Schools open for half a term now with no serious cases...

[RubyandBen]

I know there's been lots of DC and teachers off either because they've had CV or been in close contact with someone who has. But it seems there hasn't been anyone very ill (hospital ill) because of this. So measures do appear to be working. As it's sounding like only the ecv are going to be getting vaccinated (if one ever appears), should just the DC with CV stay off school and parents be given the choice to keep their DC off if in the same bubble? Would be much less disruptive.

IndecentFeminist

Schools don't only include young people and children.
There are adults of a range of ages and vulnerability in most schools.

@converseandjeans

whyarewe I believe you. Sorry to hear about all those cases.

I think people are so desperate to have children in school they are in denial. I have 2 DC who are much better off in school. I really don't want school to close.

There seems to be a belief on MN that teachers are shirkers. We're now having to stream lessons home whilst teaching a class. Upload work for those missing. Whilst following safety guidelines.

I don't expect any clapping or a big fuss. Just that people would acknowledge the risk It's not just teachers tho is it - there's school bus drivers, cleaners, cooks, TAs, office staff, caretakers. None have the luxury of wfh.

Exactly this. The past month I've taught my lessons in person and simultaneously been streaming them home over Teams. I've been responding to questions in the classroom and over the chat function. I've done this while we lose frees to cover the 7 staff off with covid (caught at school!) because we can't get supply in. The children have caught it from one another in school. We have contained this as best we can.

I want schools to stay open. It is genuine a joy to have young people back in the classroom and it is their right to have an education. But the pretence that staff aren't catching covid in school is laughable and offensive.

My friend's 4 little ones could do with her not really having covid or having caught it at work

Bee in your bonnet, OP?

With no vaccination imminent, how long are we going to keep doing this? RubyandBen
Why were there only 61 people with CV in hospital in Nottingham yesterday? RubyandBen
Are we sacrificing the young to save the elderly? RubyandBen
It will be interesting to see the death rate from flu this year. RubyandBen
It's a nightmare, but how long can government continue to support businesses? RubyandBen
Would anyone support another national lockdown? RubyandBen
Schools open for half a term now with no serious cases... RubyandBen

Having just spent way too long isolating due to my DC nursery closing, reading comments on MN makes me realise how extremely lucky we are.
Not only am I bringing my children up to respect their teachers, I realise how pretty shitty their job is at the moment.
My DC2 has a fantastic teacher. She's been absolutely great whilst we've been isolating. Kept us up to date from everything from work provided to who won the class golden time.

He's made her a thank you card & written her a letter to say thank you. i've expressed my thanks already.
Reflecting on it, it's pretty shit. As I know she has children at home, a vulnerable parent & I know how difficult her job is at the best of times, without adding in all this Covid shit too.

So basically what I'm saying is, if my 6 year old knows to thank his teacher, why are some of the ''grown ups'' on mumsnet so shit at realising the difficult situation teachers are in?

@JellyBabiesSaveLives

Bee in your bonnet, OP?

With no vaccination imminent, how long are we going to keep doing this? RubyandBen
Why were there only 61 people with CV in hospital in Nottingham yesterday? RubyandBen
Are we sacrificing the young to save the elderly? RubyandBen
It will be interesting to see the death rate from flu this year. RubyandBen
It's a nightmare, but how long can government continue to support businesses? RubyandBen
Would anyone support another national lockdown? RubyandBen
Schools open for half a term now with no serious cases... RubyandBen

Hmmmmmm

@RunBackwards

There will, more than likely, be serious case in a school but that doesn't mean the person contracted the illness at school. In our LA the vast majority of school cases and closures have been one off or very small clusters around social activities outside of school. The school containment measures seem to be working and transmission inside schools is nowhere near as rife as some people insisted it would be.

I remember seeing this a little while ago about the spread of Covid and it sums it all up for me.

Bus driver - caught it at work.
Super market worker - caught it at work.
Office worker - caught it at work.
Teacher / TA - caught it down the pub / at the supermarket / in the shopping centre.

Covid is spreading in schools. The measures aimed at preventing the spread of Covid in schools are too few.

Some people want to take away the last few protections as it is, namely stopping the sending home of the whole bubble where there is no opportunity for social distancing or mask wearing and people are in close contact indoors for hours every day.

Worse than what herecomesthesun? In my LA there has been very little transmission inside schools. People in the school community have had it, most often older teens socialising outside of school or staff members living with their young adult children but very few cases of it being further transmitted in schools.

The only case in my school so far is a teacher who caught it from his teenage daughter who had been out partying. No one else in school caught it from him. Here, at least, the control measures worked.

@IndecentFeminist

The stats this evening seemed to show that the infections in young people are slowing.

The figures showed ages 10-19 and 20-29 didn't they? Still one of the highest rates of any groups though, but a downward curve for the last week or so on the graph

slides here

If Uni students are being tested and quarantined then presumably the figures for them would be going down (a really good thing).

It would be interesting to see a further breakdown of figures for year 7 -11 as the graph for that that I've seen suggests an upward trend.

Why can't it be both?

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/oct/20/coronavirus-400000-children-in-england-off-school-in-one-week

According to the guardian 400k kids were off school last week. That is 5% of the total student numbers in England. So 95% of kids still in school getting an education - just under 8 million.

And yet if 400,000 are self isolating, and 1% of those actually have Covid (the rest being part of a 250 person bubble, or at a school that can't stay open as not enough teachers) that is 4,000 positives. And if say, 10% are sick enough to be hospitalised, that's 400 kids seriously ill who lots of people know of and are frightened about.

