Govt suppressed data on “Indian” variant in schools prior to ending mask mandate

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www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/22/no-10-tried-to-block-data-on-spread-of-new-covid-variant-in-english-schools?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other&fbclid=IwAR29Q2q1HshlU1IKtpWSEboxLJZAEdNxH2OAI7pNt7Tuh_VYr9dKFUQZ5JQ

Shocking.

@motherrunner

We were maskless for one day and at the end of Monday we had a notice from local PHE that masks were advised to be worn for another two weeks (when it will be reviewed again) with the concerns over the Indian variant. I’m glad and feel sorry for those who haven’t got this protection.

That article sickens me.

One day? Sounds similar to when schools were told they were "absolutely safe" to return full time, then all locked down again a day later.

@wasthataburp

Kids can't wear masks forever

Noone would ask for them to wear masks forever. But whilst the general population are told its safest to continue mask wearing in crowded and indoor places, including children outwith schools, why would it be said to be safe to unmask in schools? What mystical powers is it thought schools have?

If there was nothing to hide in that data, why hide it?

@bathsh3ba

Schools round here are using common sense rather than relying on the government to tell them what to do. It feels like a lot of people don't want to be trusted to do that. The vast majority of areas round here have had no cases in weeks, anywhere, schools or elsewhere. These schools have got rid of the masks. In areas where there have been clusters, masks are still being worn.

The thing is, for that to work, the information about clusters - in schools and elsewhere - must be rapidly and widely available.

If you look at all the 'public' information, in my area it looks as if it is 'safe'. In fact, just through personal contacts, i know that 2 primaries and 1 secondary are partially closed with at least 1 year group and often more fully out. That's just schools I have personal contacts. I have absolutely no way of knowing about more, and as the information is not being shared (e.g. my headteacher did not know about any of the ones I know about, but did know personally of a couple of others), those making the decision about masks in individual schools on the basis of 'clusters' are having to go on rumour and hearsay, not full facts.

Of course they did...

My school (teacher) have been masks all the time since September. Can't see that changing. We also do LFT in school so we know they've actually been done...

@CallmeHendricks

If there was nothing to hide in that data, why hide it?

Quite. One of the most important reasons to release data is to build public trust and confidence in the decisions that the Government is making. To deliberately suppress such relevant data immediately breeds distrust and suspicion.

please tell me how knowing every single case in every school in the U.K. is helpful? I'm genuinely at a loss to understand what this achieves.

I'm genuinely at a loss to understand why you don't understand. It's been explained to you at least three times upthread alone. This isn't informed challenge now is it. You're just reluctant to move from your position because you'd need to move over on a lot more of your own thinking.

The thing is, the national data for school aged kids looks good. Infection rates are very low despite the school outbreaks - while infection rates have shot up in some local areas, it doesn't seem to have made a dent in the national picture for schools.

The government could explain this. They could say 'yes, the Indian variant is spreading in schools because the school population is unvaccinated and there are few measures being taken to stop that, but nationally it is safe to proceed with removing masks and other restrictions'. They could have a clearly defined process for outbreaks in schools - return of masks, affected year groups all being tested with PCR not LFT etc but they don't. It's being left to local areas to require masks and so on.

Because that sounds like a return to tiers, the government doesn't want to touch it. So let's suppress the data instead and just have people muddle through.

"wasthataburp

Regulus - Just to add my school is participating in in school testing, this means that positive cases do not need to isolate they get tested every day for five days.

They are allowed to continue making their own way to school on public transport. No masks, not even in corridors.

Interested to hear the outcomes of this? Has it spread etc?"

This data is also being supressed by the government:
mobile.twitter.com/deeksj/status/1394683241572020226

@Evvyjb that’s unusual - LFTs in school - what kind of school are you in?

@Regulus

Just to add my school is participating in in school testing, this means that positive cases do not need to isolate they get tested every day for five days.

They are allowed to continue making their own way to school on public transport. No masks, not even in corridors.

Bad luck, this is a disgraecful study, I can not believe they got ethical sign off for it! It is only because it will not be possibel to definitively link any deaths to it, so they can;t be sued, rather than because they know no deaths could be caused by it.

I really never thought I would ever live under such an awful government.

The new variant is spreading through our children.

And the government is letting it.

DfE attendance shows schoolchild infections are up 33% week on week.

Also it looks like usage of LFTs is much lower - we would expect 8 million per week from school children, but only 2 million are being done? This is not good given the government has said these are the mitigation for removing masks etc.

I feel like we are back to the (flawed) herd immunity strategy for kids.

LFTs will be higher than 2 million as there will be people doing them but not logging in and recording negative results. Which is fair enough because it's a ballache.

The comments above about numbers are why we still do LFT in school. Done during registration, I record the results, gets mass uploaded. I do mine at the same time to show solidarity. Job done.

Had to do surge PCR testing yesterday. That was NOT fun...

How long is your registration?

Are you a standard state secondary @Evvyjb? That is sensible though, as you say.

Yeah, our registration isn't long enough to do LFTs in school either. We have 20 minutes for registration, so they might have time to do the swabbing but wouldn't have the 30 minutes before we read the results. We would know they've definitely been done though. I went into one school bag today (to help find a planner, not just because I wanted to) and found 3 boxes of LFTs that are unopened. So that child hasn't done one for 6/7 weeks at least, and he certainly won't be the only one.

I've been doing mine twice a week, and sending my results to school, but haven't logged one on the proper website for weeks because it's a PITA as the website fails every time I try.

@PrincessNutNuts

The new variant is spreading through our children.

And the government is letting it.

😱 It is shocking what is happening.

20 mins, we swab and get everything tidied in less than 10, names on tests, left in a box.

Totally normal state school. Been doing it since 8th March!

@Evvyjb

20 mins, we swab and get everything tidied in less than 10, names on tests, left in a box.

Totally normal state school. Been doing it since 8th March!

But when do you give out notices and messages, carry out form time activities to support their PSHE education and follow up on pastoral issues or deal with latecomers, if it takes you the 20 minutes as you say?

And don’t you have to interrupt the next lesson to check results after 30 minutes?

@Evvyjb

20 mins, we swab and get everything tidied in less than 10, names on tests, left in a box.

Totally normal state school. Been doing it since 8th March!

That’s impressive. Who reads the results for each child, contacts child in school if positive (there must be a few positives, even if false positives over that time period) contacts parents, isolates child in school, sends home? You must be much smaller than the average state secondary of 1000 for the processing/admin burden to be manageable.