If masks work. Most places are supposedly covid safe. Why are cases rising.

[LetsPlayAGame20]

Genuine question that's juts popped into my mind.

Surely if cases are rising and majority are following rules. Why are cases rapidly increasing

Masks are a mitigation, not a cure.

@Disconnect, you are forgetting that schools also contain TEACHERS.

Masks are not some force field with 100% protection, it's about doing multiple things to reduce the overall risk.

I think people think masks are more effective than they are, so are doing less of the things we used to do. Social distancing seems almost non existent. Sanitising trollies and hands in supermarkets seems to be an optional extra now and our Asda has the sanitising station round a corner so you have to actively look for it.

I hate the term ‘covid secure’ it suggests that there is no risk of transmission entering into the premises which is nonsense. The risk of contracting it at 1m (ie in hospitality) is much higher than at 2m. So if you go for dinner and happen to be sitting at the next table to someone who is in their infectious period then your risk of catching it is much higher at 1m than if the 2m rule was imposed. I don’t know if the general public realise this all the time.

Also not all people are following the rules unfortunately.

@Nellodee - you managed to @ me and use bold, wow.
I do know teachers are in schools. My DC school has the safety of its teachers as its main priority. 4-5 positive cases in the school, 2 year groups sent home; none of the cases are teachers. The school have a legal obligation as an employer to keep their staff safe, and they are managing it at the moment.

CAPS not bold obvs before you nit pick

Therefore, the cases in 'educational settings' are mostly in colleges and universities, not schools.

The PHE surveillance report for last week says 'In week 38, there were 248 confirmed COVID-19 clusters or outbreaks in educational settings. The highest number of COVID-19 confirmed clusters or outbreaks were reported through secondary schools'

The graph shows much fewer outbreaks in colleges and universities. Obviously that will change with new data on Friday taking into account universities going back.

There are and have been loads of people not social distancing. Because the gov have given really mixed messages on what we should be doing.

@noblegiraffe - Yes, it will definitely change when they add in the hundreds of cases at colleges and universities this week!
I don't mean to minimise the figures, but 248 is not massive when you look at the number (tens of thousands of schools alone) of educational settings in the country (nurseries, schools, colleges, unis), if I have understood your graph correctly.

Barely anyone is following the guidance, and it changes so much even those trying to follow it get confused.

As I said, it is the legal obligation of the school as an employer to keep their staff safe.
As a parent, I want the teachers and pupils as safe as possible, but it is not my legal obligation to ensure this.
If a teacher does not feel safe at school their conflict is with their employer not the parents.
But it is easier to dump anger and frustration somewhere other than your employer because they pay the wages. On another thread, I talk about how the NHS staff and patients are being let down by Covid-19 transmission within hospitals. But that is fault of the NHS as the employer not the patients.

Because schools are not safe.

@stayathomer

Ps the other thing is that people don't go to get tested, you hear people saying I have a cough but it's not a covid cough, or I feel so crap but it's not covid, or I kept the kids off etc. Maybe none are covid but how are you sure unless you get a test?!

But we're also being told not to get a test unless we have Covid symptoms.

So in your example if you have a cough that's not a new, continuous cough, then the advice is that it's not Covid and you shouldn't get tested! So people who are going about their normal lives with this sort of cough are actually doing what they are told. If we want everyone to test if they are unsure, then we are back to needing more testing capability.

But we're also being told not to get a test unless we have Covid symptoms. So in your example if you have a cough that's not a new, continuous cough, then the advice is that it's not Covid and you shouldn't get tested! So people who are going about their normal lives with this sort of cough are actually doing what they are told. If we want everyone to test if they are unsure, then we are back to needing more testing capability
Yes, much more testing capability is needed. Plus I would be very reluctant to go to a walk-in test centre unless I was 99% sure I had coronavirus because by the looks of those places if you don't have it when you go in you will definitely have it when you leave.
I think the behaviour has gone from trying to get every cough and cold tested at the start of term and the not being able to in many cases, to now being disillusioned with testing.
I will be pissed off if any new fast turnaround tests get given to sporting venues and airports before the NHS and schools.

btw I would definitely get tested though - postal testing or drive-thru preferably, but walk-in would be a last, and very desperate, resort.

For everyone pouring over the “graphs” know that no one has a clue how many in England have covid because mostly only those with symptoms get a test (and even then have to battle to get one for several days). In more advanced countries, such as in Asia, where there has been mass testing, around 80% of those with covid had no symptoms. So wouldn’t be tested in England. So do not show on the graphs.

There is no social distancing in my school & the teachers are by far the worse culprits. They seem to think they’re immune. Very strange.

@Keepdistance

The piechart is actually clusters and outbreaks rather than cases. As we dont know cases in any setting.

It is schools.
As minimum teachers should teach in masks

Why should tea WJEC teach in masks? They are the ones at risk of serious illness. Masks protect the pupils from them. Classrooms would be much safer if pupils wore masks and teachers (keeping 2m away where possible And otherwise as far as practicable) didn’t.

There is no social distancing in my school & the teachers are by far the worse culprits. They seem to think they’re immune. Very strange.
Drive by most schools in the morning and afternoon and parents are as bad (amn't a teacher btw!)

All of the recent protestors who didn't social distance or wear masks.
Those people travelled there and back by public transport.
Young people out socialising in bars.
Families who mix with lots of other families against the rules.
The usual workplace transmission (factories, care homes..)
People returning on planes from abroad and not quarantining.
People getting on a plane to return to the UK knowing they have Covid (aka Super Idiots).
Plus students.
Lots of opportunity for transmission.

@LetsPlayAGame20

I guessed it would be schools, touch wood ds school and any local here haven't had any cases and I'm a large city. However they're meant to be covid secure.

In comparison there are 13,000 kids affected in my area and more thann 100 schools in 3 weeks - that's only the ones the paper knows about!

Multiple cases in my two DCs' secondaries. One had to self isolate.

In my son's class right now one boy's dad has it and another boy's sister, oh and a teacher, along with 3 bubbles out.

It's here alright. Major city.

That’s shit, middleager. Hope you all stay safe and manage with the disruption.

I live in an area with restrictions. I know at least 10 people this week who think the no mixing of houses rule doesn't apply to them.

Or, it won't matter because it's "only our Joan and Fred" and they don't mix much (yes, I know Joan was up the hospital, Fred went up the pub, both jumped on the bus, picked the grandkids up from school, had the carers round and had Joan lunch with her friend who was supposed to be SI but finished a bit earlier than recommended) but they are 'safe' they're our relatives. She might be a bit tired ahd he's got a cough but he says it's just a chest infection...

These are the sort of reassurances my family give. Nobody seems to bother as a little bending of the rules doesn't count because it's family....

@noblegiraffe

That’s shit, middleager. Hope you all stay safe and manage with the disruption.

Thanks. It's not great.

But likewise, I hope the same for you.
Teachers and support staff are trying so hard to keep schools going - at a personal cost. Thank you