Government removes statement schools are not considered "high risk settings" in guidance.

[IloveJKRowling]

Reported in the TES

www.tes.com/news/Covid-dfe-cuts-schools-arent-high-risk-line-guidance

From the article:
"The government has removed a paragraph from its Covid guidance stating that schools are not considered "high risk settings".

The Department for Education (DfE) previously stated in its guidance for schools that Public Health England (PHE) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) advise that schools are not considered high risk work environments, and it is "therefore appropriate for teachers and other school staff to return to their workplace setting".

But following an update to the guidance today, this detail has vanished."

@Ecosse Can you share a source for that 307 figure please?

We won't know the actual cost of having school open as usual because we have no data from winter in a covid pandemic?

I've thought why can't screen be erected? They seem to be everywhere else, again volume getting sound through maybe an issue but surely it would be easier to erect and produce and use than many other ideas.

It's Russian roulette at the moment. We do not fully know the risk of a teacher and ta stuck in classes with several asymptomatic dc... Breathing at them.

I do know what the NHS is like in winter though, and it's not pretty.

Ecosse is very incorrect

I hate to be a doomed monger and I do genuinely feel hopefull once we get through winter but.

It's all too little too late to do anything in school.. It doesn't seem any plans are made at all for a calamity hitting us... They have fudged figures, they don't have any data... Making smaller classes? It needs to be implemented now!.. Oh how I wish like that Candy man I could move my family to somewhere hot over winter!

[quote Ecosse]@Hopeisathingwithfeathers

As I’ve said, teachers who have underlying health conditions should not be in school imo.

Teachers who do not have underlying health conditions and are under 65 have significantly more chance of dying in a car accident than from COVID.

Only 307 healthy people under the age of 65 have died with COVID.[/quote]
How many people under 65 have died altogether?

And what was counted as 'underlying conditions' when deeming people 'not healthy'? Asthma? Diabetes? Being overweight or obese? Treatment for cancer?Heart conditions?

Maybe it's just my school, but the staff room checklist of 'underlying conditions' is really quite long (we are all in, of course). Fpr those who are 'totally healthy', then your (unsourced0 307 figure may be reassuring ... but how many totally healthy people are there amongst the staff of the average school?

I don't feel sorry for the CMOs or DCMOs that signed that document, they must have known it was bullshit and that schools augment transmission. Why did they close schools in March then? As Matt Hancock has said already (in an interview with Kay Burley) "They had to as children spread the virus" They knew then.

@TheHouseonHauntedHill

I hate to be a doomed monger and I do genuinely feel hopefull once we get through winter but.

It's all too little too late to do anything in school.. It doesn't seem any plans are made at all for a calamity hitting us... They have fudged figures, they don't have any data... Making smaller classes? It needs to be implemented now!.. Oh how I wish like that Candy man I could move my family to somewhere hot over winter!

They can let us (ECV and parents who are able) educate children at home till March and then review.

That would cut risk to parents and thin out numbers remaining in class rooms at one stroke.

win win?

@Hopeisathingwithfeathers

The 309 figure is direct from the NHS- www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/COVID-19-total-announced-deaths-15-October-2020-weekly-file.xlsx

@cantkeepawayforever

There have been around 2500 deaths of people under 60.

www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/COVID-19-total-announced-deaths-15-October-2020-weekly-file.xlsx

Thanks for posting this @IloveJKRowling, wow. The "replacement paragraph also implies that admin staff may be able to wfh which is quite a shift (although will not effect a huge proportion of school staff especially in primary).

www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/covid-here-stay-even-develop-19095194
Considering the above, at what point would you happily teach a full class of DC?

@Beebityboo

Ffs. Suppose they don't want to be held accountable now shit is starting to/has hit the fan. I've just had enough .

Me too, we’ve spoken before quite a bit in DM and over posts - I imagine our views on this are very similar! And yet we’ve been gas-lighted by our own country for months 😡

@Marcellemouse

I would be more than happy to teach a class of DC as I know that my personal risk from COVID is very low to non existent.

@cantkeepawayforever exactly the underlying conditions - we used to as a country be very good at taking care of people. There are a lot of people around with underlying conditions, living very happy lives, set to continue in this was for many years. I think the expression is “being othered”???

@herecomesthsun absolutely.

Remote/blended learning for secondary (or as Wales have done yr 9 and above) from after half term.

All children get opportunity to have some time at school on rota basis to 'thin out' bubbles and contacts.

Primary schools also need better mitigations too.

@yeOldeTrout

Why, how do you know that masking stops virus transmission?

medium.com/*@drhassaballa*/new-research-on-masks-show-they-can-act-like-a-vaccine-5dbde9398dd4

And about a million other scientific papers by now. The director of the CDC thinks masks are more important tool for control than a vaccine.

Countries which adopted mask wearing early on have about 100x fewer deaths than us. And so on.

No credible scientist is against masks as a public health tool to stop the spread of coronavirus.

@herecomesthsun

progress

Yes but painfully slow. Do we have the time to wait patiently for them to catch up? 🍺 🍺 🍻 🤢

[quote Ecosse]@Marcellemouse

I would be more than happy to teach a class of DC as I know that my personal risk from COVID is very low to non existent.[/quote]
go on then, that might come in handy as teachers go off sick. We will await news of your new teaching career with baited breath.

@Ecosse are you a teacher?

@monkeytennis97

What about the vulnerable DC with no desk or facilities to work at home due to sit life-changing exams in 6 months?

Does the reduced life expectancy they will face from being out of school not matter because it’s not caused by COVID?

I’m a management consultant @monkeytennis97.

[quote monkeytennis97]@herecomesthsun absolutely.

Remote/blended learning for secondary (or as Wales have done yr 9 and above) from after half term.

All children get opportunity to have some time at school on rota basis to 'thin out' bubbles and contacts.

Primary schools also need better mitigations too.
[/quote]
I just don't understand why England won't do something similar. Why must they wait for the inevitable deaths and then change tact. I wish they had the slightest idea what it is like being a disabled parent with school-aged children right now. It is hell. Getting up every day with a smile, waving them off with a kiss, wondering...is it today? Will today be the day they bring it home and potentially end up without their mother?
Constantly waiting for the hammer to fall is an intolerable way to live and I walk around in a constant state of either rage/fear or complete sadness at what is happening.

Were you concerned about the reduced life expectancy et al pre Covid? I sure hope you signed Rashford's petition and voted accordingly at GEs.

Absolutely I was @Piggywaspushed. I am passionate about social mobility and have donated regularly to the Sutton Trust.

I voted Lib Dem at the last election.

@Beebityboo I get it. My DC is severely disabled (lives in a care home). We didn't see DC for 12 weeks over last lockdown. It was hideous for DH and I (both secondary teachers).