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.

@Emeraldshamrock

So long as parents are maintaining 1 metre distancing, there is no issue at all with them chatting in the playground. The risk of transmission outdoors is very low.

We need to get out of this mindset that we all need to stay locked up in our homes forever and cannot have any social contact with anyone, ever.

It's an infant school. The junior school doesn't return until tomorrow.
It makes me so cross, knowing how much time teachers spent over the last month, trying to make it as safe as possible.

"So long as parents are maintaining 1 metre distancing, there is no issue at all with them chatting in the playground. "

Of course there's an issue! They've been told not to do it!

The extremely clinically vulnerable staff member in my school was told by the management they are not allowed a mask or visor as it’ll unsettle the children. They would definitely have Union support if they challenged this.

No one should be congregating on school playgrounds. People will not stay a metre apart and they will be poking their head around classroom doors to see their child in. I have seen parents walk straight into the classroom just before lockdown to complain knowing then that the virus was in circulation.

It was bad enough seeing the local secondary opening today with parents crowding by the gates at pick up time meaning all the students had to pass by them on the same crowded pathway.

@Cookiecrisps

I’m not quite clear what exactly the union would be supporting in that case given that there is no evidence that visors do anything at all and there is also no evidence that masks protect the wearer (the whole point is to protect others).

PPE has no place in schools except possibly on school buses imo.

@BostonCalling the extremely clinically vulnerable staff member is being prevented from wearing either a mask or a visor. This is what the union would be interested in. They will be required to sit next to children to read and Mark work with them. At least a visor offers some limited protection against a direct cough or sneeze in the face. The staff member should be given the option to wear it. Why PPE on school buses and not in corridors? Students will have to take the mask on and off when they get off the bus.

Pretty strong evidence emerging that masks in fact do protect you.

They don't stop you from catching the virus, but they dramatically increase the likelihood of you having a mild or asymptomatic case. Should put this on the good news thread.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=DANEqOPcDwc&t=298s

Ooh I didn't know that, I thoight they were to protect others.

I dont think my (adult) students would hear me very well if I had a mask on. Ive been offered a visor. Do these make any difference. I assumed not as they wont atop you breathing in infected air.

@PineappleUpsideDownCake

Ooh I didn't know that, I thoight they were to protect others.

I dont think my (adult) students would hear me very well if I had a mask on. Ive been offered a visor. Do these make any difference. I assumed not as they wont atop you breathing in infected air.

Don't really know much about visors one way or the other.

I do know that some of my teacher friends have bought masks with clear panels over the mouth from Amazon. They look pretty good!

Masks do protect the wearer to a degree (why do you think hospital staff wear them?)

Those masks with the clear mouth bit tend to fog up quickly.

I did wonder about condensation. Also probably not very nice to have plastic over your mouth all day.

We go back tmrw with the primary kids, no ppe and we have been told our classroom doors (fire doors) now need to remain closed as it's a fire risk. With windows that only open 2 inches, I'm sure it won't be long before we are ill!

I taught a lesson today in a mask and my lovely sixth formers wore them too (school has said masks only in corridors by choice for all and staff can wear visors). It was fine, just a couple of times when not clear enough/couldn't hear properly but I think that was more to do with the fact they were 2 metres away from me (quite a big classroom fortunately).

@Imsosorryalan75

We go back tmrw with the primary kids, no ppe and we have been told our classroom doors (fire doors) now need to remain closed as it's a fire risk. With windows that only open 2 inches, I'm sure it won't be long before we are ill!

Our fire doors have all been wedged open and the Head has amended our risk assessment to acknowledge this. They are closed at the end of each day, however.

@CallmeAngelina DH and I were discussing this earlier. The guidance is so bloody hopeless it's been translated every which way by every school so there are wildly different approaches... school about 0.5 miles from us are mandating masks in corridors, at ours it's optional. No consistency of approach.

I find it horrifying that extremely vulnerable people (shielding group) are being sent to teach at school now.

I think society as a whole should stand up and say that it's not acceptable.

Those poor, poor people.

@MrsKypp

I find it horrifying that extremely vulnerable people (shielding group) are being sent to teach at school now.

I think society as a whole should stand up and say that it's not acceptable.

Those poor, poor people.

“Stand up” and do what exactly?

I feel for them too but people can’t expect to stay home, not do their job, and be paid by the taxpayer for an indeterminate period, it just isn’t feasible. To be fair, I haven’t heard any shielding people suggest that. Presumably if their doctors sign them off as unfit for work they can claim sick pay.

A bit of imagination could have seen shielded teachers teach shielded children, or provide catch-up tutoring, from their homes.

@MrsKypp

I find it horrifying that extremely vulnerable people (shielding group) are being sent to teach at school now.

I think society as a whole should stand up and say that it's not acceptable.

Those poor, poor people.

Me too, I listed it in my letter to the head. Loads of reasons why we aren’t returning yet, this alone would be enough. Its awful.

@noblegiraffe

A bit of imagination could have seen shielded teachers teach shielded children, or provide catch-up tutoring, from their homes.

Exactly. They didn’t even try to use extra buildings, supply staff, parents that wanted to home school. All because they wanted to pretend things are normal now. Sad thing is, so many have believed it, I really hope the virus has miraculously mutated - I worry about what so many are sleep walking into.

Professor Alice Roberts tweeted this.

I think it’s more than this though, I think they don’t care.

:( care homes first now us.

I really cant see why though. Some extra precautions (like funding for soap...) would have been easy.

@Egghead68

I think it’s shocking that teachers in the extremely clinically vulnerable category are expected to return to work with no PPE.

It's bloody criminal.

Don't forget the previously shielding TAs. Especially as they may well be across bubbles and working with students who can't socially distance, or need assistance that involves getting close. Without PPE.