Schools in meltdown. Put your kids in masks

[0None0]

Long story short

First case May 10.
By May 17 th, half of all year groups at home. Many staff sick. Some departments have no staff at all. Some students sent home for lack of staff, rather than quarantine.
20th May. School closed. Half term brought forward one week
31 May. Reopen.
1 June several more cases identified
3rd June. All lower school sent home. Year 10 and 12 kept in only. Masks, which had been optional, are now made compulsory again. Too late
7th June. School closed again. I am now teaching online

So in the last few weeks, I have spent 3x longer on COVID related activities than on teaching. Including trying to get students home when classes close, and they can’t use public transport. Teaching doubled up classes, 30 online, and 30 in front of me, because there are hardly any staff in. Administering tests. Taking students to and from the testing site. Recording results. Cramming information in subjects I know nothing about, but have been told I am about to teach. Much of the time students have just been told to read in silence, while we get on with our main business, as a covid testing site.

So please put masks on your children. There is no reason for a secondary aged child not to have a mask on their face, and a spare in their bag, and a spare spare.

And please support what’s schools are trying to do to enforce masks.

I see so many posts of mothers up in arms about masks. We are desperately fighting to keep education going, and we need your support

I belong to a MAT composed of 3 large secondary schools. Within our 3 schools we have:

A 15 year old boy who developed type 1 diabetes when he caught Covid

An 18 year old girl who lost most of her hearing through covid

A 14 year old boy whose heart has been left so damaged by covid he might need a transplant.

It’s heartbreaking.

Dc arnt always in mask though its an off and on situation?
All day there are mostly not in one.
Masks are 30p at reception and I'm sure could be sold even more cheaply.

I'm very worried about next winter, no initiative seems to be taken, no ventilation in school to clean the air? No barriers to adhere to eg, x amount of students have covid.. Move to on line learning.
It seems to be this massive issue when infact it should be a well oiled machine by now, work from home two, three weeks then back and so on until re ride this thing out.
Why wait until whole classes end up si?

On radio one lady said her neiece at private school hadn't missed a day pretty much whereas her son was constantly in si??

@LostThings

I don't understand why we are not hearing about these teenagers in the news. If children are genuinely being left with disabilities or other issues after having Covid, why isn't it more widely known?

Yes, why are we not hearing about these teenagers in the news?

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/covid-schools-government-legal-challenge-b1856670.html

Here is the data on covid hospital admissions by age. Over the first week in June there were around 8 admissions per day of under 17s, roughly half of which were under 5. Under 17s make up roughly 7% of covid admissions.
www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/Covid-Publication-10-06-2021-Supplementary-Data.xlsx

Data on long covid in children
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7927578/

Evidence from the first study of long covid in children suggests that more than half of children aged between 6 and 16 years old who contract the virus have at least one symptom lasting more than 120 days, with 42.6 per cent impaired by these symptoms during daily activities. These interim results are based on periodic assessments of 129 children in Italy who were diagnosed with covid-19 between March and November 2020 at the Gemelli University Hospital in Rome (medRxiv, doi.org/fv9t).

The UK Office for National Statistics's latest report estimates that 12.9 per cent of UK children aged 2 to 11, and 14.5 per cent of children aged 12 to 16, still have symptoms five weeks after their first infection. Almost 500,000 UK children have tested positive for covid-19 since March 2020.

[quote Dreamer2468]Here is the data on covid hospital admissions by age. Over the first week in June there were around 8 admissions per day of under 17s, roughly half of which were under 5. Under 17s make up roughly 7% of covid admissions.
www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/Covid-Publication-10-06-2021-Supplementary-Data.xlsx[/quote]
Again this needs perspective. Some children will be hospitalised with flu or chest infections. Doesn't mean they're going to die. My daughter's been in twice with asthma, needing support for her breathing. She didn't die! It's as though people are shocked that kids might need help in hospital! Most of them probably have underlying health issues - it's sad for them but unfortunately it's always been the case that some children go to hospital, perspective is your friend!

