Wish I wasn't a teacher because of Covid

[NebularNerd]

In my family/friends circle, I am the only one who will be face to face with 150+ people per day with no PPE, no social distancing, nothing.

I have one relative who is not expecting to return to the office this year.
Another who now only works in the office two days per week, in a building where numbers are severely restricted, one way systems, spaced out desks etc.
Another friend who is also able to wfh for the foreseeable future.

I can't help but think that had I made a different career choice I would not now be faced with contracting a potentially life threatening virus and passing it on to my clinically extremely vulnerable husband or elderly parents.

I will go to work and try to ignore what's going on in the world and do my best. But I wish I could be made to feel safer - screens, masks, fewer pupils, something.

I hope I'm worrying for nothing, but it is getting difficult to sleep at night.

@Mistressiggi I’m in one of the jobs you mentioned and we moved seamlessly to remote working in March and have been more profitable than last yeAr. We are just getting on with it, from home. There is no need to go back.

The Venn diagram of posters who claim to worry about kids’ mental health and posters who don’t give a shit about children like my ds who is having to live with the effects on Covid is a perfect circle I swear to god

What I posted was rubbish? About the top 50 companies? No it absolutely wasn't.

@ineedaholidaynow

Many lessons have been learnt over the last few months. It was thought that people working in care homes didn't need PPE, we saw how well that worked out.

Everyone in NHS hospitals now have to wear masks.

Supermarkets now have screens, social distancing etc, and the local ones have had them months.

The rules for my DH's office return are very long and thorough, so much so that the majority of the staff are going to continue to WFH.

It just seems with schools that the rules and the lessons learnt don't apply and we have to start from the beginning and see how it goes, and then maybe bring in measures that seem to work elsewhere when it all goes pear shaped.

Absolutely this.

[quote Anniemabel]@Mistressiggi I’m in one of the jobs you mentioned and we moved seamlessly to remote working in March and have been more profitable than last yeAr. We are just getting on with it, from home. There is no need to go back.[/quote]
And I have zero problems with you doing that, I'm just wondering why this approach isn't viewed as over reacting, doom mongering etc when it comes to the many jobs that have not returned to the workplace?

Teachers are going back to work with nothing, so it's as if the last few months hasn't happened.

But that's the point isn't it? During the past few months numbers in the community have been drastically reduced.

Anniemabel

And that is all teachers on here are trying to get across.

If there is an outbreak in schools it won't stay there.

As we know that some parents will send their children in regardless like "and we know that children are asymptomatic yet can still spread it.
It seems ridiculous to just ignore the issues and say get on with it like the 'same names week in week out' (although some are changing names but are easy to spot) would like us to do.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/business-53901310
Link to bbc report I mentioned

*effects of Covid

(Blaming the mild stress of taking an 11 year old for a blood test because of the fucking Covid and the usually polite, mild mannered child hissing “what the fuck!” when he saw the blood come out. Huge love for the nurse who laughed and told him that was a perfectly appropriate reaction!)

We’re both wfh but still just as exposed as any teacher if not more so because it’s three schools not one.

I’m exposed to about 1200 kids from three different schools in my job and then I also have two kids of my own in different schools.

Secondary teacher here. Will have 150+ different pupils entering my room everyday. Advice and guidance is dubious to say the least.

That said, the thing I’m dreading the most is the feral behaviour. It was bad enough before...

@WouldBeGood

Here’s an indication of the actual risks

Risk of what? Death? What about the risk of not recovering? Do you have the stats for that? Because without those you have an incomplete and flawed risk assessment.

NB: The risk of not recovering from Covid is 1:10, based on the number of people reporting ongoing symptoms and the rate of non-recovery from previous viruses such as SARS.

WouldBeGood

And the police and prison service have been working throughout in close proximity without PPE.

I can't speak for the prison service, but it would certainly explain the pictures in the paper of police with face masks on at protests.
Except that it shows the opposite.

But measures are still in place elsewhere @macaroniinapot. It's not like in 2 weeks time after most schools in England are back Boris is suddenly going to say, no more restrictions anywhere we are going back to normal - or maybe he will who knows with Boris, and if he is it will be at 11pm as that is when he sends out any new guidance for schools.

FWIW I'm not particularly concerned about catching Covid at work as I know the risks are very small.
But teachers & school staff ARE expected to come to work with no protection. Other professions are provided with masks, shields, screens etc there is NOTHING like that for staff in my school. Dd is far better protected in her hospitality role, dsis is very well protected in a local council role, they're possibly a bit TOO cautious given the lower risk.
School staff are not protected, of course we'll all be back doing our jobs & doing them well but we aren't protected.

