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?

@Chickenandrice

Are schools really that important to the economy noblegiraffe? I don’t disagree with you I am just asking. As so many businesses are being closed “to protect schools” what is the reason from the government point of view? Is it because of the pressure fro usforthem?

childcare

@Belle0705

Why does every case need to end up in the local paper? Surely the effected families are notified. Why does the whole town need to know? Its not like its a surprise there's cases in the community. Are we going to continue losing our mind over every case?

I agree with this too. Yes we know there are cases in school, I'm not sure what benefit there is from every case being in the paper. There is unlikely to be some great conspiracy going on, just it no longer being newsworthy.

Well, as you can't make anywhere safe, then shall we close them all?

Don't be silly, of course not!

There are a whole range of additional measures which could be deployed - starting with all schools adopting the approach of CodexdiVinci in terms of notifications.

Proper decisions on exams for both 21 and 22

Masks in secondaries

Sort out the clusterfuck that is T&T

Proper planning for blended learning (ready for schools, particuiarly secondaries, in high tier areas), and switch to online - ie proper forward planning

‘Childcare’

Isn’t it only 8% of working adults? 8% of something. I remember early on teachers talking about how it wouldn’t be much of a consideration.

It’s more to do with education and what Whitty said

I find knowing if there are cases in other local schools a good indicator for predicting when our school will get one. If half the city schools had cases we would soon be next. But if only one or two schools have cases then our chances are still quite low.

We have one confirmed case in a member of staff but only that person has been sent home to isolate so there must be more cases to follow this week I expect. There is no social distancing going on at all. I think it’s impossible. I am quite worried about it so can only imagine how worried you would be as a teacher right now

Because its in the Times and I don't have a share token! October 10th. "The average age of those who have died from coronavirus in England and Wales since rhe start of the pandemic is 82.4 years old." Data from ONS.

@Chickenandrice

I find knowing if there are cases in other local schools a good indicator for predicting when our school will get one. If half the city schools had cases we would soon be next. But if only one or two schools have cases then our chances are still quite low.

Would you do anything differently knowing?

Probably not Marsha but other families with vulnerabilities might

@Chickenandrice

Are schools really that important to the economy noblegiraffe? I don’t disagree with you I am just asking. As so many businesses are being closed “to protect schools” what is the reason from the government point of view? Is it because of the pressure fro usforthem?

An educated population is beneficial to the economy, yes.

I’m not scared. It’s that the government have the cheek to decimate civil liberties, make it illegal to see family and they are destroying the economic future of this country. Whilst putting vulnerable teachers, parents and children at risk. They are lying and they are taking away freedoms because they’ve fucked up and are dishonest.

I look forward to the first round of legal action against them.

@MarshaBradyo

‘Childcare’

Isn’t it only 8% of working adults? 8% of something. I remember early on teachers talking about how it wouldn’t be much of a consideration.

It’s more to do with education and what Whitty said

Education doesn't have to be in schools, though.

I think the government wants "back to normal", kids in schools and parents in work. They wanted to tell people it was all safe now, and they didn't want to or couldn't put proper measures in places.

If they admit that schools aren't safe, they would have had to admit that workplaces and eating out weren't safe.

I really don't understand why kids, especially from vulnerable families are being forced back into unsafe school environments if they could be taught at home.

But it seems the government are very keen on this.

Some parents are desperately keen for schools to continue also, because they need the children to be in school to work/ had a bad experience in lockdown. And employers of parents would want the children to be in school, I suppose, so that their employees can work, so there is a business aspect.

It is hard to find detail with a quick google, but it looks like secondary schools in France have implemented mandatory face coverings for pupils and school staff. Yet numbers there are still sky rocketing. I don't know that masks are the answer. I definitely think that blended learning in secondaries needs to be attempted. However it will absolutely have to be effective and I just don't know that it will be. Teachers raised so many barriers to it being effective last time. I guess there needs to be detailed guidelines on what it should look like, especially for exam students. And more importantly, schools need to figure out how to give teachers time to organise high quality materials.

Here for many it does have to be in schools. Research showed how many lagged behind.

But I agree that for ECV it’s difficult. I’d consider whether the overall messaging is meant for me and make a personal decision.

Some parents are desperately keen for schools to continue also, because they need the children to be in school to work/ had a bad experience in lockdown

Or they recognise that schools with qualified teachers are the best places for their children to be educated.

If we don’t recognise education as important and better delivered in schools then children get let down hugely. It’s not about childcare for many.

I don’t think any information is being suppressed. We get far too much data for me to cope with. The fact is that all European countries are keeping their schools open and some are much deeper into the 2nd wave than us.

schools need to figure out how to give teachers time to organise high quality materials.

Schools with similar education boards could organise some of the on line material together , that would reduce work, for example

It must be so difficult for vulnerable families. It is crazy the government insisting vulnerable children and teachers are still safe in the north of England

@notevenat20

I don’t think any information is being suppressed. We get far too much data for me to cope with. The fact is that all European countries are keeping their schools open and some are much deeper into the 2nd wave than us.

I think there was a graph from the last Indie Sage that showed our case numbers catching up France and Spain and poised to overtake, though thankfully figures over the weekend have been stabilising. (Lets hope that's not just an artifact)

@atomicnotsoblonde the op never mentioned in first post isolating made it seem like cases , the two are very different

Do all of Europe have schools open?

so a bit of collateral damage from schools reopening can be justified

Why not come straight out and say 'death of exceptionally vulnerable DC, or just indefinite exclusion from school, which is OK because it's not my DC'

It is however mine

It's not the overwhelming vast majority though nether. I'm sorry about your kids and that must be hard. The figures for child deaths are almost imperceptibly low.

Do all of Europe have schools open?

As far as I know, yes. It’s both a short and long term disaster for a country to close its schools.