Why is Covid affecting schools?

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Latest updates are there have now been 421 outbreaks in UK schools. How is this possible? From what the government was implying throughout August was that schools would be safe environments which Covid would be unable to affect. How we was told that children don’t spread the virus.

You could understand the odd case here and there but that seems very high when most schools have only been back for one week. I suspect this number is much higher due to the lag in testing and results and indeed the amount of people unable to even get a test. Also we’ve not had enough time to really see the effect of spreading within schools from asymptotic carriers, just what has been taken in from being caught elsewhere.

We are still officially in summer, what will the situation be once the weather turns colder? Once the community transmission increases with the R rate now above 1?

Because there is a massive body of people with pea--sized brains that don't seem to be able to understand that this is a VIRUS !

It won't go away because;

You are bored of it.
You want your kids to be in school
You want to go out and mix socially.
You need your kids to travel on public transport.

It's just bizarre. That anyone could not have seen this coming. It spreads in enclosed areas. Schools are enclosed areas.

The result will be that infections are going to continue to rise and a % of people will end up very very ill or die.

There is no other way this will play out as areas where people (kids and adults ) congregate in enclosed spaces as the weather gets colder.

Next week we are going to have a mini heat wave which will hopefully have an effect of a slight dip (but not much as schools will still be inside). Before a massive increase into the winter.

People are just being ridiculous to think they can have it all ways. If you want kids back in schools and pubs restaurants open then you have to accept that this will be a fatal choice for some. Even though your child will almost certainly sail through an infection he/she could pass it to someone they don't even know.

What IS for sure is that schools and universities being open is not going to control it in any shape or form.

The balance is simply between kids at schools and many elderly dead before they should be.

That's the choice.

@disorganisedsecretsquirrel exactly.

Nearly 3000 new cases again today. Of course the official line will be that no teachers caught the virus in schools and was somehow of their own making, rather than unsafe guidelines.

I can't understand why people say "they can't have caught it in school" as though that makes everything OK. Doesn't matter where they've "caught it" - it being in a school is the issue when schools are essentially just ploughing through as normal.
The "bubble" I teach in is 350. I supervised the resource centre today - around 100 people in one room for 2 hours. They aren't distancing and most aren't wearing masks.

I walked down a narrow corridor to my office - I had to squeeze past around 40 people. If one of them has "caught it elsewhere" it makes no odds - it's there now!

In lower school (I teach only in the 6th form bubble) we currently have 35 students sent home and either waiting for tests or simply isolation for 14 days. We also have 10 staff off.

In the 6th form, 2 students were sent home today and told to get a test.

We're supposed to have been given 10 (🙄) tests. No one has seen them. Parents are stressed becayae they can't get their kids tested

If many more staff go off then we will have to close at leat partially because we won't have a safe staff to student ratio

If any of the students I mix with on a daily basis, in close proximity, in crowded rooms with poor ventilation becomes unwell with covid, I suspect the chances are high that several of the rest of us will also be impacted.

Of course it's spreading in schools. How could it not?

It was always going to be this way, how could it not?

One of my sons teaches and he has had two of his form be sent home today. They have to get tested but given the issues with testing that may be some time.

From what the government was implying throughout August was that schools would be safe environments which Covid would be unable to affect. How we was told that children don’t spread the virus.

Seriously?! 🙈😬

It’s of no comfort to say they caught it before schools went back. It’s circulating widely in the community in most, if not all areas so it’s bound to get into schools where it will spread. We had hoped that they’d get numbers done really low over the summer but sadly that hasn’t happened. Some People will send in children with persistent coughs and temperatures and it will also spread while waiting for test results to come back as they don’t send the bubble home until then.

I’m a teacher in an FE college. Bubble of 500. I currently have 27 students in a room usually fit for 19- 22 absolute tops and that’s just one of my groups and not a unique situation. The windows on one side of the building don’t open, the other side opens (with limiters) onto an internal courtyard. They don’t have to social distance in the bubble, we’re supposed to- it’s not possible. Expressly told not to wear masks by the group CEO (equivalent of exec head). The college has over 3000 on site each day and only 4 cleaners after our last wave of redundancies. They can’t get round the whole building properly, so they are only doing high touch points with teaching staff expected to do the rest. We’re in a city centre with not enough staff parking so both staff and students commute into the city centre to get to the college. I’m honestly not sure why people are surprised that there are rising cases? There isn’t some magic Covid proof bubble around schools. Teachers and others have tried to make this clear but we’ve been told repeatedly that we’re not doing enough and don’t care. I do care- massively. The need to be back in school and I need to teach them properly to stand any chance of achieving a meaningful grade and qualification. There is a price to them being in school however and it will start to become clear in the next few weeks and months.

