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?

So dd school had a case and the letter said, single case.
The following day a new letter said, single case. This caused issues because everyone was confused... Was the letter a mistake then or a new case and if so, that wouldn't be single would it...

Staff rooms shouldn’t even really be used. Each teacher should lunch in their classroom. If teachers need a brief chat then masks on and a brief chat in a ventilated space. Or use of zoom social chats.

I’d refuse to use a staff room if I were a teacher and just use my classroom, or a classroom, or insist on my own room.

All pupils in secondary school in Ireland are required to wear masks. Not everyone is dodging the mask issue.

I’d refuse to use a staff room if I were a teacher and just use my classroom, or a classroom, or insist on my own room

“Or insist on my own room” 😂

Plenty of those kicking about in schools.

The government could have done better in helping education settings deal with covid and have not.

Our staff room is out of bounds. Thought that would be the norm.

Plenty of those kicking about in schools. This is the kind of sarky closed mind that causes unnecessary risks. Schools have loads of rooms! Called classrooms?! The sensible thing is to have lunch in the classroom with the teacher, and that be the only time masks are off but well ventilated. Or to let one class play outside, while teacher has lunch in the classroom, then class come in, teacher mask on, kids eat lunch in the classroom. It’s just basic common sense.

It clearly wasn’t enough that people with no fucking clue were telling us how to do our jobs. Now they’re telling us how to eat our lunches too.

@HipTightOnions where is all the aggression coming from? Do you not want to be safer in your job? Why do you think I have ‘no fucking clue’?

I refused to go into a classroom yesterday as the windows were shut. Lovely staff member (fellow teacher) opened them for me but had to cross the demarcation line at the front and climb on desks to access the window locks. Obviously the windows hadn't been opened in a while. This was my first time in that room as I was covering for an absent colleague... of course I have no idea why they were absent..the realities of schools.

@monkeytennis97 good for you. It’s a shame it had to be you insisting.This should just be the normal now, ventilation.

I would say less than 1% of kids wearing masks in communal areas- less so in lessons (2 kids out of the 250 plus that I teach).

Around 5% staff wearing masks/visor.

@IceCreamSummer20 the sad thing is I am in the minority. Schools feel the pressure to focus on 'catching up'(bloody stupid phrase) as this can become a lovely data trail so the messages are literally'now we are used to working during the pandemic we've got to crack on with the important stuff of getting all the data out to prove our existence'. Ask the majority of teachers about their training days at the beginning of the year, very few had any mention of Covid/new procedures etc beyond an email with the RA and a brief mention of it.

Just for information all secondary school students and staff in Ireland wear masks all of the time except for lunch. Students are not rebelling against this at all. It is possible. If anything it is teachers who were more against it, younger students seem to get it.

@monkeytennis97 it’s a shame and I feel for teachers and students. They deserve a basic level of safety which let’s face it isn’t rocket science, isn’t hard and totally doable. I’ve seen guidance recommending that opening of the windows and doors wide at break times is very good for upping ventilation - without freezing the whole class - so simple, so doable. But just not done. At the very least if someone has covid is lessens the ‘infectious dose’ so that if it is transmitted it is less serious.

Why do you think I have ‘no fucking clue’?

Well, you seem to think that schools have empty classrooms available for teachers’ personal use. Don’t you think that if this were true, the people who actually spend all day working in schools might have twigged this?

Ask the majority of teachers about their training days at the beginning of the year, very few had any mention of Covid/new procedures etc beyond an email with the RA and a brief mention of it.

Spot on.

Our risk assessment is impossible to implement so, surprise surprise, it’s not happening. It hasn’t been a focus and many staff haven’t read it.

I work in a secondary
Masks not allowed.
Told to restrict opening windows due to the cost of heating.
No staffroom anymore but we do have departmental workrooms that we have to use before school and during PPA as the year groups have zones so teachers move rooms and the kids only move for sets/options within their own zone.
We don't have our own classrooms any more which means lugging everything around and logging in fresh Every lesson.

@HipTightOnions

Why do you think I have ‘no fucking clue’?

Well, you seem to think that schools have empty classrooms available for teachers’ personal use. Don’t you think that if this were true, the people who actually spend all day working in schools might have twigged this?

Actually I said to use a classroom and if they refused to ask for a room. But yeah, it really makes you look like a reasonable person to swear at complete strangers on the internet and tell them that they have ‘no fucking clue’.

You don’t have a clue what you are talking about in regards to covid secure schools plainly. Didn’t need to swear or personally insult you to get that across. Not that you deserve any of my integrity.

Actually I said to use a classroom and if they refused to ask for a room.

I rest my case.

You don’t have a clue what you are talking about in regards to covid secure schools plainly.

I’m not sure where you get this from. I recognise that my school isn’t remotely Covid secure.

My room has no windows and a door which opens on to a windowless corridor.

Piggy

At my school (Primary) most of the kids are in and are fine. Attendance is the same as usual. The staff on the other hand are dropping like flies! Loads of bugs and colds going round! Good to see our virus reducing measures are working!

As for a staff room, my kids eat lunch in the classroom! The staff room is a godsend. Our school has used a spare room as a second staff room with max occupancy so it’s better than nothing!

@HipTightOnions

Actually I said to use a classroom and if they refused to ask for a room.

I rest my case.

You don’t have a clue what you are talking about in regards to covid secure schools plainly.

I’m not sure where you get this from. I recognise that my school isn’t remotely Covid secure.

So why the need to tell me that I had no fucking clue?

Really?

I am a human being you know. Made of flesh and blood. Would you have turned around to someone in a shop or at work who you disagreed with and said ‘you have no fucking clue’?

I bet not. Why not? Because it’s really upsetting and aggressive.

Why is it that some people become monsters on the internet when we are trying to debate a serious issue. Why do some people become utter children? It is really off putting anyone who is fairly reasonable and who doesn’t want to scream in an internet strangers face?

And by doing so. You completely side step and don’t even engage in a debate. By just closing my reasoned opinion down - you are trying to ‘win’ with aggression and bullying tactics.

Good debates result in a good reasoned argument and crucially, some pretty useful insights at the end of it. We all learn something.

That just doesn’t happen if someone tells another that they are ‘have no fucking clue’.

So go on... be brave and tell me exactly how you’d come up with better suggestions to keep your school and students safe?

Or are you just going to continue hiding with insults?

I am sorry I upset you IceCream, and I didn’t intend to “scream” or be aggressive. It is however very frustrating to be told how we should be doing our jobs, and now where we should eat lunch, when the suggestions are unworkable.

(There is no “my classroom” and no empty rooms. That’s just the reality of crowded schools and complicated timetables.)

Actually, I suspect you and I might agree in lots of ways about how things should be. For a start, I would like to see our RA adhered to - staff keeping distance, students kept in their “bubbles”, windows open, hands washed occasionally! There are no masks in my school and I think there should be. I would like a rota system and blended learning where possible - it certainly would be at my school.

We eat in the classroom with the kids 🤷 or in the little kitchen out the back. Not as nice as the staff room no, but perfectly doable.