Track and trace told not to bother reporting cases amongst staff or pupils in schools

[NebularNerd]

This is a scandal. School staff are being thrown to the wolves. Remarkably short sighted given that students and staff will spread the virus in the community. The virus does not stop at the school gates.

twitter.com/parents_utd/status/1314972457888030721?s=21

I can't sing the praises of DCs' schools highly enough but how are teachers at any more risk than anyone else going out to work?

how are teachers at any more risk than anyone else going out to work?

Because mitigation measures are meant to be in place in every other workplace that don’t apply to schools.

No other workplace would be compliant with government guidelines by having over 30 people crammed into a poorly ventilated small room with no masks.

@noblegiraffe

how are teachers at any more risk than anyone else going out to work?

Because mitigation measures are meant to be in place in every other workplace that don’t apply to schools.

No other workplace would be compliant with government guidelines by having over 30 people crammed into a poorly ventilated small room with no masks.

Fair enough but the fact is, people are still catching it in pubs and restaurants, etc.

People in pubs and restaurants are choosing to be there and catching it from each other. There are measures in place to protect staff. How well they work, I’m not sure, but I don’t think they are expected to be in a small room in large groups with everyone facing them and breathing at them for an hour at a time.

Last time I went out to a restaurant there were screens and you had to wear masks when out of your seat.

Aside from the scandal that the health of school kids and staff is considered so unimportant, how short-sighted to not realise that if it's rife in schools, those pupils and staff will also be spreading it in the community.

I teach hundreds of children every week and amongst them are children with type 1 diabetes and cystic fibrosis. Wonderful children. Talented children. Absolutely delightful kids who have been born with vulnerabilities and their parents are trusting me to take care of them.
I want to say ‘look, please don’t put that trust in me right now, I have no control over the situation and can not promise you that they’ll be fine’.
What I have to say is ‘we are COVID secure and we have made the school as safe as possible’.
If anything happened to one of my students, I’d be devastated, and I feel as though I am letting them down.

Fair enough but the fact is, people are still catching it in pubs and restaurants, etc

Possibly so. But the evidence for that is a bit thin so far.
news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-contact-tracing-app-has-only-sent-one-alert-about-an-outbreak-in-a-venue-12099651

Meanwhile we've had multiple year group and even whole school closures in this area, and I see no evidence of any sort of SD among the students at the secondary school opposite me as they go past. Very predictable but doesn't suit the narrative. Ditto university students.
It's a mess.

Has the Twitter feed supplied the source for this ‘leak’ yet? Strange that it’s not headlines...also strange that it’s NHS Professionals it’s purporting to come from, who are generally known for supplying bank staff to cover shifts in hospitals.

My kids are at a large secondary in a northern city. A month in, there have been 6 positive tests among the children.

One of the caveats for schools going back was robust track and trace.

Now it's here, (and a bit shit, but they gov can say they have provided it), the data isn't being used.

That's because it would prove schools are unsafe.

I teach 28 year 1 children, forward facing and breathing towards me, the most vulnerable person in the room. All the handwashing in the world (and we spend a LOT of time on it) won't change that. What happens when the teachers start dying?

Also I really love being at work and definitely do NOT want schools to close. But pretending they are covid secure is laughable.

What happens when the teachers start dying?

We have figures from the peak in April - they were not an at risk group compared to many other occupational groupings. Not in the age or socioeconomic risk categories for the most part and majority female (less at risk to get severe COVID).

We are a month in, so we’d be seeing the hospital admissions and deaths now.

Not a shock. They knew full well that sending school kids and uni kids back would cause huge increases. In my area, we had tiny numbers of cases a week, no more than about 15 a week. Now the students are back and the school's too, we had 70 a week last week.
But they will shut pubs and restaurants.
In our school, we have had no bubbles sent home, our school seems to have taken the view of only doing so if someone is tested and is positive. As no one can seemingly get a test here, there are 36 kids isolating but no one sent home.

We are a month in, so we’d be seeing the hospital admissions and deaths now.

