We were doing ok until we opened all the schools....

[Bbq1]

After lockdown was lifted pre September and pubs, restaurants etc were opened we seemed to have a handle on Covid with cases, hospital admissions and deaths all declining fairly steadily. Since we released millions of school aged children and thousands of teachers etc back into the classroom- boom, cases and consequently deaths, are now growing very rapidly again. It didn't take a rocket scientist to work out that this would happen. I work in a school and I have a 15 year old starting his gcse's so I 100% don't want the schools to close but surely there must be a more workable solution? Couldn't schools be one week, one week off for different bubbles or alternate days? Nobody wants schools to shut but surely in the long term if we don't get something safer in place and just continue sending kids and adults in day after day, then eventually they will close again?

Wouldn’t not would

@NewnameNelly

I'm a teacher, we are getting no ppe and kids are not sanitising and using their rights not to. They are contributing and I can say this as week 2 and I'm off sick waiting on a covid home kit which has run out of stock. Great!

Awful.

@NewnameNelly

I'm a teacher, we are getting no ppe and kids are not sanitising and using their rights not to. They are contributing and I can say this as week 2 and I'm off sick waiting on a covid home kit which has run out of stock. Great!

That sounds hellish. I’m lucky that my pupils are very respectful and will sanitise their desks/hands, try to distance (when reminded 🤷‍♀️)

@1dayatatime

Of course cases have been rising because there has been more testing. There were on average 125jk tests a day in August compared to 240k tests a day in the lat week. Test more people and you get more cases especially if you combine this with the start of autumn. Still don't let such details stop you blaming children and young people or fabricating a rationale to close schools.

The death rates are low because more young people are now tested as infected (before you needed to be pretty seriously ill to get tested), some people have already been infected so have resistance and treatments have improved.

Sadly, that myth has been debunked - the rise in cases cannot be explained by the increase in testing. If that were to be the case, the 'test numbers' and 'positive case' graphs at coronavirus.data.gov.uk/ would be exactly the same shape, which they very obviously aren't.

The data thread is really informative for actual data and factual discussion in this area.

I don’t agree that primary children suffered the most. My two DC were in the GCSE and A level cohorts with no teaching whatsoever. The change in them now with one working (gap year) and the other (sixth form) is immense. I don’t want them to lose that unless absolutely necessary.

@Oly4

Not according to the Public Health England data

Ideas that phe said 21 percent of cases were schools and 5 percent were pubs and hospitality

I've been trying to get a home kit all day. My school is also not letting us wear masks or face shields.

@cantkeepawayforever

I’ve seen so many posts on MN where people are saying whilst schools are open I’m not prepared to limit my actions elsewhere etc etc.

That's exactly the issue - people think that if schools are open, they can do anything they like that is of 'equal risk' to mingling un-masked and without SD in schools...

Whereas IF they want schools to open in this way, that can ONLY happen is ALL other risks are minimised as far as possible. As a teacher, I isolate except for going to work, for example.

“You isolate except going to work”. Seems extreme. Do you mind my asking if you have a reason for this beyond reducing your overall risk? Do you live in a high incidence area/have you underlying conditions?

2X i don't know if he did it accidentally butnhe's played a blinder.

This is exactly what someone like him wants.

I despise the man, we wrote to our MP at the time. We are still disgusted. But I won't put my family or friends,or anyone else at risk because he did what he did.

@NewnameNelly are you in a union? You need to get onto them pronto

More tests = more cases - is it just a coincidence?

@NewnameNelly

I've been trying to get a home kit all day. My school is also not letting us wear masks or face shields.

Totally unacceptable. Why are you not allowed to wear them? We can here in Scotland. I have done but its hard to wear them for long periods of time especially when speaking. I would have worn a face shield happily but they seemingly need to be worn with a mask to be effective.

@goingdoolally I'm an NQT, so not yet. Honestly, it's making me want to take this year out. I feel so compromised.

I blame the parents as well. Mums were all huddled around for a chin-wag after sport training tonight - no SD.

It's totally wrong for the pubs etc to be open.
It's the behaviour & actions of the adults that haven given them the virus which they've then passed on to other people who in turn have passed it on to their children/grandchildren etc.
Then the poor kids are the ones being blamed for passing it on.

It's a bit like blaming children for getting norovirus & passing it on just because a few stupid parents flouted the rules & sent their poorly child into school & thus infected everyone else.
Or like punishing workers for being off sick forgetting that it was Steve/Claire who came into work with a stinking cold & passing it on to his colleagues.

I'm at home recovering from the covid that I caught at school. I've passed it on to my dh and dc. I'm not the only one from my school.

[quote NewnameNelly]@goingdoolally I'm an NQT, so not yet. Honestly, it's making me want to take this year out. I feel so compromised.[/quote]
Maybe you should.

EOTHO ended weeks ago, it’s the schools. We need to close them and go to online learning asap.

You isolate except going to work”. Seems extreme. Do you mind my asking if you have a reason for this beyond reducing your overall risk? Do you live in a high incidence area/have you underlying conditions?

I work in an obviously Covid-insecure workplace, with such close contact with over 30 children - and through them to their families - that my 'Covid risk budget' for each day is blown simply by the 10 or so hours that I spend there.

I have an underlying condition, and am over 50.

I obviously don't want to spread my daily risk to anyone else, nor do I think it sensible to take on any more risk. I do not isolate within my household, from my own family, but I avoid any other interactions except if absolutely essential (e.g. a medial appointment to which i had to accompany my daughter).

Each school is different, but my school has said no as it will make the children feel anxious. We can only wear them in communal areas. I'm teaching 5 classes a day of approximately 25 students in each class, so I'm around 125 kids a day and not including staff. I should be allowed to wear a mask the entire day, if BJ was proactive rather than reactive, we would not be in this situation.

@2X4B523P Oh my god!

@TracyBeakerSoYeah

It's totally wrong for the pubs etc to be open. It's the behaviour & actions of the adults that haven given them the virus which they've then passed on to other people who in turn have passed it on to their children/grandchildren etc. Then the poor kids are the ones being blamed for passing it on.

It's a bit like blaming children for getting norovirus & passing it on just because a few stupid parents flouted the rules & sent their poorly child into school & thus infected everyone else.
Or like punishing workers for being off sick forgetting that it was Steve/Claire who came into work with a stinking cold & passing it on to his colleagues.

No one blames the kids. I cant SD in the classes that I am in. Its so hard as you feel you are drawing attention to this whole shit mess and turning children away from you. It is crap.

[quote NewnameNelly]@goingdoolally I'm an NQT, so not yet. Honestly, it's making me want to take this year out. I feel so compromised.[/quote]
Are you in England? I think you can still join. Get some advice. NQT or not you shouldn’t have to put up with this. I know the pressure of not wanting to complain as an NQT, but this is your health on the line. Hopefully someone more experienced with this side of things can help.

Schools are back in my part of England and our rate is currently very low at 1.8 cases per 100k pop.

So I think perhaps it isn't necessarily about schools.

We've also had 2 kids waiting on tests last week for Covid. Obviously I'm not in, so I don't know if it has been confirmed or not.