Any of you school staff feeling a bit worried?

[Ledkr]

Im starting to think its inevitable that ill catch cv. Im in a primary, dd 1 at University but living at home. Dd2 is at another primary and dh is front line emergency services.
Fingers crossed i guess.

Absolutely worried sick 😢
Then when I’m not worried about catching it, I’m basically housebound due to having to isolate after children I teach tested positive (have spent 24 days out of the last 30 days isolating). I don’t have a life at the minute, I’m worn out with it all.

I'm a secondary teacher. Daughter at primary. Her Dad is a college lecturer. I had 5 out of 6 classes with positive cases last year. So yes worried.

Yes, primary TA. Resigned to catching it.

Yes, I am very anxious about going back to work next week.

No. We have had a lot of cases, and I accept I probably will get covid but I’d put my savings on me not dying from it, I’m in my 20s and no health conditions so I am in a fortunate position. My worry isn’t for me, it’s for the vulnerable families of children in my class and just generally vulnerable people linked to schools as a whole. I also am worried that this will cause more disruption for children.

No, no point. If I catch it, I catch it. I do my best not to, but I work in a primary school so close contact is inevitable.

Worrying about it will just stress me out when I can't do a lot about it.

Really worried. Feeling sick with worry.

Nit me but Dh is. They've been told there will be no isolation for them hers now - if they are identified as a close contact they will be tested every day for the ten days but stay in school potentially spreading it around until they get a positive. Sounds like an absolute recipe for disaster. They have the capacity at the moment to test 22 students a day. It just doesn't stack up.

I think if you are working in schools you may as well resign yourself to catching the virus. Even the old variant burned through schools in the northwest, typically with schools bubbling along then cases exploding over the course of a week or two.

I caught it myself about 2 weeks after a third of our staff were off. I don't know why they insist that school cases are triggered by the community when secondary aged kids have been the most infected age group for a few months

With the the new variant, it is even more likely to be transmitted in schools. I am not convinced the mass testing will be effective as lots of cases will stay in school what with it being not particularly accurate and it also relies on close contacts being identified properly by the school's track and trace system.

Not nervous no. It is what it is.

My two primary children have already had it and my ex has had it as well. All fine. Small amount of symptoms and isolation followed.

I spend half my working time as a 1:1 with a medically vulnerable child, I spend the other half working across 3 bubbles in a secondary school. It’s impossible to stay 2m away and I have a child in primary. Unless my bosses decide to reschedule my workload I have the potential to take out 5 bubbles if I catch it.

Yes, I'm extremely worried. For myself and my whole family, we seem to run into issues every winter with dd 2 and breathing issues.
We've needed a and e, steroids, nebs, ambulances etc. So I'm very worried for all of us.

@GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman

No, no point. If I catch it, I catch it. I do my best not to, but I work in a primary school so close contact is inevitable.

Worrying about it will just stress me out when I can't do a lot about it.

Agreed 100% no point worrying. Wont change anything

Any 1:1 need to be pulled back from close working.

Yep. Basically we are all going to get it. DH and I both work in schools and it feels inevitable. We both have health issues and our local hospitals are full of Covid patients. It is total shite.

No not worried. I’m really pleased that we (primary) will be open. Children have already lost so much this year.

Yes. I'm nervous. I'm CV but narrowly avoided shielding. And as I teach there's no capacity not to be front and centre with the kids. I teach older primary but there's still zero chance of being able to do my job properly while doing any meaningful distancing.

We squeaked through up til now with relatively low cases locally, and the only cases in school being contracted after weekends/after other family members already had symptoms and were isolating their family. So at least the SI rules worked. But our parents will just assume all is safe and well as there were no classes sent home.

I think that will change now, with the new variant. It feels like we've been lucky, but our luck is running out.

Yes.

I’m secondary, but you can clearly see what is going to happen.

Schools will go back. There will be a chaotic attempt to mass test and test contacts of cases.
Children will start to have to isolate again in large numbers. Staff will end up off sick again and cover teachers will be teaching important lessons. Many pupils will refuse to be tested and it will be window dressing and nothing else.

Meanwhile, the numbers of cases in wider society will continue to rise. We will have more areas put into higher tiers. More people will lose their jobs as retail and hospitality and entertainment continue to close to even more severe levels. The government will have to think about what other restrictions they can put in place to keep schools open. We’ll inevitably be in lockdown for longer.

We’ll hear about anomalies...the odd young person or young parent who will die here and there on the news. We’ll be told they had underlying health conditions. We won’t be told that they would not have died otherwise and should have been able to have a normal lifespan. This will comfort us, after all, they would have died soon anyway...probably...right?

Children who have missed weeks and weeks of learning due to repeated isolations will be forced to take important exams, competing against other children who have been fortunate enough not to have to isolate at all. They will achieve grades far lower than what should have been possible...but the government will hail this as a great success and one of utmost fairness.

Teachers will be fearful going into school and resentful that they have to be there. There will be some who are distracted, anxious, not on top of their game and certainly not putting in 100%. Sorry, but it’s true. They won’t want to run after school clubs. They won’t allow children to remain in their form room over lunchtimes to avoid the school bully. They will dash home and shower just as soon as the bell goes.

But...people will have that childcare they wanted, so it’s all good.

I caught it before Christmas, still wouldn't be well enough to return to school but hoping will be better by next week (4 weeks after developing symptoms). I don't want to catch it again! I'm theoretically low risk, youngish, healthy weight, no underlying conditions that increase risk. Think I caught it from y9 but that would be tricky to prove.

Cant really control if you are worried tho and everyone has different reasons for worrying.
Im 54 and have had lots of health issues and have a transplant recipient son and asthmatic daughter so yes i am terrified.
Nice to know im not alone though.

Worried sick. Not sleeping at night. I have two children, one at primary and one secondary and a dh who works in a college. I teach in a secondary school. We're Tier 4. I have watched staff and pupils go off with it and recently supported a colleague whose teacher mum (5 years my senior) died of it having caught it in school. I've experienced pneumonia a few years ago where I was really ill. I don't qualify for the vaccine but must face hundreds of children each week. It's terrifying.

Yes, I’m a small preschool/nursery and I feel shat on from a great height. Fuck all I can do for now, but I’ve emailed my MP and Vicky Ford, we need money for cleaning and PPE

Yes v worried 😔 x

Yes, I'm feeling rage at all the thank the teachers stuff too- I'm special needs primary and 2 dc primary. I too feel shat on @Freddiefox....🙄

Very worried, yes. But not about catching Covid, about coping with not being at school. Sounds pathetic but school is the only thing I have in my life at the moment!