This is where it would be good to have some data comparing cases by occupation, so we can see which occupations are managing to reduce spread in the workplace and which aren't.

This is the pragmatic thing to do and is to as far as to stop testing in school settings altogether. However, I do agree that clinically vulnerable DC and staff should not be in school.

We should not be actively trying to prevent healthy DC from catching coronavirus except where there is an extremely vulnerable parent at home.

We have figures from the peak in April - they were not an at risk group compared to many other occupational groupings
You do know don't you that schools were closed then and had been for some weeks?

What happens when the teachers start dying? We have figures from the peak in April - they were not an at risk group compared to many other occupational groupings. Not in the age or socioeconomic risk categories for the most part and majority female (less at risk to get severe COVID).

They were not an 'at risk' group because they were mainly on a rota to teach key workers' children in very small groups in April, not teaching full classes of 30 with no social distancing! Most of our teaching was done outside,not in a poorly ventilated, overcrowded room.

If they outright stated that schools weren’t safe for vulnerable teachers and kids and told them not to come in, then parents would start pulling kids out who have vulnerable family members, others would get spooked and the whole facade would crumble.

@Gwynfluff

What happens when the teachers start dying?

We have figures from the peak in April - they were not an at risk group compared to many other occupational groupings. Not in the age or socioeconomic risk categories for the most part and majority female (less at risk to get severe COVID).

We are a month in, so we’d be seeing the hospital admissions and deaths now.

People don't actually need to die to mean schools are short staffed because of seriously ill adults.

Gwynfluff, in April I had 10 kids in my bubble and we were effectively distanced. It was warm, we taught outside.

Now have 32 kids, no real distancing and we are inside.

In April, those vulnerable children thatwere in had families that were by and large lockeddown, and older siblings that were not out and about or at school.

Now, those families are back atwork, or socially active and the older siblings are back at schooland roaming around.

On Friday a child in my class told me her older brother was waiting on a test result. We have no way of knowing if he is positive. We cannot ask for proof of a clear test. Kids are being sent in sick as their parents "know" it is a cold. In April, nobody sick was in school.

You cannot compare April to now.

I do think that a rota system which allowed for smaller classes would help enormously. However, parents would be up in arms around that as they see schools as childcare as much as education.

On Friday a child in my class told me her older brother was waiting on a test result
That child should have been at home until that result came!

How are schools supposed to know who is positive when children are the last priority to be tested? Ds school has pupils going off with symptoms in large amounts but they can't get a test, some are having to isolate for over a week before they manage to get a test & then at least 2-3 days to get the results, where is the logic in that? In the meantime the rest of the year bubble carries on & even when a bubble has a positive case they don't close the bubble down.

@thetoughhaveleft

On Friday a child in my class told me her older brother was waiting on a test result That child should have been at home until that result came!

This is quite normal in schools you know. I have literally lost count, the amount of times this has happened in setting.

You do know don't you that schools were closed then and had been for some weeks?

The peak was Easter weekend. Schools closed 20th March so dead on for the rolling 14-21 day incubation period and time to get ill. COVID was rife in urban areas for the 4 weeks after Feb half term and before lockdown. So if you look at the data from the peak - you have a good sense of who was catching it and dying. Security/transport staff were highest. Healthcare workers were very at risk (as it captured the pre PPE exposure).

Being old (above 70) is the biggest risk. Being poor is next and being male, obese etc are risk factors along with some health conditions.

Teachers tend to be female, of working age and relatively well off (compared to the groups dying). So they aren’t in the most at risk group.

Think they should be able to wear masks by the way and not opposed to a 2 week circuit break at half term.

Our local school have one confirmed case and it's sent everyone into a frenzy as a few staff have underlying health problems and a whole year group and staff are now out.
Same for the local comp.
What are the answers though? They have tried to make it ' covid secure' which is good , but clearly it didn't work that one time.
Anyone who thinks anywhere is totally ' covid secure' is a bit deluded.
Schools can't close again.
Such a dilemma all round isn't it?