0None0
Gavin Williams forced Greenwich schools to reopen the Wednesday and Thursday before Christmas when. Greenwich council, and most of the schools within it, had informed him it was too dangerous.
This lead directly and predictably to unnecessary deaths.
If you take an action that leads directly and predictably to unnecessary deaths, in spite of being warned that your action would lead directly and predictably to unnecessary deaths, then you have killed people.

You must be bitterly disappointed with Keir Starmer -

14 December 2020 -
Sir Keir Starmer urges leaders to try to keep schools open as Sadiq Khan 'backs early closure'.

Sir Keir Starmer has urged leaders to keep schools open as the London mayor called on the Government to consider closing them early in the capital ahead of Christmas amid a surge in coronavirus cases. ...

In a letter to parents, Greenwich Council leader Danny Thorpe said the east London borough was experiencing a period of “exponential growth” in Covid-19 cases, which required “immediate action”.

Sir Keir told his LBC radio phone-in: “I’m very reluctant to close our schools down...

Asked what he would say to the London mayor, the Labour leader said: “Talk to the Health Secretary about what we can do this week to keep schools open, try to keep them open this week.” ...

www.itv.com/news/london/2020-12-14/sir-keir-starmer-urges-leaders-to-try-to-keep-schools-open-as-sadiq-khan-backs-early-closure

You went back to school on a bank holiday?

Kier really let teachers and students down.
There should not be this utter angst over school closure, we should be able to smoothly move from one to the other as needed!
On line for two weeks then back and so on. We are surfing waves of virus, I cannot understand this ansgt over saying OK, things are getting ropey, on line then masks then whatever as the fluid situation changes.

We need flexibility.

@ICanSmellSummerComing

Kier really let teachers and students down. There should not be this utter angst over school closure, we should be able to smoothly move from one to the other as needed! On line for two weeks then back and so on. We are surfing waves of virus, I cannot understand this ansgt over saying OK, things are getting ropey, on line then masks then whatever as the fluid situation changes.

We need flexibility.

Move smoothly from one to another? I assume you mean schools moving smoothly from open to closed. It will never be smooth for the parents.

A whole list of school closures in the news.

www.google.co.uk/search?q=school+closed+because+of+covid&sxsrf=ALeKk02fgocRcJatPxIyj0DTqieQW5pS5g:1623493617150&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjLpOGC8ZHxAhWJERQKHVl8AEUQ_AUoAnoECAEQBA&biw=1907&bih=962

@WaverleyPirate

That immune system hasn't worked for some of them.

Any child that has died of COVID has been profoundly ill before getting it. It’s sad but says nothing about the danger (vanishingly low) to healthy children.

Any vulnerable teacher got vaxxed months ago. God, do any of you complaining here actually care about your students? Entire generation of kids has suffered enough from adult fear, panic and stupidity

@LostThings

I don't understand why we are not hearing about these teenagers in the news. If children are genuinely being left with disabilities or other issues after having Covid, why isn't it more widely known?

Strange isn't it.

You would imagine that if 3 children in an MAT group all had serious complications and 2 left with life limiting that someone somewhere would report it. It's the sort of news that would make the headlines. It would be very scary especially since it is very rare for children to have serious complications!

Was the recently reported death in the 10-19 age group on the news?

Any child that has died of COVID has been profoundly ill before getting it. It’s sad but says nothing about the danger (vanishingly low) to healthy children.

sigh

It depends doesn't it whether you consider being overweight as "profoundly ill"? As there have been deaths of children where this appeared to be the key "disability".

It is also quite concerning if you have a (generally healthy) child who has a potential vulnerability of some sort.

I'm not a teacher. However I do think it is wrong that they are not allowed the same protection as the rest of us.

Our large high school is at the centre of an outbreak. PHE and the local authority now involved. The Delta variant is rampant it moves so much quicker

Reachers most secondary age dc are fine working from home,. Si and having no live lessons is more detrimental and destructive than a smooth move on line.
I'm a parent.

Makes me so sad that people will keep going and not stand up if they deem the risk to themselves as being low enough.

I wish the fact that avoidable cases, deaths and long covid will happen to some was enough to make people say this is not ok.

No mitigations in schools for a virus that has mutated to infect and affect children more. When will enough be enough?