@BravoBilly

From what the government was implying throughout August was that schools would be safe environments which Covid would be unable to affect. How we was told that children don’t spread the virus.

Seriously?! 🙈😬

I’m not surprised with the way things are going, I started the thread as a sarcastic take on what the government were telling us.

I have to applaud these children that have somehow managed to infect their teachers with a virus before the start of term...

When there is evidence that the virus is spreading within schools rather than just people who attend schools are catching elsewhere in the community it will be worth talking about. At the minute all that is being shown is that cases caught in the community are being detected but not that further onward transmission in occurring in the school environment (if people are bringing the virus in but are not passing it on it really doesn't matter. Considering the cases currently being detected in schools are actually cases where the transmission event occurred elsewhere the use of masks within schools wouldn't have prevented them and neither would it have changed the outcome following their detection.
I also wonder how anyone thinks it is possible to have both part time in person learning in smaller groups and properly managed online learning considering there is only one set of teachers meaning that if they were teaching smaller groups in person they couldn't manage online learning. Especially at secondary the reality is a fully online system is likely to be better for learning outcomes than any realistic halfway house, meaning the only realistic options from the start was hoping schools could go back in a relatively normal manner or returning to online learning (as the middle ground wanted by many parents would be worse for pupils than solely online learning and would put a completely unreasonable workload onto teachers).

We have been lied to yet again (radio, tv, press, in the House...) that it was safe for children to go back to school. The way it’s going, some parents of secondary children are going to get very, very ill in the coming months.

On the same day as breaking international law, this is a very embarrassing and sad and SERIOUS situation this cabinet has led us into.

No confidence in Boris:Gove:Cum

Full time online learning for secondary is a horrible prospect. Fair enough if we are in lockdown and schools have been closed but not otherwise. Children need school not just for learning but for social aspects too.

I also wonder how anyone thinks it is possible to have both part time in person learning in smaller groups and properly managed online learning considering there is only one set of teachers meaning that if they were teaching smaller groups in person they couldn't manage online learning

Yes, this is what we were told. Still better than the poor kids stuck in their rooms learning online all day every day.

Why is Covid affecting schools ?

Hmmm 🤔.. now let me think ...

Could it possibly be that it's a fucking VIRUS that needs enclosed spaces and PEOPLE close together to spread it... now I wonder ... where could that possibly be ???

I despair ..
Are people really being deliberately thick in some kind of group 'wish-think' ?

It has been proven here in England that it is not a horrible prospect. A whole host of leading independent schools did it brilliantly. Like private hospitals supporting NHS, the government could have used these last 6 months to make sure Secondary online Live learning was world-beating. 100s of experienced experts here in England And it’s also going very well in some US schools if the Min of Ed does not want to look to Asia.

Social aspects = online I’m afraid for most teens. Did you not realise? This is 2020 not 1980.
And school venues could still be used for fortnightly meet-ups for home room/form time.

Social aspects = online I’m afraid for most teens.

Too much screen. Online learning plus socialising online.

@MadameBlobby
As long as people realise that part time in school means part time education full stop and therefore expect a simplified timetable with some subjects being ignored completely and others being taught by non specialists and don't expect teachers to manage online learning on top it could work. Unfortunately too many parents seem to believe it is a viable option for their children to be in school part time and being set meaningful work to do at home the rest of the time which is unrealistic. I would imagine such an approach would see learning focused on traditional subjects (English, Maths, Science, French etc) so could be extremely damaging for children whose strengths lie in the more creative subjects.

"Considering the cases currently being detected in schools are actually cases where the transmission event occurred elsewhere "

Bear in mind that there has been some very limited evidence of in school transmission in Scotland but I'm not really sure this is established or that common.

We'll probably be able to tell over the next month if or how easily covid spreads in "covid secure" schools. I think lots of secondaries had phased return for the first week but with numbers of community infections in Glasgow and greater Manchester rising there will soon be lots of data ( assuming testing can keep up)

Given the amount of kids on MN who have come down with colds after returning to school, we can assume school measures are not preventing the spread of respiratory diseases.

Statistical.

What other places are doing re in and out learning is simply teaching from home on one day or two days a week?

So on the in day, the teachers teach and the next day they are all at home and follow the time table from there.

@noblegiraffe

Given the amount of kids on MN who have come down with colds after returning to school, we can assume school measures are not preventing the spread of respiratory diseases.

Exactly

Noble, unless screens are everywhere and everyone in masks, Windows and doors wide open..

No! Washing hands won't inhibit corona droplets from entering the air and being breathed in by pupils and staff.. It's an airborne respitory virus.

My dc came down with colds also.

"My dc came down with colds also"

Did they catch it from their teachers though and
where is your evidence they caught it at school?