Coronovirus IS transmitted in schools

[mosquitofeast]

And lots of teachers have died

I am just clarifying this, as I don't know how many times I have read on Mumsnet that this has never happened. I don't know where this misinformation is coming from, but its rubbish

It was transmitted several hundred times in my school (secondary)before lock down. Hundreds of children and dozens of staff were affected. Some have been seriously ill and have been left with long term health problems, such as low lung capacity and loss of hearing.

I am a teacher and I was infected at school. I did not use public transport, or go into any shops or other businesses for the whole of March, and I was living alone. The only time I was in any contact with anyone else was in school

A school near us (also secondary) had to close a week before school closures were announced, as so many teachers were infected.

Thankfully, no staff or student in our school died, although several students have lost parents, and many have lost grandparents. One of my sixthformers has withdrawn her university application as her mum has lost a lung and a leg and now can't run her home and care for her younger children on her own.

However, according to the union, around 200 school staff have dies to date, so we have just been lucky so far.

So please don't repost this fake news that "no one has ever caught covid in a school" - because |I have watched it happen in front of my eyes, and experienced it myself.

So if competent, educated parents were able to de register a child who was proven to do well during home learning,in lockdown, for a term, or 2, because of clinical vulnerability,it is hard to see how that would hurt anyone? As long as the child ( and the school) were happy?

@pontypridd

I'm a teacher and I couldn't care less about corona.

Well that's very selfish of you, isn't it Ophelia? Just because you're fine.

What about the kids with health conditions in your class? Or those with parents that are over 50, have underlying health conditions etc?

Just because you're OK with it all, doesn't mean that they should be. I thought teachers had empathy and cared for those that they worked for and with.

I dont recall the poster saying she didn't care about others, just that she wasn't worried herself. I am a teacher too and happy to go back to my role as well

herecomesthesun - deregistering a child wouldn't harm anyone - of course - but the child itself. Because the child will want to return to it's friends and familiar school eventually and if deregistered most likely won't have a place.

I want to say this as politely as possible, but I seriously doubt the risk assessment skills of someone who refused to shield when she was supposed to. And the empathy of a teacher who “couldn’t care less” about a virus that could be a huge threat to her pupils and their families.

@pontypridd

herecomesthesun - deregistering a child wouldn't harm anyone - of course - but the child itself. Because the child will want to return to it's friends and familiar school eventually and if deregistered most likely won't have a place.

I agree. I am thinking that one option could be (if changes in the stem were made) allowing only very temporary de registration for the clinically vulnerable. I think there is a lot to be gained by retaining a nominal affiliation to a school and classmates where an attachment has been made and I would do anything I could to support the school.

For example it would seem reasonable to me to allow vulnerable children /families not to have children in school if cases hit over 1000 per day in the month before return.

stem =system

Sorry to change direction, but this has just been posted on another thread.

It seems the government has already set up a process by which schools and settings will be blamed for the death of staff due to Covid.

AIBU to be shocked to the core by this?

www.gov.uk/guidance/steps-to-take-following-the-death-of-a-colleague-in-childrens-services

To be perfectly honest, it's nothing to do with whether I'm nice or not. I don't care what people think lf they don't know me. Also I didn't refuse to shield it's never been mandatory. I can do as I wish

However the reason I reply so vociferously on Mumsnet is I am just constantly horrified by the scaremongering and potentially damaging threads whereby everyone whips everyone up into a frenzy. And then the outcome is, that people are scared to send their kids to school ...and the most vulnerable students (who I teach by the way ) aren't there when they should be.

In real life I am very tolerant. I follow the guidelines, cover my face, keep distance etc etc and wouldn't put people at risk. I make my own choices for my family and they're in line with other consenting friends (who my kids have been at school with ).

However the reason I reply like I do - is that I feel incredibly strongly about the often ludicrous scaremongering.

If there are vulnerable children (proven by medical staff) no of course, I respect parents don't need to send kids in. If there are extremely vulnerable parents (again proven) I respect that.

But the vast majority of children need to be in school. And have to be in school. And should be subject to being penalised as a family of they are not in school as per the rules as they stand.

Corona is one virus which for the majority is not a massive risk but, the risk of children not being school is much bigger.

Posts like this and the scores and scores of panicking threads on here distort what people think, make them afraid and then THAT is putting children at risk for missing out on education.

So no, I'm not a horrible person and I respect the views of those in my life and strangers who I come across in person, and I don't risk anyone, BUT I think a lot of the things on here are very very disproportionate. And, as someone who works with the most vulnerable , I hate the fact that people online can potentially impact their right to an education.

Corona is one virus which for the majority is not a massive risk

Where do you get this information from Ophelia?

@pontypridd

Corona is one virus which for the majority is not a massive risk

Where do you get this information from Ophelia?

Oh for goodness sakes

I hate the fact that by burying their heads in the ground, the Covid deniers are going to cause those vulnerable children to end up with less teaching, less well planned and with lesser outcomes.

nellodee - that is it in a nutshell.

Where do you get this information from Ophelia?

You can get this information anywhere. It's not a massive risk for the majority because most people get mild to moderate symptoms or none at all. Surely everyone knows that by now?

@pontypridd

Corona is one virus which for the majority is not a massive risk

Where do you get this information from Ophelia?

The WHO for one.