So many other countries have better mitigations in place than us and yet people keep accepting it, many because they have no choice (and I really feel for you) but some because they think it won’t happen to them / have had enough and are just blocking out the realities of the situation right now.

No mitigations in schools for a virus that has mutated to infect and affect children more.

The second point isn’t actually true though.

@ICanSmellSummerComing

Reachers most secondary age dc are fine working from home,. Si and having no live lessons is more detrimental and destructive than a smooth move on line. I'm a parent.

My secondary age DD is and was absolutely not fine working from home.

Original poster many thanks for your heads up and wishing you all a full recovery. We are located in central London and there is visibly a lack of Covid risk mitigation as if Covid fatigued particularly now when as according to the recorded data (I am assuming much asymptomatic Covid is simply ignored therefore off data radar for careless “inadvertent” super spreading) is most needed to battle the more contagious and deadly Indian Delta disease. Public evidently hate to wear what others globally (including hot nations) as well as highly concentrated skilful surgeons wear in high pressure critical environments for hours on end. We Brits of course have our world class per capita Covid fatalities data with undocumented “ignored” thousands/millions of long Covid survivors. The latter will include life long uncertain medical pain and suffering challenging the NHS resourcing in the long term. This is all naturally as much a result of our world beating selfish risk indifference carefree relaxed exceptionalism entitlement culture of not been told what to do even in a once in a lifetime medical pandemic war. We do have the assistance of vaccination but data already indicate this protection is far from guaranteed from mutating variant vaccine escape. As usual the Covid conspiracy types will argue it is all convid fake news and carry on as if nothing changed over the past year and some thing along the lines of civil liberties and freedom of ignoring science. If the government is yet again reluctantly super late u turning then you can guess how bad the Covid cover up is in reality and all the more reason to consider taking it seriously for a change even if you think you are invincible.

I genuinely don't understand the thinking behind the view that the kids that have got ill or sadly died would have died anyway so it doesn't matter. Is that really what the poster meant as that is actually a shocking statement. From what I can tell its a brutal death so not sure being ill with and underlying illness means that somehow this is to be expected and accepted. Really grim.

According to GP (diagnosed over conference call rather than by a test) my then 8 and 6 year old boys had Covid in June 2020. The 6 year old had a cough that went on for weeks and needed antibiotics. After that he did not really grow much for a year and developed some depression and anxiety. It is difficult to know what was due to actual Covid and what was just the pandemic situation. He is fine now, took a long time, but things getting back to more normal has been critical and school in person intervention/listening ear etc.

My then 8 year old had a much shorter cough but then got shingles which is typical of low immunity and very rare in that age group. He is physically fine now and fit but also not grown much and definitely some anger issues/shorter temper who knows if blood pressure is higher or not.
I will never know for sure that they definitely had Covid and whether their health issues are school closures (the mental ones) or the disease. The optician also thinks it has really negatively impacted his eyes- again whether it is screen time or Covid, nobody will know.
Nobody is really checking or following up on “healthy” kids who have had Covid. It is all a stab in the dark.
School closures can be just as bad or worse than the actual disease on so many levels. We will hopefully know more in a few years.

Most of them probably have underlying health issues - it's sad for them

It's sad for them? We've had thread after thread after thread about poor children losing their childhoods, education and their mental health. Schools must stay open at all costs because children aren't affected. Well yes, some of them are. Some of those children - mine is one of them - are CV. My CV child can expect to live a long life. He should be an economically active member of our society. He should be able to make a contribution, not just be someone sat at home on disability benefits. But not one fuck has been given on this forum about vulnerable to covid children. Not one fuck given how this might be affecting them and their families and friends. Not one fuck given about how their education is being affected or how they might be bearing up with their mental health.

FFS. People with underlying health conditions are people too, who live in the same world as the rest of us, with the same expectations, hopes, dreams and desires. How do you think they feel in school at the moment with people refusing them even a basic level of protection with masks? Try a bit of empathy for a change rather than ignorance.

Protecting CV children is vital. Hopefully after population is vaccinated the risk will go away but until then I think we owe it to them and staff to be careful and wear masks.