Military to support mass school testing

[lonelyplanet]

From the BBC this morning- The Ministry of Defence said 1,500 military personnel will hold webinars and give phone support to school staff.

There are about 3500 secondary schools in England. Here's what I think will happen. Staff will get invited to a 30 minute zoom webinar to explain how to carry out the testing of the ineffective lateral flow tests. There won't be enough tests, staff or facilities for labeling and processing for everyone so schools will be advised to target only close contacts of positive cases.

Two weeks later the school phones the army helpline.

School Testing Admin Officer: Hi Covidire Academy here; we have a question. No one has tested positive with our school tests - are we doing it right?
Army Helpline: That's great news, you are clearly doing it right.
STAO: Lots of the children are complaining of headaches and rashes. Do we send them home?
AH: No need if they've got a negative result
STAO: Mrs Higgins is a TA and luckily a trained nurse. She is overseeing the students swabbing themselves. She says they don't like the feel of the swab so the children are only sticking it slightly up their nostrils. Is this okay?
AH: I'm sure that will be just as effective
STAO: Mrs Higgins has had a mild cough for a few days but has had 2 negative tests, can she continue? We are short staffed and need her.
AH: Yes if she continues to test negative
STAO: She is also a 1 to 1 TA for a child with severe diabetes is this okay?
AH: Yes if she continues to test negative
STAO: A child in Year 9 has had an asthma attack and admitted to hospital. He has since tested positive despite 5 negative tests last week. He hasn't been in for 3 days. Lots of his class have been off sick but no other positives from our testing.
AH: Your testing regime is clearly working well at preventing infection. Keep up the good work.

And that's just secondary schools. Primaries - no measures.

@BiggerTallerFaster

I tend to assume that people working in schools have a basic level of intelligence and won't need this kind of advice.

Can I ask what you mean by this?

So online learning isn't a good enough option for the government to allow schools to resort to.....yet they are using online learning for the military to teach the teachers....my mind is so boggled right now.

Biggertallerfaster I'd like to know what you mean too.

Has the military risk assessment said it’s too risky to send employees into schools

A very good question.

I think, however, we are a knife edge away from having to deploy the military to the streets to keep the rising panic in check - hospitals are over flowing now, Xmas mixing not yet seen in the figures, schools back without so much as a thought given to spreading the virus and then the shit show that is Brexit on top.

Simply put, there will be no time for the military to be faffing about in schools.

@Achristmaspudsskidu the tests are the same as those being sent to people at home. School staff bon't need "training" we can read.

If results don't seem right because theres concern over how the test has been administered, schools will make their own call re isolation, just as we have all the way through.

Man power and space will be an issue. Training won't.

Put down your AK47 and proceed to the isolation room. Tell miss you are to log on to the Year 10 Conflict Resolution Unit, read through the introduction, and design a poster to explain non confrontational peace keeping on international borders.

And, by the way, I will be calling your mum at lunchtime.”

Exactly!

I would prefer if the military capacity was used for the rollout of vaccines rather than tests in schools that don't work. Keep secondary schools and colleges off for January, get as many people as possible vaccinated and we will be in a much better place by February.

SA80, not AK47!

@SilverGlitterBaubles

I would prefer if the military capacity was used for the rollout of vaccines rather than tests in schools that don't work. Keep secondary schools and colleges off for January, get as many people as possible vaccinated and we will be in a much better place by February.

Yes I agree, this would have such a big impact, we need to get vaccinations rolled out as quick as possible. Injections need to overtake infections for us to get this under control.

@mpsw

SA80, not AK47!

That’s not a uniform anorak. We’ll be calling your Mum as well.

@SilverGlitterBaubles

I would prefer if the military capacity was used for the rollout of vaccines rather than tests in schools that don't work. Keep secondary schools and colleges off for January, get as many people as possible vaccinated and we will be in a much better place by February.

Whilst I'm all for any measures that help schools and teachers have a safer place to learn/work.... I totally agree with you here.

Mass testing at school using less accurate tests, administered by teens who will not take it seriously is just a waste of time. Worse, I think its totally dangerous when used instead of the standard isolation of close contacts. It sounds a bit of a recipe for disaster to be honest. That's before we've even considered the actual logistics and manpower needed to work this mass testing @ school program, in light of the total lack of funding and resources the gov have provided to schools to do this.

It's clear the only way out now is to vaccinate as many as possible, as fast as possible. Schools should go remote learning/blended learning for first term and in that time, gov should devote as many people as possible to man the vaccination program and use the time to get as many people vaccinated as possible.

DH is a teacher, he is quite sure that it is his contract that he is not to insert anything (including swabs) into a student.

I'm support staff I'm not allowed to pull out a thorne/splinter or apply cream to a child's finger but I can swab them.... madness

Teachers or careers can not insert or take out thing from the body. Example you are not meant to remove a splinter from a child’s finger.

The government is crazy. Gavin is on acid.

Medics and scientists all over the media today, sounding klaxons, this is serious, this is horrendous... Be warned, take extra measures

But some people literally think children education will fall apart in a few weeks.
It's a domino effects of health emergencies we have to be careful of, eg at the moment nursing is short staffed.. Due to covid infections.. If we are going to let it wash through us, how many people can be will at once for the UK to function.

It seems to be as bad as wave 1 was, non of the ultra grim predictions came to pass... Are we confident that in this wave that won't happen?..

Looking on the bright side, I’m sure Gav’s old mates at the MOD will be delighted to have heard from him again. Now, what was he dismissed for? Was it telling Russia to go away and shut up, annoying China by threatening them with aircraft carriers or for leaking (secret) NSC information?

Answer: the last of the above, though he swore on his children’s lives it wasn’t him. (We know how much Mumsnet trusts men who swear on their children’s lives.)

Gav who?

Gavin W

Gavin W....no, still not ringing any bells.

Gove, yes, Nick Gibb, yes, seen them all around lately talking about schools.

No Gav.

Oh sorry yes I forgot he’d disappeared. Maybe kidnapped by Special Forces?

Bonkers idea. Shut schools.

[quote BiggerTallerFaster]@Achristmaspudsskidu the tests are the same as those being sent to people at home. School staff bon't need "training" we can read.

If results don't seem right because theres concern over how the test has been administered, schools will make their own call re isolation, just as we have all the way through.

Man power and space will be an issue. Training won't.[/quote]
Except when Greenwich schools tried to make their own decision they were threatened with legal action.

Yes Gavin has gone AWOL. Scared to face another mess that he is out of his depth to sort. Gove dragged in instead because he loves taking charge of education.

@lazylockdowner

I'm support staff I'm not allowed to pull out a thorne/splinter or apply cream to a child's finger but I can swab them.... madness

This is not actually true though. It's a policy that lots of schools have but nowhere does it say its it's not allowed.