I think 8 million kids back in school is a real achievement and benefit, for their education but also all the things that schools do beyond book learning - FSM, safeguarding, social contact for kids with poor MH, etc. It doesn't mean those 400,000 are forgotten about or trivialised but there are 8.3 million school age kids in this country and the more are in school the better.

And I say that as someone married to a teacher and who lives full time in a school with some positive cases. I can't escape the teachers or students even if I want to, I'm not even paid to be here taking this risk. So I'm not dismissing the risk at all. But it is still a small % of the overall numbers of students currently isolating, even if the raw numbers of kids off school seems large.

And yes, even though I've now caught Covid it still don't want schools closed. I do want this government to admit that schools are now Covid secure places and that staff, and some children, are at risk in them. I want some form of mitigation to be allowed in schools to protect staff and children. I want numbers to not be hidden and hushed up.

When my result came in my overriding emotion wasn't about how poorly I could have been, or how I'd been at risk from strokes and heart attacks due to the nature of the complication.

It was an overriding feeling of guilt. Phoning school to tell them was nerve wracking. Not because I thought my Ht would be an issue or blame me - but the guilt that I could have put others at risk unknowingly and that I could, depending on PHEs view, cause the closure of the whole school.

I've been mainly in bed for the past week. Even whilst in hospital I was responding to remote learning. This week, as some bubbles have closed due to more cases, I've been posting home learning from my bed and responding to parents.

I could just ignore and leave it for other staff, but everyone's busy too. Fortunately I am capable of answering and posting and it helps pass the time when I'm not really up to doing very much at home.

Im doing it because I care.

And to be fair to the parents - they don't know I'm ill. They don't know I have Covid and they don't know I was in hospital last week.

I don't know any staff who want schools closed. We are much preferring being at work, even with the weird circumstances. But an acknowledgment that we are not actually Covid safe would be a start!

@RunBackwards

Worse than what herecomesthesun? In my LA there has been very little transmission inside schools. People in the school community have had it, most often older teens socialising outside of school or staff members living with their young adult children but very few cases of it being further transmitted in schools.

The only case in my school so far is a teacher who caught it from his teenage daughter who had been out partying. No one else in school caught it from him. Here, at least, the control measures worked.

How are you so sure that transmission didn't take place in schools?

Many young people are asymptomatic. How do you know that other people in school haven't had this without testing whole classes?

How on earth would you be so sure what all other these people were doing in their spare time?

I think you should offer your services to Test and Trace as they need people with your skills of forensic deduction.

Yabu

Teachers are in hospital local to me, one only in their 20s. 2 in ICU. Our bubbles are bursting everywhere.

Is this a joke?

In my LA there has been very little transmission inside schools.

But we aren't testing children very much as they often, even when found to be positive, don't have symptoms.

So how do we really know?

I cannot see you soon for sure where I caught it.

It could be:

From Dh : he's had no symptoms before or since but goes to work (actually decadently Covid secure) so sees people

From 18y Dd : she's at university and has visited us. She's known of people in her block and in her course being positive although hasn't had direct contact. She hasn't had symptoms. My symptoms started before she came home though.

Local pub where we went for a meal: sat with friends at 1m+ and SDed further from others. Didn't leave my table at all. Neither friend has had symptoms before or since. The friend I was closest to

It's not just the students and school staff though, it's who they may take it home to.

In my school teachers, TAs and lunchtime supervisors have all tested positive. 'Only' 2 children though who were both asymptomatic and both tested as their parents were positive. Two teachers were in intensive case luckily now ok. Many bubbles have isolated.

Nothing in the media I can't think why. We're in a tier 2 area can't imagine what it's really like in tier 3 schools

Posted too soon!

Only other place I've been is work. I work across school so with almost 300 young children with no SDing. I don't have close or direct contact with other staff, and I'm not linked to any bubble. Other staff have since tested positive as have some parents across school. No child has tested positive. Though many have sniffles and colds, not seem to be showing the big 3 symptoms so not being tested.

So I can't say for sure where I got it, but one place seems more likely than the others.

aragog well said. Agree with lots you have said.

I don't know any staff who want schools closed. We are much preferring being at work, even with the weird circumstances. But an acknowledgment that we are not actually Covid safe would be a start!

I'm just telling you what heads are reporting herecomesthesun. In most cases people do report that they they know where they caught it and schools are keeping meticulous records.

Of course there will be cases in schools, no one has ever tried to say there won't be or that the precautions can prevent any spread at all, but we're not seeing large clusters or super spreading in schools.

@RunBackwards

Of course there will be cases in schools, no one has ever tried to say there won't be or that the precautions can prevent any spread at all, but we're not seeing large clusters or super spreading in schools.

Just because you aren't hearing about it on the news, doesn't mean it's not happening!

As I said, my eldests DC school closed Friday due to numerous positive cases across 4 bubbles (at the time). There has been more confirmed positives since then.

But it seems there hasn't been anyone very ill (hospital ill) because of this.

It seems really stupid to start a whole thread based on a totally misinformed opinion. Go away.

the DC and teachers aren't becoming very unwell

What qualifies you to say that ?

I'm not basing this on what I'm hearing on the news Shitfuckoh, it what's being reported by headteachers at the weekly meeting with the LA.

*RubyandBen

*@WhyareWehardofthinking*sorry but I don't believe you.

I don't believe this!*

So dismissive. Op is either naive or goady. My money is on the latter.