Anyone think masks will need to be worn in school?

[Deardonkey]

As we are going to need to wear masks in more places from 8th August I was thinking about schools.
Does anyone else think they will be compulsory at secondary schools if they go back in September ?
I worry for my DS as he has ASD and other special needs, mask will make it difficult for him to both understand and be understood.

I think with more places needing masks more students will be used to wearing them, many of them will need to wear them on the school bus and so will wear them in class as will make them feel safer. Obviously there will be others who won't wear them, if it isn't mandatory.

If they do become mandatory then behaviour policies will have to be amended to cover behaviour for those who won't wear them sensibly etc. If they do become mandatory then there will obviously be exemptions for those who can't (as opposed to those who won't) wear them.

[quote mumsneedwine]@Koennt if teachers, and children, get sick schools will close. I have lost 2 colleagues at the start of lockdown and have a 16 year old student who now needs a lung transplant. I'm sorry if this is a bit inconvenient to you but people are dying. And getting v v long term sick. Children as well as adults. Transmission of all viruses in schools is rampant.
We can not keep schools open if we do not have enough staff healthy. I don't want this to happen but it will. [/quote]
Eh? It isn't inconvenient to me personally - as I said, I only have one child who's still at school, and her school says they are carrying on in September as they normally would. The inconvenience to me came in March, when lockdown was announced, and when I realised that I have no job and no income, and qualify for no benefits.

People die all the time, including people close to me (who have not died of Covid). Life has to carry on. Covid is no more or less than another risk factor.

I would put my non-existent salary on there being enough healthy teachers to ensure that the schools don't shut again.

[quote Fantasisa]And for those saying my post contains lies about children not being at risk. They are more likely to be hit by lightening than die of Covid 19. People are not keeping the threat in proportion.

You can disagree with me if you like, but it is harder to disagree with one of Cambridge's top mathematicians:

www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/06/09/school-age-children-likely-hit-lightning-die-coronavirus-oxbridge/[/quote]
A voice of sense amidst the hysteria. Thank you, Fantasisa.

@CallmeAngelina

I have reported *@Fantasisa*'s post, as it cites dangerous misinformation.

This is just your opinion, @CallmeAngelina and is therefore not worthy of reporting.

[quote Fantasisa]And for those saying my post contains lies about children not being at risk. They are more likely to be hit by lightening than die of Covid 19. People are not keeping the threat in proportion.

You can disagree with me if you like, but it is harder to disagree with one of Cambridge's top mathematicians:

www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/06/09/school-age-children-likely-hit-lightning-die-coronavirus-oxbridge/[/quote]
Can you tell me how a 15 year old is so vastly different to an 18 year old that it is impossible for them to transmit the virus?
Also, you are aware that it’s not just children who are in schools?

[quote Rosieposy4]@Fantasia I know of of several cases where it almost certainly was kid to teacher transmission. Boris has not collected this data so you have no basis for your statement.
In my case it would be very hard for it to be someone else other than a student.
I was in at school second week of Easter holidays for key worker children, developed covid under a week later. Had not been out at all other than to work, my 2 uni aged Dc at home had not left the house at all, even for exercise and my DH had been tested as negative ( work related) We were eating the contents of my larder and freezer and have a veg box and milk delivered so hadn’t been out to the shops. Very socially distanced from other staff in the same day, and there were very few of us.
A few days later one of my colleagues also developed covid, she hadn’t been in school on the same days as me, was also only going to work and not elsewhere.[/quote]
Well this simply cannot be true because some random on the internet says that there is not one single case in the entire world! Therefore you are telling lies.

@Fantasisa
Children and young people are not at risk and there has not been a single case globally where a schoolchild has passed it to an adult.

One of the most ridiculous statements I have read during this pandemic...

If I become ill with Covid (I hope not, but expect to) I'll be staying off as long as it takes to get fully better. If you'd prefer to have teachers in the classroom, I'd suggest you support any measure to promote their health.

Also it isn’t necessarily that children will die from it is that they will transmit it, to their families, to the staff in school.

Local schools to me nearly had to close before lockdown as they didn’t have enough teachers in. So it is quite likely we could be in the same position this winter too.

Children and young people are not at risk and there has not been a single case globally where a schoolchild has passed it to an adult.

Absolute nonsense, @Fantasisa.

