases in school then?

Other employees aren’t working with children which is a reduced risk.

We don’t need full PPE because we are not working with chronically infected patients day in and day out.

Aside from medical staff other employees aren’t in full PPE anyway.

Do you have any details or stats? If not you're not adding anything. Sorry

AppleSaf The man at the bank was in a mask and visor - his job is to stand outside and let people in and out. In the fresh air and very limited contact with others. This did feel a bit excessive - I do a similar role as part of my job every day (SLT on gate duty at school) and don’t wear PPE. It feels like the least risky thing I do all day.

@Useruseruserusee but perhaps he'd had an individual risk assessment. Most employees aren't wearing this much ppe

How are you doing anything risky?I don’t feel at risk at all, all day.

I’m not SLT and with children in a bubble all day.

Stats here on outbreaks in schools www.gov.uk/government/news/weekly-covid-19-surveillance-report-published

Thanks. That all looks very positive to me!

I used risky as a comparison, I don’t feel I am at a large risk overall. But greeting parents outside in the morning was certainly less risky than physically restraining a child, which I had to do before lunchtime.

I’ve also had to cover a few different bubbles since reopening due to staff absence (not covid). I am happy to do this but again it’s more risky than gate duty.

WhyNot thanks for posting, it’s good to see the stats. What has happened in care homes is shocking.

You’re at no more risk than anybody working in a bubble all the time. They are at very little risk.

How are you at risk working with children (who are the smallest risk )in a place continuously cleaned, socially distanced beyond necessary with windows open..

Must be one of the safest environments to work.

Interesting to see cases rising in schools when schools are still closed to a lot of children.
That is with measures in place aimed to reduce infection surely this would be much larger if all schools just went back to normal a some posters seem to want ?

It is interesting that I haven't seen a single post regarding care homes/working in a care home on here. I wonder why that is?

I’m not comparing my risk with other staff, just comparing the risk of different elements of my own individual role.

And ours are not ‘socially distanced beyond necessary’. I work in the lower end of the school and we aren’t social distancing in bubbles as this isn’t recommended in the government guidelines. We are sticking to max group sizes and increasing hand washing as recommended.

@banjaxxed so what happens is my DD comes home from Covid ward and strips. I put her clothes in machine along with her scrub bag. But she still breathes and so do I. And I'm not sure if you know but the virus spreads through breath. The reason lots of medics have died and got sick is because they are near infected patients. So we may be asymptomatic but doesn't mean I'm not carrying the virus. And as the students I'm currently in school with are 16+ and not really children I would hate to pass anything on to them. And they pass it on to relatives.
Hope that makes things a bit clearer.

@mumsneedwine covid is spread through air borne droplets. Not simply breathing

Many many nhs workers come home and are in close contact with their children...

@havefunpeleton

It is interesting that I haven't seen a single post regarding care homes/working in a care home on here. I wonder why that is?

What do you think about it? I think care home residents and staff have been badly let down by the government and this has damaged trust.

At my school we have around a 20% uptake of places in some year classes and we are encouraging as many as possible to return. But some parents simply do not believe the government when they say it is safe.

We’ve been in my school for weeks and nobody has caught anything. I don’t call that risky.

@havefunpeleton and many have moved away from their families to protect them. For months on end. Do you know what, I'll scrap the mask. It's hot and annoying. If my droplets fall on the kids who cares. They'll be fine. No need for me to keep 2m away. I'll just breathe on them all. I'll be fine so why should I care about anyone else. Is that what you all want ?

Should just say classes, not year classes!

Of course I know it's droplet spread but there is still a chain of infection there - she has to catch it and be asymptomatic to pass if you you to and you be aysymptomic too for you then to spread it to others without anyone knowing you are ill.

What's the chances of that? Realistically?

It's certainly not 'v likely'

It's much more likely your DD would get it and the household isolates /get tested rather than you all running around asymptomatically.

Why on earth are you wearing a mask?

Applesaf but I’m sure those schools that have had outbreaks would feel it’s risky.
That’s good you don’t feel that way but doesn’t mean every person working in a school does.
If you work in ks1 where social distancing is very difficult that’s for more risk than upper school where children understand social distancing. Especially if your providing personal care.

@AppleSaf

We’ve been in my school for weeks and nobody has caught anything. I don’t call that risky.

Again, you seem to be deliberately misunderstanding my use of the word risky to compare. I am saying some parts of my role are riskier than others. The risk assessment my school has produced details this. You being with your bubble inside a classroom is riskier than being outside, so outside learning is encouraged. Doesn’t mean inside isn’t safe.

At no point have I said I believe I am at great risk.