Secondary schools are totally stuffed, WELL-RESPECTED SCIENTISTS ADMIT

[noblegiraffe]

I don't normally get asked for an encore, more usually 'urgh, not another bloody thread', but per a request we have a follow-up to the resoundingly popular:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/4078722-Secondary-schools-are-fucked-BOFFINS-ADMIT

Feedback has been received and acted upon re the title so hopefully that will temper the urge to complain.

Quick round-up of where we were at:

1. the infection rate is now highest in secondary school pupils in Y7-11, higher than uni students and sixth formers. They're not catching it at the pub...
   
   
2. The government/ONS put out misleading figures to suggest that teachers weren't at higher risk than NHS frontline workers, where actually looking at the data, they may well be. They fudged this by calling the largest group of teachers, who are at higher risk than frontline NHS staff 'teachers of an unknown type' and pretended they were irrelevant.
   
   
3. The DfE have changed the format of their attendance statistics report to remove the reference to how many hundreds of thousands of kids are currently isolating due to exposure to covid at school.
   
   
4. Boffins are cool
   
   
   New info: The Guardian reports that teachers are being instructed to ignore app notifications to self-isolate by the school helpline and this might be a bad thing. They can't help themselves though, and have a lovely photo of a socially distanced classroom of lies at the top of the story.
   
   www.theguardian.com/education/2020/nov/16/union-says-teachers-in-england-being-told-to-pause-covid-app-in-school

[WhyNotMe40]

Kids don't wear masks in classrooms

[WhyNotMe40]

@YukoandHiro

Funny how you never see threads on here with people working in factories moaning about their rubbish coronavirus conditions - which are, as the spread data tells us, just as bad, actually probably much worse

Whataboutery
Also they should be wearing masks.
Students and teenagers are not allowed to wear masks in the classroom!

[TrashedMammoth]

Bonkerz I'd get a test, several positive people I know said headache was the main first symptom.

[Bonkerz]

I am positive.

[Bonkerz]

My whole family is positive.

[TrashedMammoth]

Ah sorry bonkerz I missed that.

[Donewith2020]

@YukoandHiro if anyone who works in a factory wants to start a thread/petition to say their employers aren't following covid rules (you know, masks, distancing, ventilation, numbers in a small room) I would love to support them. Hopefully it would be an easier fight because their employers would be breaking the law not to follow these rules, whereas in schools the government says not to.

So, on THIS thread, back to schools...

[TrashedMammoth]

You're absolutely right, just because there aren't hundreds of really ill teens and kids doesn't mean they're not taking it home, and asymptomatically, and giving it to adults.

Zoe Hyde had some interesting threads on twitter including a graphic that showed exact this iirc.

[HipTightOnions]

We have INSET on Friday. Groups of up to 20 in classrooms all day, and groupings change every couple of hours. No masks required, because they’re just for corridors.

[nicky2512]

Well we have had v few cases locally (though in N.I. so high overall) and I assumed if there was a case in ds’s school then anyone who had been in close proximity would isolate. Until last week. We got a message to say a teacher was positive but not one single person in the whole school (1300 plus) needed to isolate. The kids all know who it was and he had been teaching until immediately before so I’m baffled as to how that works.
Also there are seating plans for classes but ds says you can sit where you like at lunch.

[IceCreamAndCandyfloss]

@HipTightOnions

We have INSET on Friday. Groups of up to 20 in classrooms all day, and groupings change every couple of hours. No masks required, because they’re just for corridors.

You would think staff meetings and inset days would all be remote. Surely the teacher unions should be pushing that as health and safety.

[WindChimeTinkle]

Get real.

1. Kids need an education.
2. Kids needs to act like kids, not neurotic mumsnet hypochondriacs.
3. Covid is mild in vast majority of kids (and adults),
4. There is no miraculous way for hundreds of kids to be at school and stay socially distant.
5. Why do so many mumsnet types constantly moan about schools?

[TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince]

badive

The schools round here are all fine.

Hardly any cases, you sound like you have an agenda.


And how do you know this? Schools aren’t saying anything.

Scottish teachers are being balloted for strike action due to H and S

[HipTightOnions]

The kids all know who it was and he had been teaching until immediately before so I’m baffled as to how that works.

The school’s risk assessment will probably say all teachers are to remain 2m from pupils, hence not close contacts. This may or may not be true in practice, of course.

[Danglingmod]

It's all "multigenerational hours", is it?

Sounds like it's you who has an agenda.

[Danglingmod]

Garr... "Households"

[nicky2512]

HipTightOnions Ah so in theory was not close enough to anyone. Thank you.

[HipTightOnions]

You would think staff meetings and inset days would all be remote. Surely the teacher unions should be pushing that as health and safety.

Our RA says all meetings should be remote, and that was written in August when rates were low. Our union rep says “it is what it is”.

[Bonkerz]

@WindChimeTinkle

Get real.

1. Kids need an education.
2. Kids needs to act like kids, not neurotic mumsnet hypochondriacs.
3. Covid is mild in vast majority of kids (and adults),
4. There is no miraculous way for hundreds of kids to be at school and stay socially distant.
5. Why do so many mumsnet types constantly moan about schools?

Erm I thought this too until the weekend when my whole family has been tested positive. My youngest is fine but my middle and eldest are struggling and I've been wiped out totally.
Bit difficult to get real when you can't stand without vomiting 🤮

The only place we could have got this is from school but I swear it is definitely being hidden by department of health. Track and trace agreed but said it's down to dfh to report findings not them.

[Bonkerz]

Just as a thought too. My exh got covid 3 weeks ago now. Totally asymptotic the whole time. Works in retail. Track and trace didn't even want his work colleagues names etc because "effective PPE was in place in store". Strange that because 5 out of 9 staff are now off with covid!! This is an essential store but not a supermarket!!

[WindChimeTinkle]

@Bonkerz but you will get over it. No different to norovirus or countless other infections.

[Bonkerz]

Let's hope so. I have other health conditions and other factors that could lead to complications.

And 'get over it' makes it sound so simple.
My best friend is a nurse. Had corona in March. Is still off work with severe complications. I've seen a fit woman who cycled 10 miles to work and back a day hardly be able to walk to the end of her drive.

I thought the same as you at the start

[WindChimeTinkle]

@Bonkerz the problem is people see one person who are unwell but not the thousand others who had no symptoms. We only remember those who are "still struggling" weeks later. Many viruses cause longer term symptoms that can last for months. Mostly people recover 100%.

[Bonkerz]

[quote WindChimeTinkle]@Bonkerz the problem is people see one person who are unwell but not the thousand others who had no symptoms. We only remember those who are "still struggling" weeks later. Many viruses cause longer term symptoms that can last for months. Mostly people recover 100%.[/quote]
Do you not think it damages in other ways though other than health?

My buisness is now closed for 2 weeks affecting not just me but staff and service users and their families too. Applied for local grant but it doesn't look like I can access it despite my income being affected close to £700 and that's if I can start back in 2 weeks. If my users then have to isolate etc it could be weeks of no work for me.

[Bonkerz]

I'm passionate because it's affecting me right now.

3 weeks ago I'd have said the same as you.