WHERE are people catching Covid?

[Summerfreeze]

I don't mean where in the country, I mean what settings? I know they lie a lot about it not spreading in schools but is there any data about where they are at least purporting that it's spreading?

So care homes are still affected? That's where the majority of deaths are coming from! What is going on???

Have you been in a care home? Generally small closed communities. Lots of very old, 85+, people in close proximity not able to wear masks. Lots of staff in and out. Careers, cooks, maintenance, cleaners, even without other visitors that's a lot of movement. Residents shout, they are deaf, you have to shout at them, more so with masks on, they need intimate care. They are very difficult to isolate unless bedridden. DM jumped her alarmed door mat to escape isolation. Funny, but not, they can't lock her in, so what do you do?

Eat out to help out apparently lulled some people into a false sense of security:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54666568

@kumquotorphysalis

A guy who heads up a couple of NHS trusts told me that 11-23 year olds are the key groups spreading the disease. He was surprised that younger children aren’t spreading it. But maybe primary school kids are good at sticking to their bubbles and are largely compliant to hand washing?

It’s secondary school kids and uni students who are apparently spreading it.

It was said very early on the 10 and under don't seem to spread it where they are normally super spreaders of flu.

That's the reason Scotland have said primary kids don't need to SD outside.

@Bluebellbike

Schools and universities. But they are staying open. Lock down isn't going to work then.

And it will be the publics fault for not following the rules

I had only known people over 70 who had died and they were in care homes or hospitals.

But in the past 4 weeks I have known of 2 people who have died in school settings one was 28 and the other 32/33 in different schools, one had no underlying conditions and the other had diabetes.

I also work in a school so this has shocked me as although I follow the rules I wouldn’t say the virus scared me or made me worry about my own health until now.

"But in the past 4 weeks I have known of 2 people who have died in school settings one was 28 and the other 32/33 in different schools, one had no underlying conditions and the other had diabetes."

That is terrible. I've seen most colleagues recover but some are still off after 3/4 weeks but cross fingers will pull through.

care home residents die in the winter, normally of the flu, or other respiratory diseases, ie this year it is covid.

In my DDs secondary school, there have been no cases that we know of. The school haven't told anybody to isolate.

The only person that I actually know, that has tested positive is a nurse, who was told she had been in contact with a positive case (patient). The school has been back since September with no cases. They update us every week and no cases yet.

The cases started rising in August when lockdown was stopped, they have obviously just risen as everyone has gone back to work and eating out, getting haircuts etc, not just because DC's have gone back to school.

I think Boris's ultimate plan is to lockdown for a month with just some people going to work and DC going to school. Then in December cases will have dropped, maybe Uni cases will have burned themselves out (they are already dropping in my area).

Then Boris will say "look it worked, cases have dropped even though DC are at school."

I do wholeheartedly agree with DC going to school, they can't miss any more education, especially the exam years.

The Zoe covid study has confirmed that cases already starting to plateau in the badly affected areas

@Signalbox

I work in a college in a Tier 3 area and it’s rife. People who have been in contact with a positive case are no longer being told to isolate

This isn’t true. I’m a contact tracer and everybody who is considered to be a “contact” is asked to isolate. There are several reasons why someone may not be considered to be a contact but working is a college isn’t one of them.

Well if it isn’t true I’d like to know why this has happened? Management said they are following Government guidelines. We were appalled.

The thing is, there is not enough data - or there is but posters here don't know of it- to show HOW the younger people are catching it.

It may be nothing to do with being in school or uni.

You just need to look at their behaviour on the streets to see how they can be catching and spreading it.

Even at the height of lockdown earlier this year, we saw groups of young people - in 3s and 4s- walking right next to each other when you were only allowed to walk/ exercise outside with someone in your family and it was VERY clear that those groups were not the same family. I also saw adults walking with other families in my village- I know who they are and they were not one family.

Our school closed after 4 days as 5 of the teachers tested positive. One of the teachers went to school at the start of term
Unwell and spread it. No children thank fully.

@GCAcademic

It’s rife in universities, and many students have not been self-isolating when they are supposed to. This includes using public transport, going to pubs and cafes, lots of house parties, etc.

