School closed due to 100 cases!

[Santastealer]

A 900 capacity school has closed due to 100 covid cases. I find it really hard to comprehend how this has happened when community transmission is so low at the minute!

What exactly is a lateral flow test? And are they a waste of space? We don't have them here in Ireland.

My youngests school has shut the infant side today due to 30 plus cases.
No lat flows there either so probably higher.

Hope this is an anomaly and not our first experience of the Indian variant taking hold in the community. If it is the latter I imagine an almighty row around whether to contain this via lockdown extension, or continue with easing given the lower risk position of the country as a whole. ‘Watch and see’ could leave us at risk of a variant which may not just be more transmissible, but also more virulent. We just don’t know.
Fucking bastard bloody bug.

If there is an outbreak in a school it’s not really surprising that it spreads quickly given how infectious it is. We had it in our family in the last wave and our whole family got it ie parents and kids one after the other, 4 with symptoms and two asymptomatic who we tested with private tests. Fortunately we were all ok but it was very worrying. Hopefully outbreak in a school will make all people realise that:
(1) it is necessary for kids in school to do twice weekly lateral flow tests so that if there is an outbreak it can be identified quickly
(2) people saying they don’t want their kids to do lateral flow tests because of a one in 1000 chance of their child getting a false positive are being selfish.
(3) people who say they are no longer complying with the rules because they claim there is no point/ they’ve had enough etc (I saw a mumsnet thread on this the other day which I was v shocked by) are also being very selfish.

@Halloweenrainbow

A number of school cases involved in the outbreak in Moray also. Ongoing worry for many teachers and parents until everyone is vaccinated.

Surely Moray must be getting through vaccines faster than Grampian. We just go letters for early 30s.

@ManyMaybes

I’m assuming though that you are young and not classed as vulnerable so do remember that the likelihood of you falling ill is low (including with long covid)

Sorry but bollocks.

While the initial disease is generally more serious in the elderly, this is not true of long covid, in fact in one set of data it was highest among those aged 25-34!

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/prevalenceofongoingsymptomsfollowingcoronaviruscovid19infectionintheuk/1april2021

As if I could not think any lower of Gavin Williamson: he has told the Telegraph that they are going to scrap masks in schools from 17th May, despite outbreaks like this.

I’m a teacher. Our Head (and all other local Heads) had an update meeting with our local Public Health Department yesterday. Our local cases (not just in Schools) have risen again dramatically locally and are now twice as high as the point when our area was put into the Level 3 local lockdown last year. It’s getting quite worrying again.

I have a child at the school- year 7 (and a sibling at a onsite junior school) . The positives were picked up by the routine lateral flow tests - as a previous poster said the school frequently asked over the weekend for everyone to test (in any community there will always be some people who won’t)
They they acted swiftly not to allow certain year groups back , then made the decision to close till next Tuesday . We have all had it back in January (my youngest was at school and pretty sure she brought it into the house as she was at school) My child knows of at least 10 children who have tested positive and all feel generally unwell but nothing serious .We are awaiting our pcr tests - fingers crossed negative results . Hoping immunity counts for something ! With regard to the masks - in this instance I did wonder if they actually do anything ? Could it have been worse if they hadn’t been wearing masks ?

@wahdydke yes but how many of those are seriously ill? (Sorry if you've said this already, I can't see that) genuinely interested.

@Tomnooktoldmeto

If you look at the comments in the local online paper there is a direct link to a family holding a party for their son knowing their daughter had tested positive for Covid and not telling anyone

If that's true then that person should be facing a hefty fine.

I'm not one ag all who agrees with social ostracisation but I bloody well hope - if true - if parent is made to feel completely uncomfortable in the school playground and local community.

Having a party is pushing it. But having it when the party person is a close contact is a positive is selfishness beyond belief

If masks are scrapped on 17th May I will not be going into school unvaccinated. My school has a duty of care to people like myself who haven’t yet been vaccinated.

I am the only one in my family who hasn’t had it. Many got through on the “pretend to be a Carer” loophole. Some work in “social care” where they are still working from home and barely see any clients at all. None of the social care workers in the family work in a comparable job to being in the same room as 32 students per hour rotates round 6 hours a day.

Teachers should have been vaccinated with social care. Before people who are still working from home, or who work with one client at a time for less than an hour in a large space with masks!

@Hollyhobbi

What exactly is a lateral flow test? And are they a waste of space? We don't have them here in Ireland.

There are two types of tests. A PCR test which is done in a laboratory and is very accurate and a lateral flow test which is done at home and gets an instant result. They are not as accurate as PCR tests but are useful for picking up asymptomatic cases. Anyone who gets a positive has a PCR test to confirm it. In other words, yes they miss cases but they also pick up cases which would otherwise have gone undetected because the carrier has no symptoms but is still infectious. In England anyone who wants can get boxes of 7 flow tests free from a pharmacy or online. Staff and pupils at schools are supposed to do these twice a week. I don't know how many children do them but there was a predictable hooha on MN when they started. Many posters not wanting their DC to do the tests.

