Article in The Times says Older Pupils Spread Virus Like Adults

[FlySheMust]

www.thetimes.co.uk/

Tory spokesman dodged questions about this on SKY this morning.

Is anyone actually surprised?

Why would anyone be surprised? I'd be more surprised that anyone would think they didn't.

No.

Well as over 11s are advised to wear masks in public places I’m sure the government are well aware.

Thankfully for me, as a secondary teacher, CV can’t penetrate the magical school bubble of the 220 over 10s I teach and the 15 pupils who will be 18 this academic year 🙄

It’s seems obvious that there is no logical reason why older pupils wouldn’t spread it like adults they can be the same size if not bigger than some adults. Will be interesting how Scotland fair in the coming weeks it seems like they are the experiment.

Not surprised at all. Think the bubble thing of a whole year in high schools will have to be adapted in due course.

So this is according to the very research Gavin Williamson was citing yesterday...which showed that spread was less likely in primaries. What an omission

@motherrunner

Well as over 11s are advised to wear masks in public places I’m sure the government are well aware.

Thankfully for me, as a secondary teacher, CV can’t penetrate the magical school bubble of the 220 over 10s I teach and the 15 pupils who will be 18 this academic year 🙄

Ah yes we're lucky buggers that the virus is clever enough to know the difference between a shop and a school building.

Not surprised at all by the headline.

My pupils are aged 16-20. Most of them 17 or 18. It’s a very good job the virus knows it’s a college and not Primark!

How anyone can stand there on telly and say this doesn't happen is beyond me.

So, do you all want schools to stay closed then ?

@Ickabog It’s because we teachers are so damn scary!

@isathal

So, do you all want schools to stay closed then ?

Looks at the replies on the thread

....

Not one of them mentions anything about keeping schools shut

....

But yeah obviously that's the only reason for sharing this article, because we all know that school staff planned the whole thing just so they could stay home on full pay doing fuck all.

@isathal no one has said they want schools to remain closed quite the contrary everyone agrees they need to be open to ALL pupils. Problem is achieving this while acknowledging there is a risk, rather than Williamson barking on that there is little evidence of transmission in schools. Proper measures need to be put in place. Government have had several months to think outside the box and come up with robust plans and guidelines, one which jumps to mind is blended learning and nation wide standards of home learning. Not ideal by any means but after all we are in a pandemic.

No shit Sherlock!

2000 staff and student in my school. 60% on public transport. Year group bubbles are a joke. It’s actually a whole school bubble+ siblings, parents, grandparents, friends, and all the people on public transport plus their bubbles/family/etc etc etc ad infinitum.

Do the maths.

@isathal

So, do you all want schools to stay closed then ?

FFS no, we don't. We want it to be safe for staff, students and their parents. Schools have none of the protections you have going to the supermarket, and at the moment I can't even see my parents inside, but I can have 30 kids in a room for a 2 hour lesson, with no distancing and only a tiny gap in the windows.

What we want is what should have been planned from the start; blended learning so we can have fewer students physically in school, we can give them meaningful input for a few days, and then they can spend a few days reinforcing their learning, practicing and working independently whilst we teach the other half of the school. The fact that the Government failed to plan for this means The Government has failed. Again. I can't believe people trust them...

Teachers have been asking for this for months, but we have had the Governemnt and some parents sticking their fingers in their ears shouting that we need a more 'can do' attitude. Well, I have a can do attitude, but I also understands how viruses spread and the impact this will have on consistant teaching.

Why do people insist on jumping into a thread discussing the nuances of managing this massive issue and wheeling out the hackneyed, "so you want schools to stay shut." As if it's a binary choice?
Surely we've moved on from that by now?

It's a scandal that GW and BJ used that report to repeat their 'schools are safe' (they have actually stopped saying safe : it's covid secure now) when they KNEW that that was not what the , as yet unpublished and unanalysed, and UNFINISHED) study said.

Allegedly, the researchers at PHE are livid that objective research they were carrying out ahs been used in this way.

I doubt either man has been anywhere near the report and , unfortunately, I just think GW is a bit thick and a lapdog.

Can anyone link to the front page so people can read it? I have read it but others will start commenting and opining on what they haven't read. I don't know how to do one of those token thingies.

@isathal

So, do you all want schools to stay closed then ?

I would actually turn this round the other way and say that anyone who is suggesting that schools should open under the current guidance really wants them to shut.

It is so obvious that teacher illness, pupil absence and Covid-related lockdowns will close schools (particularly secondary) very rapidly if current guidance is followed that I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that Us4Them is really a school closure campaign group. Either that or they have a weird anti-teacher fetish.

The Times' splash reports that secondary school pupils can transmit coronavirus as easily as adults, according to a study by Public Health England (PHE). The scientists, who studied thousands of pupils, believe that tougher rules may be needed for older children - who according to one of the paper's sources - are said to be the "most likely to get infected, have silent infection, transmit infection and get sicker". The Times also features the news that McDonald's is suing its British former boss, Steve Easterbrook, who it says was "one of the few Britons to have made it to the highest echelons of corporate America".

www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-53731214

Best as I could get at moment @Piggywaspushed

So sorry to have gatecrashed you thread. I will leave and never darken your thread again with my binary questions.

They've been saying since the start that ACE2 or something plays a apart in Covid and that children under 10 tend to have different levels and it's puberty reliant.

Don't know science but know it's relevant.

They've said children over 11 must wear masks in shops. Which of course is based on their mantra of following the science.

So no I'm not surprised the science says over 10's can spread it like adults do.

What I'm almost surprised about is that the government didn't think we'd notice science was different in general public and inside school walls.

But I guess their previous tactic of blaming unions and then teachers for the issues has worn thin and the truth is leaking through.

Are forgetting something else.

It's not the difference between shops and school buildings.

There's also the public transport.

The transport they don't want school children crowding on and that they have to wear masks on.

But arrive at crowded schools and remove masks 🤦🏼‍♀️

@cantkeepawayforever

I agree to some extent..

I note that many of the people making decisions are educating their children in private schools, with smaller class sizes, bigger buildings, more classrooms and unlimited funding for PPE/ extra sinks etc as needed.

The only caveat I would have with your theory is that so often in the field of human endeavour, incompetence and stupidity are better explanations of bad outcomes than malice.

People have patiently answered your question though is.

High levels of staff illness will close schools, just as it did in March. This should be avoided at all cost. It is so bloody obvious.