These posts just cause hostility Etc there are so many of these and everyone has a different opinion !!!! Unless you refuse to go to work there is nothing you can do why we have to have thread after thread about the same thing I don't know

@Mistressiggi I just meant they weren’t sending us back to the office because there is no need. Businesses are interested only in profit, many are finding they are just as profitable with us wfh and don’t therefore need us in the office potentially spreading it to each other and having to self isolate etc which would be bad for profit (which is all they care about). They aren’t keeping us at home to keep us safe!

Schools are completely different. They need to go back because remote learning didn’t work for many. It’s a shame for all of us (parents and teachers) that more is not being done to keep teachers and pupils safe.

The best we can all do as individuals is social distancing, hand washing and mask wearing so I’m just going to carry on with that and hope for the best.

Debating the risk of Covid is a different issue to discussing the lack of safety measures in place in schools.

If the risk of Covid is so tiny, everything should go back to normal everywhere.

But it hasn't. Why not?

And yes, the students and their families will also be at greater risk. This is not just about teachers. We should all be advocating for more safety in schools.

It is the same bloody conversation all the time and just causes rows I mean what does it achieve ?

@Ellsbells12

It is the same bloody conversation all the time and just causes rows I mean what does it achieve ?

Raising awareness. Hoping greater protection is mandated in schools, for the benefit no others.

Raising support for petitions such as this:

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/330227

Hoping government guidance changes before too many fall ill or worse.

What do you suggest op?

If we continue to keep children off school, there will be far bigger problems than covid within society.

The numbers are low.
If they rise schools will shut again. I think you have a pretty good deal.

If you can’t accept that children’s education must be prioritised, then maybe the profession is not for you.

I have worked throughout covid when the numbers were much higher.
I count myself lucky when I compare myself to friends that are now jobless due to redundancy.
I count myself lucky when I compare myself to minimum wage supermarket staff who worked throughout the pandemic when rates were high with no PPE.

As for teachers on this thread complaining they can’t see relatives that are vulnerable....

I have not seen vulnerable relatives since March, as I can’t put them at risk, but I need to work. So the common sense thing to do is that I don’t see them face to face.
I get on with it.
You can’t be expecting another six months off and on full pay, because you have vulnerable relatives.

Meanwhile the future of children in this country is lost, from a virus that most experts seem to agree they don’t seem to ‘super spread‘ , as was previously thought.

I’m not teacher bashing here.
I think most teachers know their value to society, and why they need to get back to the classroom.
I think most have worked hard Providing resources for home schooling throughout.

It’s just a minority who expect other professions to take risks, while they take none themselves, because they happen to know joe smith down the road who gets to work from home. (Without considering joe smith May be redundant next week, or his mental health may be very poor thanks to working in isolation).

It’s good to look around at the whole world. Think about What others have faced instead of focussing on yourself as the only person who has had to face some risk during this terrible time.

I haven't had 6 months off on full pay, who do you know who has had that? Furloughed people have been off, but not on full pay usually.
The choice is not between going back like this and not going back. There are ways to make going back safer - but then you know that already.

@Nowtherave

I'm a teacher too. IMO the risks are minuscule (depending on where you are I suppose). I can't wait to get back to school. The amount of hand wringing on here from teachers gives us all a bad name so I just want to put it out there and reassure parents that hopefully, you are not sending your kids back to petrified teachers. I know of one staff member out of about 40 in my federation who has this level of anxiety. I have kids myself and the worst thing about all of this is other people's anxiety. I'm more worried about them spreading that to my kids than Covid (and vice versa). I mean no offence at all to the OP but perhaps you should consider being signed off work if you cannot rationalise the risks involved. I hope you will feel better when you are back in the busy swing of things. PS you need to speak to your head if you are not allowed to wear PPE and have an individual RA done. Our federation allows staff to wear PPE if they wish.

Don't be an ignorant dickhead. Do not accuse someone who's rightly concerned about the risks for herself and her family of being mentally unwell. That's gaslighting. God shit like this makes me angry, you're so irresponsible.

@Catmanduu why do people read threads where teachers say they are concerned and then immediately ask them, don't you want schools to open? OP said she will go to work, she just wants to feel safer.

Oh dear lord. I’m a carer with 3 children. I’ve continued working throughout, the kids have continued going to school. My oh is a black hat on a power station working in very close proximity to 960 employees. He has to take two trains and two buses to get to work and back. We’ve been given no option but to carry on working the last 6 months the majority of teachers have been sat at home. No sympathy from me I’m afraid, that they’ve had the luxury of shielding for 6 months and are now complaining about having to go back to work in a relatively safe environment