[quote worriedatthemoment]@BustopherPonsonbyJones but those who are vulnerable or above 45 will of been
It is not the only profession at risk and age plays a big part so it makes sense how it has been done and is going well
I know couple teachers who are in 20's who don't even wang to have a vaccination [/quote]
It is the profession where we were back at work in small rooms (with little or no ventilation) with another thirty people crammed in the rooms with us - all at a time when most people were unwilling to leave their houses for a short walk. We were ‘allowed’ masks (but shouldn’t have been allowed them, according to many on Mumsnet )and good old Gav looks like he might even take those away now. So, yes, teachers should have been vaccinated as a priority and should receive boosters as a priority. If your friends (in their 20s) choose not to have their vaccinations then at least they have the option. Many teachers who are in their late 40s and 50s have been living in fear (and some still are as they are still waiting for their first vaccine). If we value children’s education, value those who provide it.

My 15 year old son is in self isolation again due to a positive case in one of his subject classes.

Half his class just don't bother doing the LFTs, he says.

The school has updated to say there has been an excellent response to the require for people to come for PCR tests. A friend’s DS has had a positive PCR following negative lateral flows. They have a sister in the adjoining infant school who had been asked to isolate ahead of the tests so this has stopped it spreading there.

I’m a healthy 34 year old who caught Covid from 1 of the 2 people I’ve had regular contact with for the last year - my ex, and my bubble support. My ex caught it at work, our eldest child fell ill and I caught it.

I was on my arse for 8 weeks and I now have Post Viral Fatigue, to the point I’ve had to drop my PhD study rate down to part time, had to stop working, had to get my ex ILS to take my DC more often than I’d like.

It’s very real, scary and horrible.

Lateral Flow tests are shite, when I opened the box that my DC came home with, I laughed. If I was given that to work with in the lab I’d think there had been a colossal fuck up. The quality is so poor that even I struggled to get the sample from the cotton to the vial when I decided to have a play with it, due to the stick being so flimsy that it’s impossible to successfully transfer enough sample for a reliable test.

@MoesBar

I’m a healthy 34 year old who caught Covid from 1 of the 2 people I’ve had regular contact with for the last year - my ex, and my bubble support. My ex caught it at work, our eldest child fell ill and I caught it.

I was on my arse for 8 weeks and I now have Post Viral Fatigue, to the point I’ve had to drop my PhD study rate down to part time, had to stop working, had to get my ex ILS to take my DC more often than I’d like.

It’s very real, scary and horrible.

Lateral Flow tests are shite, when I opened the box that my DC came home with, I laughed. If I was given that to work with in the lab I’d think there had been a colossal fuck up. The quality is so poor that even I struggled to get the sample from the cotton to the vial when I decided to have a play with it, due to the stick being so flimsy that it’s impossible to successfully transfer enough sample for a reliable test.

It was a lateral flow that first detected my DC positive so I do think they have their place

CarrieAntionette

British children have not missed more school. And any missed school is the fault of these gov for not putting more safety measures in place.

We’re the only country to fine for non attendance.

We’re one of very few schools to insist on full classes as usual.

Most others have distancing and extra space and/or rotas. There is also the option for parents to hybrid or fully home school.

Some countries paid for new ventilation systems.

In this emergency all other countries did more, offered more safety and offered more choice to families.

We put out some hand wash and a few faux bubbles and that’s it. Windows open if possible if teachers agreed.

It’s shameful and we all just accepted it and said any other way was impossible. Even though everyone else did it. World beating.

The bit that makes me most sick is those who hide their agenda behind caring about mental health despite never caring the rest of the time. I hope they continue to advocate for it. I won’t hold my breath. The Tories just wanted us all back in work and spending money.

I think lateral flow tests definitely have their place in picking up some (not all) asymptomatic cases. That’s a bonus. So long as people realise they’re a screening device for doing just that not a diagnostic device for those with symptoms. They’re unreliable for that.

Agreed @Appyalpaca

Another school closed due to a large outbreak with the Indian variant identified.
www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/runshaw-college-confirms-indian-variant-20547273.amp?__twitter_impression=true

I'm so cross school staff are not yet vaccinated.

My Sen school just recently (last couple of weeks) organised for all staff to be vaccinated who weren't via the LA; I think local mainstream schools were also offered the opportunity too.

Apart from keeping staff well, normal school life can't resume.

I'm concerned about young people getting long Covid too.

Absolutely @Appyalpaca. They care fuck all about mental health. If they did my severely anxious HFA child would have actually received therapy instead of lipservice and than being chucked back on waiting list. You ring them to chase and they cut the call off. She had now had bugger all education since 2020.
All they were interested in last September was forcing her back into school by threating her with fines for us as CAMHS couldn't provide therapy. Yeah that was going to work Took months to sort hospital school but still no meaningful therapy.
Sorry to derail