The rate of infections in schools is being suppressed from public knowledge

[noblegiraffe]

...claims Karam Bales of the NEU.

I’m pretty sure I agree. When the newspapers are going mad about university cases and 13,000 kids and 700 teachers being off school in Birmingham doesn’t make national headlines, then something dodgy is going on.

This twitter thread collates all the evidence and is pretty damning twitter.com/karamballes/status/1315067136394625032?s=21

My own thoughts:
Why are the government ignoring the WHO recommendations on masks?
Why have they stopped PHE deciding who is sent home when there are cases in schools setting up their own helpline instead which sends home far fewer kids?
Why are the figures not being presented in a way that makes it clear which cases are in schools and not universities?
Why did Chris Whitty use a graph of test positivity rates instead of actual infection numbers in his briefing when it came to claiming that schools aren’t an issue?
Why are they insisting that children only get a test if they exhibit one of the three main adult symptoms, ignoring that the majority of children who test positive don’t have any of them?
Why are they insisting on vulnerable children being sent in with the threat of fines for non-attendance?
Why did they spend the summer pretending that unions were blocking the re-opening of schools and then paying social media influencers to say schools are safe, without taking any steps to ensure that they are?
Why did they announce a Plan B of rotas for schools in tiers of lockdown and then never actually use it?
Why did they say that an effective test and trace system was vital to opening schools and then also say they were surprised when demand increased when schools opened?
Why do they keep saying schools are a priority and that be the only thing they say about keeping them open?

And where the fuck is Gavin Williamson?

I think people working in schools can make their own risk assessment whether they are willing to take that risk.

Well you think wrong. CV teachers have been sent back to work. If they decided not to take that risk, they'd lose their jobs.

Not just frottaging in the playground at my place today. Fighting.

This is where teachers are made to feel like they’re going mad. Look at what JVT is saying should be avoided where possible.

And people talking about numbers of cases - kids aren’t being tested. They’re only supposed to get tested if they have one of three symptoms that the majority of covid-positive kids don’t have, and they are likely to be asymptomatic.

The rocketing cases in uni-aged kids are distorted by the fact that they are proactively testing asymptomatic uni students (like in Northumbria where only about 10% of cases had symptoms). What do people think would happen to the number of cases in schools if they tested close contacts?

We know from the ONS survey that y7-Y11 are the second highest age category for infections.

@noblegiraffe JVT also said that children just don't spread the disease. Are you saying that he is lying?

twitter.com/Dr2NisreenAlwan/status/1315710617794342912

I think epidemiologist Nisreen Alwan might beg to differ.

Neveradullmoment99 - or maybe, the majority of parents have looked at the stats, and personally assessed the risk, and feel that the benefit for their kids of being in school outweighs the risk to their family if the virus does get brought home?

I know its been said to death (no pun intended!) But life really isn't risk free and this is just another one that many people are doing their best to live alongside.

Plus, that's not exactly what he said...

I don’t think teachers have choice do they? They must be the profession which have the least protection at work. I really feel for them. University staff are mostly teaching online.

the majority of parents have looked at the stats, and personally assessed the risk, and feel that the benefit for their kids of being in school outweighs the risk to their family if the virus does get brought home

They may have assessed the risks to their own families, but other people - who may be at higher risk but in no position to do anything about it - are also affected.

I don’t think teachers have choice do they?

No choice, no.

The only “choice” is to leave, and we can’t even do that until Christmas.

I'm happy if it's true that under 16s aren't spreading it. I'm not a scientist and I've seen so many conflicting reports, I'm not sure what to believe.

I do know that there have been three cases in my school and over a hundred students are off now isolating. Their education is being disrupted and will continue to be as we move forward, despite so many wanting to carry on as normal. I'm surprised that this alone has not warranted news coverage, as it is a separate issue to whether or not school children spread the virus. The fact is that they are catching it and many more are having to miss school as a result.

Colleagues have also had to self isolate whilst awaiting test results which are slow in coming back.

There is no social distancing and I am often in crowded rooms and corridors and I and my colleagues feel anxious every day. The conditions we are forced to work in aren't good enough and this too deserves media coverage.

If the government's number one priority is keeping schools open then they should be supporting schools to do so. Again, these issues have not been reported anywhere.

JVT also said that children just don't spread the disease

He said that there was clear evidence that the age 16-29 group was spreading covid to the older age groups.

16,17,18 year olds all taught by me today, in school.