I'm in the US and our schools will be starting up through distancing learning - but the plan for when in-person classes start is for everyone to wear a mask.

@Fantasia one of the original statements which people seem to have got hung up on was 'it seems that children are not adversely affected by the disease'. Then everyone stopped listening. It went on to say 'but they can transmit it very well' (a bit verbatim but you get the drift)

I work in a preschool and probably won't be wearing a mask but will have to see how it goes. If it means I will be keeping myself safe and I can see my mum I may well do.

Some of my A level lads are well over 6ft. What's the difference between a black, 6ft 3" 17 year old and a 5ft 10 28 year old? Just musing..

Is my A level student 'safe' because he's a child and they don't get Covid? In a high BAME school I worry about the safety of our pupils and would like to see masks made mandatory. The school down the road is insisting pupils will have to do so.

@bluesapphirestars by all means, if mask-wearing becomes mandatory, feel free to go without at your own risk.

@Koennt, families like mine, with two full time working parents, may have to come to the conclusion that one parent will have to cut their hours. Unfortunately it won't work for us with no breakfast club and the potential for schools to close and for us to go back to home schooling. I suspect my DH will be in the firing like. He'll have to home school so I can teach and take the hit himself. Of course, many families in which the teacher isn't the higher earner will ake different decisions.

@Fantasisa

And for those saying my post contains lies about children not being at risk. They are more likely to be hit by lightening than die of Covid 19. People are not keeping the threat in proportion.

You’re missing the point... I agree children are very low risk, but with 8.8 million at school each day there’s clearly the potential for children to be agents of spread into the wider community where the risks are much higher, even if most children are only mildly infectious.

My dd 16 has had it in the form of corona toes. Not sure if she passed it to anyone as it only surfaced when she'd been at home for a few days and she's a boarder.
We think we had it end of january, but not sure.
Yes, kids can get it and there's been a rise in cases of children.

Another thought occurs to me. I lost my DM nearly 5 years ago to cancer. If I had a parent in that situation now, I would definitely choose spending time with my them over going to work with no PPE and I'd go off sick if I had to, to so so.

Thing is... Schools have not been fully open. They've been a quarter open in the heat of summer. It is foolish to use data from lockdown with schools closed to prove full schools in autumn and winter will be the same. It's logical to see how unscientific a claim this is.

Schools should open part time. Give children an education and the socialisation they need with half sized classes and half the risks.

This might even mean far less isolation closures. It is easier for parents to plan around this than school closing repeatedly.

And I think that masks would definitely help slow transmission. Children in many other countries wear them. We're so weird to always focus on what we can't do and put so much energy into not doing something like wearing masks or not finding innovative ambitious solutions like part time lessons. What has happened to us as a nation.

One extra point. Purely stating death figures ignores those with long-term illness from this. Children and family they pass it to can have long term effects. My son has a condition that could be made life changing if he suffers the blood clots that a large number of patients suffer. Is it Ok if his life is much changed because he doesn't count as a death. Many other conditions affect many other children.

I live in an Asian country where wearing masks is the law. My children wear them to school and it's been fine. My son is autistic and has been fine to wear a mask though there are exemptions and he could (legally) not wear a mask because of his autism. Also his school (special needs school) has received exemptions so I gather they wear the masks less than at mainstream schools.

My youngest is at local school and is now so accustomed to wearing a mask, she often keeps wearing hers at home!

There are also shields you can get here which protect the face. A lot of young children wear those instead and could be useful for people with sensory issues.

It's obvious that opening schools as normal will increase cases. The only answer would be a vanishingly small number of covid cases, which many countries seem to be able to manage. England not so much.

The only answer would be a vanishingly small number of covid cases, which many countries seem to be able to manage. England not so much.

Even that’s not the answer... Australia has that a few weeks back, then it went wrong. We all had a vanishingly small number at the start of the year.

God I loathe the expression 'vanishingly small'. It's been used repeatedly on Mumsnet to criticise teachers.

Schools should open part time. Give children an education and the socialisation they need with half sized classes and half the risks.

@Mindy98, this could work well in theory. What I don't want is for my own children to have to attend childcare hubs so that I can work full time and therefore be at more risk than others.

If all children are to be back full-time I can't see how masks can't be at least considered.

So yes I think masks in school are coming, maybe not initially, but a couple of outbreaks in a big school and guidance will change.