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?

Almost 10k pupils in self isolation in Birmingham:

www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/almost-10000-pupils-isolating-covid-19096865

A good way of keeping a level head through this is following Carl Heneghan on Twitter. If you look on his bio you can see all his credentials and the studies he is involved in. It’s a bit of a more balanced take on what’s happening 👍

@Sweeetcornbananaf

Everyone I know with kids has been of this opinion from the start. The idea that kids don’t spread this like wildfire is ludicrous. They are deliberately looking the other way. That said, I don’t want schools to close.

I have never been of the belief that children don't spread this virus like they do others anyone who actually believed that is bonkers. I, probably like many other millions of parents, sent my dc back to school fully knowing the risks to them and our family regarding covid but also having to weigh that up with the adverse effects missed education would have on them on long term. And before anyone chirps up with the "I don't care about vulnerable teachers card" to try and make me feel guilty its not like parents were given any other option were they?

"And if the children aren't showing symptoms the parents may assume that they caught it from work/shops/somewhere else rather than their child.
Add into that at juniors, the parents who did have a lot of contact with each other would often be socialising (and yes, still are because I see them at the pub when I go past) so they would assume that they had passed it between them.

Who are you going to think you caught it from? Your friend you went round for coffee and has a positive test, or your child who has seemed to be in perfect health throughout?"

This

Never I don't understand.

Literally from school to school the provison was vastly different. In a short 5 mile radius, some schools, pro actively prepared for lockdown, trained staff and carried on, on line? They asked around for lap tops, tech... Found out who had what and got on with it.

Some schools gave out weekly work.
Some schools pointed parents to twinkle.. It's those schools, who let everyone down imo have helped t force us into what we have now. Yes.

And.. Thousands of teachers followed the curriculum on line and also had their own families to look after... Whilst working.

@Piggywaspushed - do you have a link to that study in Bristol? Sounds interesting.

@Autumngoldleaf

Never I don't understand.

Literally from school to school the provison was vastly different. In a short 5 mile radius, some schools, pro actively prepared for lockdown, trained staff and carried on, on line? They asked around for lap tops, tech... Found out who had what and got on with it.

Some schools gave out weekly work.
Some schools pointed parents to twinkle.. It's those schools, who let everyone down imo have helped t force us into what we have now. Yes.

Some teachers were having to go into the hubs. You cant be expected to do that and be online. We had a few days to plan a system for the children. It was really a learning curve for all of us let alone coping with family situations. [ A member of mine had covid] My own children didn't have great experiences but we coped. I totally appreciated how hard it was for teachers to manage everything. There are contingencies now for learning online. No excuse if there is a 'this time round'

My kid got twinkl worksheets and I don’t feel her school let her down.

There’s an assumption by parents that if they weren’t happy with the school provision, no one was. And yet every school knows that whatever they offered, be it zoom lessons or twinkl worksheets, some parents weren’t happy. Too much, too little, too boring, too creative.

@Autumngoldleaf

And.. Thousands of teachers followed the curriculum on line and also had their own families to look after... Whilst working.

..and this just like everyone else.

I would blame the teachers. Don’t blame the government. Or your (Conservative?) MP. Or Boris. Just email and call and hound any teacher you can find, until you break them. Remember what we all said in May? Just totally harrass them until they break. I mean, we all went to school once, we could totally do it better. SLACKERS! getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/how-to-apply-for-teacher-training

See you in September. I imagine there’ll be a few spaces available.

• I mean, we all went to school once, we could totally do it better. SLACKERS! getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/how-to-apply-for-teacher-training* I gained QTS in June 2019 and have not been able to find a job locally in teaching.

I ended up working in a completely different job from October to February but have been out of work since this ended.

Not a specific link octopus but a Goggle search should bring up news articles. Unfortunately no findings for another 4 months yet...

Schools have been recognised as infection drivers in Northern Ireland.

Schools to close and tight new hospitality rules https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-54533643

[quote NeurotrashWarrior]Interesting article, in Ireland they're thinking of closing pubs and schools.

Coronavirus: Covid spike warning if schools and pubs stay open www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-54517791[/quote]
FFS. Not Ireland. Northern Ireland. Part of the UK.

It now seems we'll have a circuit breaker of at least two weeks for schools here in NI.

@Autumngoldleaf

And.. Thousands of teachers followed the curriculum on line and also had their own families to look after... Whilst working.

And thousands of parents tried to help their DC follow whatever curriculum was given to us by the teachers and look after their families and also whilst working! It wasn't specific to teachers you know to be doing all 3 at the same time we all had it shit 😒

Sensible decision in Northern Ireland.

So if it’s not spreading in schools why has Northern Ireland decided to close their schools

It's very clear schools are a main source of transmission. But I am not prepared to sacrifice our children's education. A two week break is one thing, but I do wonder whether an excuse will then be made to keep them closed longer.

I really thought schools would reopen in England after May half term, and was shocked that it was so limited and Y10s and 12s were ignored.

I guess primary schools could be closed, but that causes huge problems for working parents, as well as exposing younger children to abuse. But can we please keep schools open for Y10-13 as a minimum?

I guess primary schools could be closed, but that causes huge problems for working parents, as well as exposing younger children to abuse. But can we please keep schools open for Y10-13 as a minimum?

You guess primary schools could be closed because that doesn’t affect your exam year children.

Others with young children won’t want primaries closed as it affects them.

The government has to look at the bigger picture.

It really wouldn’t surprise me if Boris copies NI with the two week school closure thing. Once he’s officially denied it, it’ll quickly follow, I expect.

@Harrysblondie

A good way of keeping a level head through this is following Carl Heneghan on Twitter. If you look on his bio you can see all his credentials and the studies he is involved in. It’s a bit of a more balanced take on what’s happening 👍

Henghan is an outlier and cherry picks evidence to pursue a herd immunity and anti mask agenda. Most of the scientific establishment have repeatedly raised concerns about him and the extreme far right PR companies that back him and the lack of evidence based thinking is astounding. Not one to follow on Twitter!

Are we talking about the same Carl Heneghan? You know the one that forced the Gov to look at the dreadful full way the NHS was documenting stats?

Lack of evidence based thinking? His whole career is based on evidence based medicine and studies

Sorry if that doesn’t fit with your narrative. Not all of us think the sky is about to fall in

@2X4B523P

Sensible decision in Northern Ireland.

Why the hell are they not doing this here. I hope it puts pressure on the Governments here.

@cologne4711

It's very clear schools are a main source of transmission. But I am not prepared to sacrifice our children's education. A two week break is one thing, but I do wonder whether an excuse will then be made to keep them closed longer.

I really thought schools would reopen in England after May half term, and was shocked that it was so limited and Y10s and 12s were ignored.

I guess primary schools could be closed, but that causes huge problems for working parents, as well as exposing younger children to abuse. But can we please keep schools open for Y10-13 as a minimum?

This could be a matter of life or death. Think of the disadvantage of losing one parent or better still your only parent. They years you have mentioned are at most risk!

There is a study to suggest multi inflammatory syndrome can occur when a child has to fight off multiple viruses including covid 19.
Its been rare for children up to this point but imagine the classroom as a hotspot for all different viruses including the common cold! Deeply worrying.