Some reassuring news about schools being really safe

[TheAdventuresoftheWishingChair]

I know there's a huge amount of (justifiable) worry about schools going back soon and I saw a piece of news today which deserved it's own thread in case people wanted some nice news.

Public Health England has looked at the evidence from June when 1,646,000 pupils went back to 23,400 schools in total. They found just 67 cases of the virus as a result of that. Only 0.01% of schools actually experienced an outbreak. That means that not only are children exceptionally unlikely to suffer any serious effects from catching the virus if they do get it but they are also really, really likely to catch it or spread it around in school. I know that won't reassure absolutely everyone, particularly if you have a child with additional health needs, but it is so lovely to be able to look at the evidence and say that, in terms of this virus, schools are actually really low risk.

Story from here www.gov.uk/government/news/study-finds-very-low-numbers-of-covid-19-outbreaks-in-schools?utm_source=01ce0967-35e6-401b-92c7-8d5c486b1fe3&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=immediate

@walksen

Well according too phe outbreaks will be due to staff not SD outside of school, or Jenny harries not sticking to sd on coffee breaks ( if you are lucky enough to still have one!). Nothing at all to do with school guidance. So any education staff that end up in intensive care of worse will only have themselves to blame I guess.....🤔

Jenny Harries, whose previous hits include 'we don't need tests in the UK' and 'there's little risk to care homes'...

Not RFT but feel the need to add that our school did indeed have approx 110 pupils come through its doors between 15 June & 19 July. However there was a maximum of 20 children in the school building at any one time, with a cap on 10 children per classroom. There was a low incidence of Covid in the community at the time, and for most of that period the area was still on strict 'lockdown' (I think restaurants & pubs only began to open on 4th July).
The fact that there were no incidences of Covid in the school at this period does not lead me to the conclusion that there will be no transmission when we put the full complement of pupils and staff in the building (approx 300 people), full time, particularly if Covid starts to spread in the community.
There are too many variables to draw that conclusion.

There is no a debate about photocopier access before the start of term. Some subjects are dishing out work booklets only - just in case of teacher/pupil sickness and/or school closure. Alas, our photocopier person is term time only.

I now have three days to get my work booklet sorted and submitted for printing - yikes!

@Itisasecret

The issue with distance teaching. That’s all well and good until all the staff are at home in bed with a fever. If they’ve been signed off sick, they won’t be working.

MarshaBradyo I refer you to the above comment. How can teachers teach remotely if they're not well?

oophs sorry wrong thread

Long yep that makes sense I read and didn’t reply, rushing.

I’m not saying they should wfh if ill btw I am interested in what is likely to happen overall and couldn’t recall guidance.

There isn't any guidance re what happens if schools close. The only guidance is that schools need to be fully open. There is no plan B.

Did anyone else see the ominous little message in the PHE report that school staff should be careful about what they do outside school to avoid infecting their families and work places?

From the report itself:

"Staff members need to be more vigilant for exposure outside the school setting to protect themselves, their families and the educational setting."

So school staff are expected to behave differently outside of school because of the nature of their job? Outrageous.

@Barbie222

Did anyone else see the ominous little message in the PHE report that school staff should be careful about what they do outside school to avoid infecting their families and work places?

From the report itself:

"Staff members need to be more vigilant for exposure outside the school setting to protect themselves, their families and the educational setting."

So school staff are expected to behave differently outside of school because of the nature of their job? Outrageous.

Is that a backhanded admission of the transmission risks in school?

@Barbie222

It's odd because that completely flies in the face of the school is perfectly safe propaganda message.

Yes, @WhyNotMe40, it is.

I can’t think of anything teachers are likely to do outside school that would be more risky than being in a small stuffy room for hours each day with 30 other people.

But it is all going to be the staff's fault, of course! That's the plan! Until the next bit of science finally trickles across the Channel.

Yy to comments above.

1.) Most children weren't back. It was only a very small percentage of pupils compared to "normal." Personally, I was working in a tiny bubble of 9 reception children. That set-up is unlikely to be feasible in September.

2.) And again, what about the staff? I think we can all agree that the risk to children is minimal. But for the adults like myself...? I'll be back working daily with hundreds(!) of children and I'm not allowed to wear a mask.

Sky news is reporting an outbreak in a special needs school in Dundee. 17 members of staff and 2 pupils.

Oh ye. Kids don't spread anything. Staff are magically immune (or if you read the news, we dont even exist).

This is the start of it. I think we can expect many more schools to have outbreaks. Its inevitable. The government can say what they like. The reality will kick in pretty soon.

The transmission warning for teachers is so that when there are outbreaks in schools, the Government start blaming the teachers for trying to have a normal life like anyone else.

The Dundee case appears to illustrate that opening schools does not pose a risk to health actually. The transmission has been detected through testing not because 17 teachers are in hospital. The amount of testing that's been done is massive, several hundreds tested, 19 cases.and Because of pupil needs some staff will have been in much closer contact with pupils and each other than in a school with mostly NT pupils.

I know some teachers appear to be hoping to never have to go back to the classroom but let's not be too doom laden.

@pandafunfactory don't be such an idiot. That is not what teachers want and you know it. All teachers want schools to be open but they would rather they didn't have to close again as quickly as the Dundee school (and I think there have been others too)

Also even if it just some students/staff self isolating for 2 weeks at a time, that is very disruptive. Work will have to be provided for the students at home. The teacher will have to be covered, and schools don't have the budget for that, so if more staff have to self isolate then there is a risk schools will have to close for a period of time due to lack of staff.

I think 6 teachers tested positive last week which prompted the wider testing. I know a lot of posters assume this is adults infecting each other but does anyone know if the kids were all tested or whether the 2 that were positive were the only ones with symptoms?

@pandafunfactory it proves that even if it doesnt spread fast between kids, it spreads between staff. That school had 185 kids, so 17 staff is a huge percentage of staff to be infected. What happens in my school where there are 130 staff members and 2000 kids and the staff move around a lot, and contrary to your belief we do come in close contact with those students every day?

Or does the staff just not matter? Can kids just teach themselves?

Wow @ineedaholidaynow I'm impressed you can speak for all teachers. I said some appear to want that. Read the endless posts on here and you will find evidence backing up that statement so leave off the personal insults please.

@walksen everybody who's been on site has been tested
@SqidgeBum the children have additional needs, there are a lot of staff inc additional professions on site

I haven't seen one teacher say they don't want schools to open, they just want them to open safely.

Sorry not RTFT but those stats show an average of 70 children per school. Not likely to be those kinds of numbers come September is it?