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?

It could but also it possibly could have been from their kid 🤷‍♀️

Well that we will never know. I don't think being able to tell where you get infected is a conspiracy.

*not being able to tell

My DD’s best friend bought it home from school, no other explanation. The mum is extremely vulnerable and they haven’t been anywhere apart from walks in the countryside since March. Child was symptomless but another child in the class tested positive. The mum had what felt like very bad flu and the dad is now in hospital on oxygen, not in ICU yet thank goodness. He is 44 with no underlying conditions. They were even still antibacing the shopping for goodness sake! That was definitely caught by the child at school and transferred to her parents. Child is 8.

That’s awful worriedmum, I hope the make a full recovery. Janevaljane, I don’t think it’s a conspiracy I just think it’s easy for the government to ignore transmission in schools. Whether it’s deliberately ignoring or not I am not sure. But easy for them to ignore it.

To be honest I hope families like that, who have been forced to send their children to school with threats of fines, sue the government when all this is over, and the useless wanker that is Gavin Williamson personally!

They can't sue as they have no proof the child caught it at school.

Yes janevaljane unfortunately it can’t be proven. I think it is shocking shielding families are no given the choice just now to take their children out of school.

I’d like them to have a pretty good go! They haven’t been anywhere at all! Walks in the countryside, opening gates if necessary with gloves and antibac. No one in their right mind would suggest it wasn’t caught from
school.

There's no mass testing in schools or among the young as such and small studies aren't published yet, so we simply don't know.

Ds is going to do the imperial Ipsos MORI test soon.

@neveradullmoment99

Personally I REALLY dont understand why people arent more worried about schools. They is absolutely no SD in school and putting aside the concerns that teachers may catch it, what about their children bringing it home? I have to say I am pretty shocked that noone seems concerned that their child could carry it back and potentially spread it to their family. Noone knows how their body will react and while its fine to say that its only the aged or those with underlying conditions the simple truth is we have no idea how it will affect an individual. We have no idea if we have underlying medical conditions that we are not aware of. Schools esp secondary schools are a haven for the virus spreading. Is it worth the loss of a parent? or a debilitating after effect that last for years? I really cannot believe the attitude of parents.

This

Dr John Campbell talks about evidence children spread the virus. All the studies he mentions are listed in the comments section.

So what you going to do? Shut the schools until there is a vaccine? This, some of us are shielding so everyone has to suffer stuff is nonsensical. Home school your kids if you need to, mine are happier, healthier and getting a better education at school!

@BillywilliamV careful, you're about to be called a teacher/granny murderer any minute now.

I don’t think anyone is suggesting closing schools

Rather improving their covid security (masks in secondaries) and improving T&T so it is fit for purpose

Shield group people don’t necessarily want to home school (and anyhow many people are not equipped to cover GCSE/A level options)

It’s wrong to ride roughshod over the vulnerable population? When actually what is needed is schools that are safe enough, and online back up when pupils need to SI

BBC reporting that over 1/5 of English secondaries have partial closures.

This is not a marginal/fringe issue. It is lots of pupils directly affected

@BillywilliamV

So what you going to do? Shut the schools until there is a vaccine? This, some of us are shielding so everyone has to suffer stuff is nonsensical. Home school your kids if you need to, mine are happier, healthier and getting a better education at school!

You have very firm opinions for someone trapped in a false dichotomy, and seemingly unaware that there is quite literally, a whole world of different approaches to learn from.

It's not an either/or choice.

I don't understand the logic behind "children don't spread COVID"

Are there any other illnesses that act in this way?

@StarCat2020

I don't understand the logic behind "children don't spread COVID"

Are there any other illnesses that act in this way?

There is no logic.

It’s wishful thinking - understandable, but unrealistic.

I don’t know if they do it don’t but why is it unrealistic?

The virus impacts children differently, theories around why they may spread it differently are in various studies too.

It’s not wishful thinking to refer to studies

And then this changes as children get older and get to adulthood

It’s unrealistic to insist “children don’t spread COVID” when the picture is unclear.

Sure don’t say that. But you can say children may not spread as much as adults based on various factors. Then go through those (something to do with ACE2 receptors, where it situates iirc don’t have it to hand)

Not sure if it has been said before here but the reason children are not so affected is I think to do with the ace2 receptors in the lungs which you don’t have in high quantities until puberty. Then they increase. I think this is the reason they are less likely to become infected, less severe infections, and less contagious. Although obviously we don’t really know as it’s a new virus and very little is certain. Personally I would still be erring on the side of caution.

I find all this talk about "do children transmit the virus" very amusing, when I am teaching in a school in which children are testing positive like dominos. The only way I think we could have faster spread is if we relocated to a cruise ship.

One week ago, we had no cases. Today, we have over 500 children isolating and over 20 positive cases. I don't know the exact amount, because only the first three cases made it to the newspaper. Cases are not doubling every week, more like every 2-3 days. We appear to me to have an internal R very similar to the one we had in March, and it's no surprise because we have no useful protection whatsoever!

But let's just keep discussing whether or not children can transmit, eh? Meanwhile, those of us working in explosive clusters in schools, will just keep on keeping on. Until we can't. Which will be very, very soon indeed.

Oh, and I do not live in any known "hotspot". My school is absolutely the epicentre and main cause of the spread in my council.