@Diplidally

I want to say this as politely as possible, but I seriously doubt the risk assessment skills of someone who refused to shield when she was supposed to. And the empathy of a teacher who “couldn’t care less” about a virus that could be a huge threat to her pupils and their families.

As someone else has pointed out I never said I didn't care about others.

And shielding wasn't mandatory. It was very much my own decision and I thank you kindly to keep your comments about my own choices to yourself as they are absolutely nothing to do with you.

[quote Northernsoulgirl45]@SengaStrawberry how is it evrn possible to sd properly in school unless you have massive or excess classrooms or restrict numbers?
The teens round our way are often seen in large gangs with no concept of sd. Can't see it being different in school or on the wsy to school.
I am not bothered sbout my 7 yesr old returning to school as bubbles are small and they don't appear to be super spreaders. Community transmission fsirly low too.
However given the Times article. Bubble sizes 150+ students and teenage selfishness I worry about the return to school. We have a 14 and 16 year old who must return to school yet dh is extremely clinically vulnerable and I am clinically vulnerable.
Dd2 mental health is probably going to suffer returning to school as school is not her safe space but we have to do it or be fined.
I actually think optional online learning would be better for secondary.[/quote]
It’s not. I’m not worrying about it though as mine aren’t in the year groups that have to. Numbers are very low (1 in 18000 with the virus) and as long as we keep being careful in and out of school I see no reason it won’t be OK.

I want to say this as politely as possible, but I seriously doubt the risk assessment skills of someone who refused to shield when she was supposed to.

Given she doesn't seem to have caught the virus at her chosen level of protection, I'd say her personal risk assessment was pretty good.

@pontypridd

Corona is one virus which for the majority is not a massive risk

Where do you get this information from Ophelia?

You're contributing to the panic - can't you see?

Others have pointed out that you can very easily find out that what I have said is correct.

And therefore, my reason for posting as I do has been vindicated.

People don't understand / know / choose to accept the facts and then, panic is spread, and then...children are missing out on an education

And, as a teacher I despair and state, that the panic around Corona is causing more damage than the illness itself in the vast majority of cases.

@OpheliasCrayon whenever I read posts like yours from people purporting to be teachers, it makes me so pleased I have decided to keep my children off school and home educate till more is understood. I sincerely hope you are an anomaly amongst your profession (if indeed you are actually a teacher). To say you understand the risks and the situation Schools face, but will continue to teach is one thing. To be ignorant of basic maths and science and deny the facts of the situation when entrusted to educate the next generation makes you a poor example for the Teaching Profession.

Whilst individual risks are low, when we multiply those risks over the entire susceptible population, the effect is not small. People can (and should) be concerned about the effect of the pandemic on society without being in a personal panic.

[quote Oaktree55]@OpheliasCrayon whenever I read posts like yours from people purporting to be teachers, it makes me so pleased I have decided to keep my children off school and home educate till more is understood. I sincerely hope you are an anomaly amongst your profession (if indeed you are actually a teacher). To say you understand the risks and the situation Schools face, but will continue to teach is one thing. To be ignorant of basic maths and science and deny the facts of the situation when entrusted to educate the next generation makes you a poor example for the Teaching Profession.[/quote]
I am actually a teacher and, amongst friends and colleagues who also are I am afraid for you, I am not an anomaly. I can't speak for all, but all teachers I know feel as I do.

@SengaStrawberry
It’s not. I’m not worrying about it though as mine aren’t in the year groups that have to. Numbers are very low (1 in 18000 with the virus) and as long as we keep being careful in and out of school I see no reason it won’t be OK.

Numbers are apparently 1 in 1900 as of last week (fairly stable at the moment) (might be a typo above)

My concern is that if a school of 2000 gets together, then it is statistically likely to have that 1 infected person in it, and infections could rapidly pass to several other people before the index case is detected. Spread possible in corridors, on buses etc. We have enouth cases in the community (and rising in the past month) for significant concern.

But yes, much less of an issue in primary than secondary.

I am a teacher. I have not been spending a huge amount of time discussing Covid with the other teachers at my school, because I have been socially distancing from them. Those teachers I have been speaking to have been my friends, rather than random colleagues, and unsurprisingly have more similar opinions to me than a more varied cross section would.

Your choices are nothing to do with us but ours are everything to do with you. Ok got it!

Most posts aren’t scaremongering you be fair unless you read it that way. There are a lot of threads blanks insisting it’s all fine and absolutely safe and they are as unhelpful as scaremongering. I don’t listen to scaremongering it positive fake news Iook into the info shared and research it.

For example there’s a Science Daily article people keep sharing on here to prove its all ok, kids can’t spread it.

When you actually read it, it states this is only with social distancing and low transmission. There won’t be social distancing and where I live transmission is high.

The same was true of another much shared study I saw. And of course Gav’s propaganda yesterday came from an unfinished study based on social distancing that has since been found to say actually it won’t be safe in secondaries. But it got shared and praised a lot yesterday!

Fake and exaggerated news is wrong from both sides of an argument.

I’m actually straight down the middle and haven’t decided what to do yet.

But when I do it won’t be based on what I read here. It will be based on a logical level headed analysis of the situation in my area at the time. I very much doubt any parents base their final decision on that they read here.

Scuse the typos. Writing and doing three other things!