As the majority of DC, teachers and parents of school age DC won't need hospitalisation

[Lucyandbet]

Why are so many people on MN so gleeful at the prospect of them shutting again? Aren't we focusing on the wrong age group to impose weeks/months more isolation and crappiness on? Why does everyone seem so happy at the prospect of shut schools?

@Lucyandbet

As an inpatient respiratory physiotherapist I have been working throughout on ITU, HDU and respiratory wards wearing a mask, gloves and plastic apron. My DCs teachers wear masks and visors if they wish, and are not allowed to pass a line in the class so cannot be within 2 m of a student. I hope this attitude is mainly on MN. My teacher friend (primary) is extremely worried about further school closures as a large number of her pupils are significantly behind where they need to be and this is a school in an affluent area with very few vulnerable DC.

If your DC's teachers are wearing masks in the classrooms, then they are going directly against DfE instructions. I don't want to see schools closed. But I do want decent safety measures in line with every other workplace.

@WouldBeGood

And I think it is a mumsnet attitude. The teachers I know are happy to be back and not frantically scaremongering

All the teachers I know too.

Though I think they are also very tired and frustrated with the isolating and online lessons too.

The only sensible way forward seems to be for individual schools to open and close depending on cases in area or school. Not a national closing of schools.

Vaccinations for school staff if they want then. To help stop the spread (and because I am fed up of them complaining about not being priority )

Or maybe diving suits and masks for all

@SantaAssociationRepresentitve

And the point of this thread is what?

To cause you to repeatedly bang your head against a wall in despair at a guess

It is about managing the spread. The more people get it across a population the more people will need hospitalisation. If hospitals get overwhelmed people will die needlessly and not just of covid.
It is about the risk across a population not the risk to individuals.

DS goes to a 1000 pupil school. No isolation for him since they went back in August.

They only isolate actual close contacts rather than whole classes, and it seems to have worked well.

We’re in Scotland though, so schools shut anyway now

@MrsMiaWallis

Many of these will likely be teachers or school staff or parents infected by DC in school

Data?

Why are you asking for data? I've seen you on many threads so know you've seen the graphs of cases in children skyrocketing. Where do you assume they are catching it if not at school?

Constant minimising of risks to children and school staff is harmful and irritating.

@Lucyandbet

As an inpatient respiratory physiotherapist I have been working throughout on ITU, HDU and respiratory wards wearing a mask, gloves and plastic apron. My DCs teachers wear masks and visors if they wish, and are not allowed to pass a line in the class so cannot be within 2 m of a student. I hope this attitude is mainly on MN. My teacher friend (primary) is extremely worried about further school closures as a large number of her pupils are significantly behind where they need to be and this is a school in an affluent area with very few vulnerable DC.

The government guidance actively cautions against wearing masks in the classroom so not all head teachers will allow staff to wear them. We are not allowed them in the primary where I work. We have to sit alongside children to mark their work and hear readers etc just like we would teach in normal times so in close contact with 30 children daily. The only difference is we need to sanitise hands 6x day and the children sit in rows facing the teacher. Although it is good to be able to teach in our normal way, it is a big risk in terms of potential Covid spread in the classroom.

At my children’s secondary school there is a box taped off on the floor for the teacher to stand and teach in but they regularly have to come out if it to deal with behaviour as well as students who are upset etc and it doesn’t take away the fact they are breathing in the same air when the classroom doesn’t have a window. The way some schools are set up can’t be extrapolated to mean that all schools are set up in the sane way to deal with Covid.

I am concerned for all the children I teach - their mental health, home life as well as their educational progress and I will carry on doing my job to the best of my ability but I am also concerned about my own family’s health and well-being. I am low risk on paper but so are many other people who are suffering with long Covid.

Being a respiratory physio working in ITU with Covid patients, I’d have thought you’d of all people would have understood the importance of reducing the spread...especially with two virulent new strains circulating?
Strange that you’re not advocating a more cautious and measured return to school, when school outbreaks are causing some of the biggest rises in cases, particularly in secondary.

We know that 377 people under 60 with no underlying conditions have died of COVID since March.

And we know exactly the type of person who is spreading this shit on the internet. Look on twitter, you're in the company of some truly terrible people.

Can you explain why autism, or mental health problems are underlying conditions which should be taken into consideration when looking at deaths from covid?

No, of course you can't.

**Lucyandbet

As an inpatient respiratory physiotherapist I have been working throughout on ITU, HDU and respiratory wards wearing a mask, gloves and plastic apron. My DCs teachers wear masks and visors if they wish, and are not allowed to pass a line in the class so cannot be within 2 m of a student.
I hope this attitude is mainly on MN. My teacher friend (primary) is extremely worried about further school closures as a large number of her pupils are significantly behind where they need to be and this is a school in an affluent area with very few vulnerable DC.**

I am glad my class will be in fully after Christmas, my own primary aged children won't be but we will manage.