"Some" universities, maybe. Plenty have very low infection rates. You also have to remember that many are in halls/flats of up to 14 people sharing cramped kitchens, bathrooms, etc., so if one student catches it, the chances are it will spread to the other 13, even if they've not been socialising and breaking rules. It's exactly the same reason as a lot of the spread in Northern towns back in August which was said to be due to multi-generational living in relatively small houses.

@Polkadotties

Of course it’s not from people sitting on beaches. The case levels were basically falling or flat until September when the schools/unis went back!

Cases started rising in August before schools/unis went back.

I would like to know if there's any evidence wearing glasses reduces the likelihood of catching, it's all very well wearing masks but the eyes are exposed to the aerosol transmission....

Anybody read any studies on this? (pondering whether to stick to contact lenses most days, or go back to glasses full time)

Well if it isn’t true I’d like to know why this has happened? Management said they are following Government guidelines. We were appalled

Ah I see what you mean now. I think this is the difference between Test and Trace telling individuals that they are a contact and the risk assessment of entire schools/classes in situation where there has been a student who has tested positive and there is uncertainty about who they have actually been in contact with. A "contact" has quite a specific definition in terms of Test and Trace so if other students or teachers names do not meet that definition or are not given to contact tracers when cases are contacted then they will not be told to self-isolate.

I think you are right that schools/colleges are being told to carry on as normal and that no-one should self-isolate unless they are individually contacted individually by T&T or unless there are multiple cases in which cases in which case the school would be escalated and risk assessed separately.

Here is the guidance:

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/928841/Symptomatic_children_action_list_SCHOOLS_FINAL_22-10.pdf

Ultimately they want schools to continue as normal and if they isolated a whole bubble of students every time one of them tested positive then this would not be possible.

Here in Leicestershire, the virus is mainly spreading in areas with high BAME populations and in & around universities. When you look at the government’s case maps it’s glaringly obvious what’s happening.

Cases were low & stable in Loughborough until the students came back, then they just exploded. Cases in the predominantly Asian areas of Leicester have been stubbornly high since June. Cases in the west of Leicester, which is predominantly white, have been much lower throughout the pandemic. Cases in North West Leicestershire & Melton where there are no students and very few BAME households have been much, much lower.

Ariela Interesting thought. I was thinking the other day as I put in and take out my lenses, whether there is a risk of contamination from my fingers, well of course there is, but how much? On the other hand, I find wearing contacts in the summer reduces hay fever, in fact I can't wear glasses if pollen is high, so do contacts in fact protect the eyes better than glasses?

@Signalbox at the beginning of term if we’d been in contact with someone positive, we received a letter from work confirming that we had been and telling us to isolate until whatever date. As time has passed and there have been increasing numbers of staff and students testing positive, we’ve just had a letter advising that we’ve been in contact. So, six hours in a classroom with someone who called in ill the following day and subsequently tested positive, is no longer enough to warrant self isolation. I think that rules are being bent.

So, six hours in a classroom with someone who called in ill the following day and subsequently tested positive, is no longer enough to warrant self isolation. I think that rules are being bent

I think these are now the rules for schools. Unless you are specifically named as a contact to contact tracers you will not be told to self-isolate. The government want to keep schools open and the only way they can achieve that is to only isolate 100% known contacts which in a classroom situation is difficult to do. But it's definitely counter intuitive especially if you are a teacher and you are more aware than most that social distancing isn't very easy in school/college settings.

People need to obey the current rules rather than bend them to make it suit their purpose , lots of people not wearing a mask or properly and very little enforcement

I find this very odd- surely you are more likely to catch the virus in a supermarket with all the touch points there?
How is it more dangerous to meet one person you know for a coffee lets say, or dinner indoors but it's safer to be in an enclosed space like Aldi or Tesco where people you do not know touch everything?
Are we taking mere exposure or viral load? Because it does not quite add up.

*talking

That pie chart at the start of this thread doesn’t give an accurate picture. That’s where outbreaks have been reported to public health England and then investigated.
It doesn’t tell you, for example, about transmission in people’s homes.. people having others over etc even within the rule of six.
Having a dinner party round a table for several hours with no mask wearing is more risky than going to a supermarket in a mask where you are having limited contact with other people in close proximity