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.

Well, that's nice.

Teachers are constantly pointing out that what we are worried about is constant disruption of learning by constant two week isolation, bubble shutting. The children who need this education so much could end up with a severely disrupted education and there is no contingency planning.

This is not about fear of death. But fwiw , there hasn't really been time yet for anyone falling dead.

Sorry why would I lie no Inpatient on wards wear masks so believe or not it's a fact! Why would I lie?

In your first post you said outpatients don't wear masks.

Rupertpenrysmistress

Interesting because when I had to go to A&E everyone was wearing masks. Including the areas that were linked to it.

I said any patients I don't work in out patients I made an error then apologies. On my emergency admission ward patients do not wear masks that is a fact. So we protect them but do not get protection back.

Patients on my emergency admission ward do not wear masks end of.

This shouldn’t be a teachers vs parents thread. As I said up thread, the teachers and the pupils and the parents are all in a similar boat and at risk because our kids are also getting chucked into schools which have no measures in place to protect them. It should be a concern for all of us and we should be working together for solutions.

@Appuskidu I literally cannot believe that if you send a kid home from school with symptoms the parents can send them back without proof of a negative test. I hate to say it but there are parents who now won’t bother getting a test when they need to if they can’t be bothered, a minority, but still. I like to think that there is no one out there who would pretend their child was negative when they were positive.

I like to think that there is no one out there who would pretend their child was negative when they were positive.

I would like to think that, too, but after twenty odd years of teaching I’ve seen too much to believe it.

I am just gobsmacked that they have actually put that in the guidance though-it is so short sighted. What is the thinking there?!

I like to think that there is no one out there who would pretend their child was negative when they were positive.

As someone that has been vomited over because the parent sent their child in after they had been throwing up all night. I lack your faith in people.

Ha ha, I said “I like to think” not “I actually think”. I heard of someone who took a kid for a test and sent them into nursery pending the results!

Anniemabel

I am not having a go, honest.

And I do admire your faith in people.

Off the top of my head I can immediately think of several parents who would send a covid positive child to school. Some because they are in a terrible situation with childcare and work and others who just don’t care about rules.

I have developed a cough and have just booked a test for us all (I'm pretty certain it's just a cough but these are the procedures). We all have to pile in the car and drive 15 miles to our nearest test centre then wait at home until we receive the results. I'm expecting that to happen pretty quickly being an essential worker due at school on Tuesday, but it might not and for non-essential workers I suppose it might take longer.

I can very readily imagine a scenario in which parents would decide this was a load of nonsense and not bother with the testing bit at all. It's going to happen and some will be positive cases. We must be protected from the people who decide the rules are not for them (and there are clearly many of them).

I get you OP. DH and I went through the figures to see if I could give up work and it’s not possible.

I cried almost all of yesterday. I spent almost all the holiday preparing new schemes and I’ve hit a wall of anger and frustration. I’ve started having panic attacks when I think about work.

Are all the teachers falling dead in Scotland??? Because from the teachers POV on MN you would think so.
As a Scottish teacher I think you should withdraw that post @Backtobasics5 It shows a disgusting attitude towards other human beings. At minimum I will not be responding to any other posts by you, they don't exist to me anymore.

I have huge sympathy with the situation, but there is a lot of what aboutery going on. From both sides.

Partly because we all have different perception of risk and partly because we have different personal levels of risk.

Its all a bit late in the day to be honest. These issues should have been raised and addressed months ago to inform school risk assessments. With the assumption that, as for everyone, the assessments will be updated as new evidence dictates.

I am working on the assumption that my kids schools have done those risk assessments, making it as safe as they can. Nothing is 100% safe and no school can guarantee 0 covid cases.

I would hope those risk assessments take into account the needs of vulnerable staff. I don't expect to know this as it's private info.

Am I worried? Of course. Everything is a bit worrying at the moment. I just don't think it's going to be as horrendous as some fear. Easy for me to say? We're a high risk family. Dh is vulnerable and exposed to confirmed covid regularly. So I totally get the stress.

Role on a vaccine.

These issues should have been raised and addressed months ago to inform school risk assessments.

Do you think the unions haven't been raising them? Headteachers?

The government hasn't listened to anyone. You can see from their woeful handling of the results fiasco that they haven't taken advice from anyone on the ground.

@FrippEnos

Backtobasics5

The unions have already submitted requests for information and checklists.

Remember how well that went down?

Are all the teachers falling dead in Scotland??? Because from the teachers POV on MN you would think so.

Really I don't see any teachers mentioning death, that comes from those with no argument about what teachers are asking for.

We are trying to make things as safe as possible for the children and staff members and make sure that schools can stay open, unlike some schools in Scotland.

Well maybe you need to read a bit closer because COVID has caused a lot of deaths hence the teachers complaining.... I’m sure Scottish teachers feel the same as you. There’s a couple of weeks to go so we can hope.

Go and get a different job if you concerns are not what you can overcome

@tilder, another tone deaf post to add to the pile. It's an insult to suggest that school staff haven't been raising these concerns for months. Yes risk assessments have been done but nothing can compensate for allowing hundreds of pupils into schools at the some time, with bk space for social distancing and no PPE. It sort of sounds as if you're ready to blame the staff when it all goes tits up.

@GisAFag

Go and get a different job if you concerns are not what you can overcome

😂😂😂

Sage advice from another one who doesn't understand how school contracts work. Are you volunteering to pay extra tax to fund my Universal Credit claim @GisAFag? Us4Ourselves troll I suspect.

Do you think the unions haven't been raising them? Headteachers?

I have no idea. I'm not a teacher, I'm not privy to those discussions. I hope they were had and I would assume the resulting risk assessments take the conclusions into account.

Do I expect they have everything in them that the unions want? Hell no. Do I expect them to be as safe as they can be given current circumstances? Yes.

I would like to see random covid testing in schools though. I will write to my mp about that. Not that he ever replies to me!

Sorry to disappoint, but they're not as safe as they can be. This is what this government would have you assume.

Although for some reason there seems to have been little to no research into it, considering many countries declared finding Covid cases last year in December and even at the end of November, I think it’s relevant to consider that coronavirus was happily circulating undetected throughout December, January and February where all schools and businesses ran completely as normal and without all this fear. Of course I appreciate that things came to a peak in April and we had the lockdown requirement but the actual risk has not actually changed and if anything, treatments and wider understanding of public hygiene have improved outcomes and risk to 99% of people.

All schools I know are social distancing as best they can. One way systems, pick up and drop offs spaced out ect.. you will be in a bubble with your own class won't you? I don't see what more they can realistically do, they are children after all, and they need to get back to some education.