@HipTightOnions you can of course leave sooner. One of our teachers has just walked out. Now whether she will ever get a job in education again is another matter. It doesn’t help the school of course and there is even more cover to do.

Juststopswimming:
"the majority of parents have looked at the stats, and personally assessed the risk, and feel that the benefit for their kids of being in school outweighs the risk to their family if the virus does get brought home"
And how do you know? Nobody asked me, for example. As far as I remember, less than half parents send their children to school in June when there was a choice. I guess if the choice is given now, the proportion will be even lower.

Anecdotally my secondary school age ds tested positive. The rest of the family tested negative and none of us in the house caught it from him. None of his close contacts went on to have symptoms.

I know of a number of cases in local schools but they do seem to be limited to one or two cases. Not hearing about huge outbreaks, and even if the children are asymptomatic, surely you'd see huge swathes of teachers catching it.

I think JVT was saying that children aren't super spreaders and aren't driving up community transmission, not that they can't spread it at all.

Ok but you're surely talking about college age and sixth form in that case?

Not schools in general.

The very few cases our local schools have had have all been reported.

The very few cases our local schools have had have all been reported.

How do you know this?

@ohthegoats

I think people working in schools can make their own risk assessment whether they are willing to take that risk.

Well you think wrong. CV teachers have been sent back to work. If they decided not to take that risk, they'd lose their jobs.

All CV employees have been sent back to work, I know some CV people who work in care homes. 1 CV worked all the way through, 2 ECV and shielded 1 has returned 1 has decided to leave altogether. It does seem unfair but CV adults do have a choice whether to return to a school setting or not, choosing their health before income which of course is a horrendous choice to have to make but a choice nonetheless

Because our rates are very low, and I work in one of them. Staff talk etc.

@Notselfish

Ok but you're surely talking about college age and sixth form in that case?

Not schools in general.

That graph was only shown today and they are still fudging. 16 is Y11 so secondary, Y12 and 13 can also be secondary and they are lumped in the ‘problem group’ with uni students. We know cases in 10-19 year olds are rocketing (2nd graph) And we know that infections are increasing in Y7-11 (ONS survey, 2nd highest infection rate)

@Juststopswimming

Neveradullmoment99 - or maybe, the majority of parents have looked at the stats, and personally assessed the risk, and feel that the benefit for their kids of being in school outweighs the risk to their family if the virus does get brought home?

I know its been said to death (no pun intended!) But life really isn't risk free and this is just another one that many people are doing their best to live alongside.

Your pun feels a little flat here. Yes, I'm sure that the majority of parents have looked at the stats, and personally assessed the risk, and feel that the benefit for their kids of being in school outweighs the risk to their family if the virus does get brought home? ...but the rest of us have been given little choice. I shielded ds for 5 months, school said they would fine us if we kept him off, so we worked with the school, and he went back in. There was a scare in the 2nd week back with half his bubble off with symptoms. GP wrote letter saying ds should stay home due to medical needs. So we planned to pull him out this week, with plan for home learning in place... Today we were informed of a positive case in his bubble. So yes, life isn't risk free, but I have done my best to walk the tightrope of keeping my medically extremely vulnerable child away from this fucking virus, not get fined, maintain a relationship with the school and not lose ds's school place and all the support he gets...and it feels slightly fucking pointless.

ohthegoats

I think people working in schools can make their own risk assessment whether they are willing to take that risk.

Well you think wrong. CV teachers have been sent back to work. If they decided not to take that risk, they'd lose their jobs.

All CV employees have been sent back to work, I know some CV people who work in care homes. 1 CV worked all the way through, 2 ECV and shielded 1 has returned 1 has decided to leave altogether. It does seem unfair but CV adults do have a choice whether to return to a school setting or not, choosing their health before income which of course is a horrendous choice to have to make but a choice nonetheless

This is what I meant by choice.

I spotted that Nobel. Wonder what the heat map would look like with better age ranges?

Year 4 in my school has been sent home (one class of 29 kids) as their TA tested positive. I was told to ‘play it down for the kids’ sake’ and ignored my year 6 who noticed that parents were coming to year 4 classroom outside door and escorting their children off the premises for two weeks (where are they going miss? Why is year 4 leaving? Never you mind Leon, what’s 6x12?).

My best mate’s son has already been off two weeks at the beginning of term and last week started another two week stretch.

My son’s school have sent home half of year 10 and half of year 11.

We have three supply teachers in and two supply TAs because of positive tests or self isolating.

None of this is being reported in the local press.

Draw your own conclusions.