I do wush people like you would stop posting crap about schools, I wouldn't dream of saying that your working conditions are x, y, z during covid because I have no experience of your role beyond what others say. You have clearly shown you have no idea what most schools are like but somehow think your opinion should be taken as fact by all. 🤔

There is no magic 2m line in my classroom, whilst I am luck I can wear a mask, no faceshields though, the kids pull them off. The sbeeze, cough, sput, bite, wipe saliva on surfaces, noses on me etc, etc. Yes I work with special needs but my collegues in mainstream classes have exactly the same even age 10 up. Classes are 30 plus in my school there is no social distancing unless teachers stand outside the window. So we have handwashing and windows open.

But I would still rather be in school than online.

There’s no evidence that the new mutation is “virulent”. It has not been shown to be more dangerous or deadly than any other mutation.

OP have you been vaccinated?

sherrystrull

Data to show that the 300 under 60s who have died with covid since March are teachers or school staff.

Teachers and pupils have conditions too that make them vulnerable.
When you're in a room with 30 other people, no mask, complain.
All people on MN doesn't exist as an opinion.
Try and read one of the 101 threads on the matter before adding your own.

What about the longer term health impacts. 3 of the 6 teachers/TAs I know that have had Covid are still suffering health problems months later and haven't been able to return to work full time. All in their 40s, no previous health issues.

We don't yet know the longer term impact on kids, especially as the new strain appears to infect them more readily.

@DBML

Being a respiratory physio working in ITU with Covid patients, I’d have thought you’d of all people would have understood the importance of reducing the spread...especially with two virulent new strains circulating? Strange that you’re not advocating a more cautious and measured return to school, when school outbreaks are causing some of the biggest rises in cases, particularly in secondary.

You and me both. Odd very odd.

What about the longer term health impacts. 3 of the 6 teachers/TAs I know that have had Covid are still suffering health problems months later and haven't been able to return to work full time. All in their 40s, no previous health issues

It really is amazing how posters on Mnet seem to know so many healthy relatively young people struck down with long covid. It must be very specific to certain regions.

Could we just end this argument be keeping schools open but locking down kids outside of school?

So schools can remain open, but school age children must not socialise inside or outside with people from outside their household. It seems like the only possible way that schools can remain open as Covid hotbeds without it spreading into older age groups. If that doesn't work then perhaps we might need to extend that to locking down all households with school age children in them.

@RafaIsTheKingOfClay

Could we just end this argument be keeping schools open but locking down kids outside of school?

So schools can remain open, but school age children must not socialise inside or outside with people from outside their household. It seems like the only possible way that schools can remain open as Covid hotbeds without it spreading into older age groups. If that doesn't work then perhaps we might need to extend that to locking down all households with school age children in them.

I think for it to work we'd have to go straight to locking down households containing school children. oh but wait, then how would our keyworkers be able to keep the country going?

It really is amazing how posters on Mnet seem to know so many healthy relatively young people struck down with long covid. It must be very specific to certain regions.

Or maybe wider social circles. Or maybe working in certain occupations.

One of my colleagues hasn't managed to return to work yet, months later.

Is it really really bad to now and again wish a bad dose of long covid on some people who refuse to accept that there are people suffering with it?

I want them open, but safe.
My DCs did no public exams last summer, one is at uni and got Covid in Oct, the other is already behind in year 12 due to various teacher isolations/his own isolation because a teacher cba to teach remotely. It’s going to have a massive effect in all tiers of education.
All but a tiny of delivery at uni is online and no way is it good enough.

@MrsMiaWallis

sherrystrull

Data to show that the 300 under 60s who have died with covid since March are teachers or school staff.

I agree this data would be hugely useful. I wonder why it's not available?

I don't think anyone is gleeful, but:

1. A lot of schools last term were chaotic, and this was crap for everyone (teachers, students, parents). Planned closures to minimise the chaos and minimise self isolation therefore seems more positive. I know of some students who had 2/3 periods of self isolation last term. That's up to 6 weeks of not being allowed to leave the house. Talking about the effects of things on people's mental health- that must be really damaging and should be avoided at all costs.

2. There are lots of school staff who have been ill enough with coronavirus to need time off work, but not need hospitalisation- some for weeks and weeks. If the "wrong" staff (e.g. first aiders, safeguarding leads etc) get ill, then schools can have to fully close with only relatively few staff off.

3. Schools as a reservoir of cases harms wider society, because those cases spread outwards. The teachers have older relatives. The parents care for grandparents. Some of the parents work with older people, and so on.

4. The impact on the minority who do get seriously ill is so severe that it's worth putting restrictions on the majority.

@MrsMiaWallis

What about the longer term health impacts. 3 of the 6 teachers/TAs I know that have had Covid are still suffering health problems months later and haven't been able to return to work full time. All in their 40s, no previous health issues

It really is amazing how posters on Mnet seem to know so many healthy relatively young people struck down with long covid. It must be very specific to certain regions.

Can't be regional because they ones I know come from all over.

Maybe it could be because lots of people are getting it.
Quote from WHO:
Among those 18 to 34 years in good health, 20% (1 in 5) reported that some symptoms were prolonged.