Is Covid currently circulating in schools?

[Dustyboots]

I met an old friend, whose a teacher, in the park today - she said staff are still being infected by kids - and that Covid is rife in her infant school.

Is this the case in any/many other schools? I'm keen for my kids to go back on March 8th but it's got me wondering whether there will be an immediate repeat of Autumn where classes are in and out all the time isolating.

@Waxonwaxoff0

It certainly isn't in DS's primary and never really has been. They haven't had a case since before October half term and staff now have access to lateral flow tests.

Are they testing the children? Asymptomatic children are giving it to the teachers.

@MuddyWalks no, but if the staff are testing negative then presumably they don't have Covid.

No,cases that I'm aware of in my infant school, though I'm wfh due to being cv and my specific role means I can work more effectively at home during lockdown.

However this is probably because approx 75% of our staff caught it last autumn term 3-4 months ago, including myself.

I know one local primary has already has two bubbles have to isolate this lockdown due to positive cases.

[quote Waxonwaxoff0]@MuddyWalks no, but if the staff are testing negative then presumably they don't have Covid.[/quote]
LFT aren't accurate at all. Family member who is a nurse used a couple when she first had symptoms and they said negative, but she was feeling so poorly she had a proper one done which, of course was positive. She was so ill, and has been off of work since Xmas.

Anyway, seeing as the highest rates of infection is still primary age children, despite schools being closed to all but kw children, undoubtedly it's rife in schools and will only get much worse when they fully reopen. It's going to be a shit show.

I think the majority of staff at our primary school had covid before Christmas. We had two cases until then and then over Christmas and just before all the teachers were going down. No bubbles have burst whilst keyworkers have been in.

The year 7 bubble burst a few weeks ago for keyworkers at our secondary school after a pupil tested positive on a lateral flow test in school.

I think so.
I saw my sister yesterday and she had just heard that five member of staff at her school tested positive early last week. She had been isolating before that as someone in her class had tested positive. 😖

How the big school return is going to work, I have no idea.

It's going to be crazy.

Especially if people are going to do what they are say and not follow restrictions (so many threads across the internet and real life people saying they aren't going to stop seeing people when kids are back).

In the area around the school Dd goes to, people have mixed constantly. So much so that every week the head was sending out newsletters pleading with parents not to have play dates/parties/sleepovers. (Kids talk and to be fair, the parents do too, some delighted in it). The numbers at dds school and in the area are so high.

The primary school I work at had 9 confirmed cases among faculty and staff in the week before halfterm.

Yes, especially as children in schools right now include those with high needs or SEN.

DH works in a primary school and they had 3 bubbles the week before half term. They only had 80 kids in school. There has been 11 teachers at his school that have had Covid since January, and one of them gave it to her dad (multi generational family) and he died two days ago.

Meant to say 3 bubbles that were sent home so 3 year groups .

@Dustyboots infection rates are a hell of a lot lower now than in dec/Jan we are back to September levels now. Why would you think rates were higher when we have been in lockdown?

2 weeks before half term my daughter's reception bubble burst. 3 staff and 1 child tested positive.

We have around 50 kids in my primary school, split into 4 bubbles. 3 of the bubbles have had to isolate since the beginning of January due to children testing positive. The most recent positive test was 2 weeks ago.

"Yes, especially as children in schools right now include those with high needs or SEN."

Social distancing is likely to be more difficult with children with sen but I think they are less likely to bring it into school because many are clinically vulnerable and would be difficult to find care for if parents became ill so their families are generally more careful.

Our school had to close bubbles back in January due to cases amongst kids/staff (obviously, not many kids in at that point.)

Both my school and DPs school have had cases in the KW/vulnerable students (both large secondaries) Mine has had 3 groups out isolating after positive cases and DPs has had 4, all since January. DP caught it from a student who had been on a sleepover (everything was tracked back to a student who came in waiting for a test result) which resulted in several staff and students being infected, plus some of their familes (ours included). My DP is now entering his second month signed off after 2 stays in hospital and he has no vulnerabilities and is healthy. It has taken a month for him to be able to go the toilet on his own and get a quick shower; our DD15 is still suffering.

10% of kids currently on site, 6 cases since January in school

Not in ours, well unless completely asymptomatically. Around half the pupils are in (not necessarily all at the same time) and they've still only had one case, back in October.

Children are in classes of 20-30 even now, as year groups are combined, so there is a lot of unused space in the school at the moment, but they're not being spread across this space as half the teachers are dealing with the home learning, so it's much the same as when they were all in during the autumn term.

I also want to add that both my school and DPs have been testing twice a week with the LFTs and none of them have picked up a positive, including kids who go on to develop symptoms less than 48 hours later.

Our local paper recently had something about how many local schools had cases the last half term:

www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/19100294.70-dorset-schools-reported-positive-coronavirus-cases/

Nope. One case before Christmas, no bubble had to close. None in adjoining nursery/preschool who have been fully open throughout

My kids currently attend a very large primary school and there hasnt been any cases there since November.

The high school only has 50 kids in and our last head teacher update said no cases among teachers or pupils. Our high school is across 2 campuses with close to 3000 students total and they had 30 cases altogether since September.

We're in the East so prime Kent variant territory so I dont thinks it's as easy as declaring covid is in all schools, as clearly some are better than others.

Both these schools are older, 1970s buildings so maybe better ventilated with opening windows etc?

Yes. Since we got lateral flow testing in the nursery where I work, 3 staff cases have been picked up by this - 2 of them asymptomatic - so it was clearly going around.

Yes. Still cases in school.

There seems to be a mixture of responses.
Some were bad and now none known about. (Like dc's school, which was really bad in the autumn term, especially one of mine's year group)

A feww have posted they were ok but have now got cases.

I wonder if some schools have had fewer cases now because it has been through the school quite a lot already, whether some schools have been lucky, or better designed, or in lower case area or had more compliant parents, or had more parents WFH, or had slightly different bubble set up and separation
....

It would be so interesting to properly study what is happening.

It would also be a bloody good idea to study teacher/staff child infections in each half term to see infection rate. (And the six week holiday) this would help inform schools and authorities on how to reduce transmission and infection rates.

Everybody in and bubbles popping is no good for anyone. Everybody in and fewer bubbles isolating would be much better.