Full year group off

[dazzlerdo]

So I work in a secondary school. Today we have had all of year 9 off isolating and will be the same next week. Also only had 40 year 10 students in due to the rest isolating.

Is it looking bad again for schools, what is it like in your area/schools?
I'm from South Yorkshire, also heard of a few other local schools having year groups off!

No cases or closures here. PHE need to draw a line under this whole year group isolating thing once all adults are double jabbed. It's insanity and so unbelievably disruptive.

My Dd is yesr 7 and had hardly any time in school because of isolations sep-Dec. Since March, none so far but I’m not holding my breath but was hoping that seeing as most of the year group had it in autumn they may have some immunity left. This week there’s been one case in yr 10 and the school I teach at has had the first case since March in the sixth form so building up. Kids isolating has to stop!!

@Legoninjago1

No cases or closures here. PHE need to draw a line under this whole year group isolating thing once all adults are double jabbed. It's insanity and so unbelievably disruptive.

What are you basing this on? Your years of experience in public health?

Most kids of course will be fine but one of the deaths the other day was a child and there are many children with long covid and these are avoidable deaths / illness. I've never understood this idea that it's just totally fine to let infection get out of control in schools so that yes, a tiny minority percentage wise, but that's still 100s of kids if infection rates get high, have serious health consequences.

When putting in measures to allow proper ventilation, smaller class sizes, masks etc would definitely reduce the number of kids who get seriously ill.

When these measures are in place everywhere else (including in schools in other countries - why do their kids merit better protections than ours?).

It's really throwing kids under the bus. And there's recent research showing that covid has an impact on the brain even in those who had it mildly. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-06-24/is-covid-s-impact-on-the-brain-as-alarming-as-it-sounds

We just don't know the long term impact on our kids - why aren't we improving ventilation (at least) to try and minimise infection in schools?

I suppose those in charge have their kids in private schools who are probably doing the good ventilation, small class size thing so their risks are as low as they can be and they're just not interested in making the risks lower for normal kids. So that they're less likely to get ill, and more likely to be able to have a more normal life - because having to isolate means they're not in school, not doing clubs, not meeting friends. Keeping rates lower would mean they could do more of all of that.

But no money for schools to do it. I am so shocked that the media just let the government get away with this and collude in it with their pictures of socially distanced classrooms.

What are you basing this on? Your years of experience in public health?

Common sense. We do not do this with any other serious transmissable disease, because the majority of the population are vaccinated. Measles occassionally pops up in school, everyone gets a letter, no-one is sent home.

It would be different if everyone was vaccinated but they're not. I'm late 40s and have had only one AZ vaccine which gives very limited protection against delta (I almost feel like the 30% protection from the vaccine is cancelled out by the fact delta is more transmissible and more deadly). Scheduled for second this weekend - but delta is in my kids school now - so I'll be lucky to get to 15 days post vaccination (which is when the protection kicks in) before being exposed.

Most parents at the school are younger than me and are at best part vaccinated - some in their 20s and 30s not vaccinated at all.

And it's not people refusing the vaccine. I got my first scheduled in before booking official opened for my age and just brought my second jab forward to 8 weeks.

Most people in my age group have not been eligible for second jab until very recently. We couldn't get it if we tried.

Lower age groups have only just been able to have first jab.

Parents aren't protected yet.

@theemperorhasnoclothes

It would be different if everyone was vaccinated but they're not. I'm late 40s and have had only one AZ vaccine which gives very limited protection against delta (I almost feel like the 30% protection from the vaccine is cancelled out by the fact delta is more transmissible and more deadly). Scheduled for second this weekend - but delta is in my kids school now - so I'll be lucky to get to 15 days post vaccination (which is when the protection kicks in) before being exposed.

Most parents at the school are younger than me and are at best part vaccinated - some in their 20s and 30s not vaccinated at all.

Healthy people in their 20s and 30s are very low risk. I'm 30, had first vax but not second. I'm not worried for myself as I know the risk to me is tiny.

Also it's incorrect to say Delta variant is more deadly, there is still no official word on that.

@BigWoollyJumpers

What are you basing this on? Your years of experience in public health?

Common sense. We do not do this with any other serious transmissable disease, because the majority of the population are vaccinated. Measles occassionally pops up in school, everyone gets a letter, no-one is sent home.

I think if it was that simple PHE would have figured it out. I don't think they are closing schools for the fun of it. They are well aware that also comes with a risk in the short and long term.

It's also not exactly true. Local public health authorities do occasionally shut schools and nurseries temporarily to curb outbreaks of disease.

Twice as likely to be hospitalised with Delta.

What about the parents in their 40s? Also this doctor is saying he is seeing more previously healthy 20s and 30s people in hospital with covid. twitter.com/rupert_pearse/status/1408674929831198721

It really seems if we could ensure a bit better ventilation to cut cases in schools it would be worth it both to keep kids in school and to protect parents and kids.

Hospitalised doesn't mean death. So not more deadly.

Parents in their 40s should be getting second jabs very soon, everyone I know in their late 40s is double jabbed so early 40s should be following very soon.

I'm in an area of the SE that has up till now, rather low cases and minimal disruption to schools, especially primary.

But now we have various year groups out in 2 of the town's primary schools. The odd class our here and there in 3 or 4 other local primaries.

Various forms out in the many local secondary schools. The odd year group bubble out in a couple of secondary schools.

This is after having v low cases through March to May. Remove face masks in schools, numbers implode.

The situation can not continue like this in September.

Alright, let's just let it rip through the kids then and not bother doing even the most basic things to stop it so more kids will be iller, with unknown long term consequences, some parents very ill and both more strain on already overburdened NHS as well as risk of new variants.

All for the want of some very very basic measures that don't cost much.

I also think we should get rid of traffic lights and seat belts because why bother? Seat belts are so uncomfortable.

Why don't people care when there are lots of kids effectively locked down via repeated isolations?

I guess it's the 'I'm alright Jack' mentality.

We sent Year 12 home and that’s the first time a whole year has had to go home. We finish on Friday so I think we’ll limp to the finishing line.

Letting it get out of control in schools - without any mitigation - when we've almost vaccinated the adult population, but haven't, is possibly the stupidest thing this government has done in a very crowded field.

Greater Manchester Primary, 3 year groups down at the moment.

Anyone on here who’s child has long Covid?

No cases at our senior and primary schools (east London) since March. Local public health advised masks back on last week which is disappointing but thankfully less than two weeks to get through before the summer holidays.

Warwickshire here. Ds2 primary school has 3 years going back next week after 10 days isolation. Ds1's secondary has been OK for a few weeks-his last isolation was at Easter.

I wonder how many of these cases in schools wouldn't have been identified at all in the first two waves, and it's just LFTs that caught them?

I'm in my 30s and not clinically vulnerable. I caught covid from school (I'm a teacher) in December. I was too ill to work for 4 weeks, thankfully for the school most of that was over Christmas so didn't need cover.

I still have some symptoms - some just make me miserable (my smell and taste are wrong, plus side I'm losing weight as lots of food tastes bad so I'm not as keen on eating - I'm a healthy weight but don't mind being thinner), others such as the cough and breathlessness are a bit more worrying... But I didn't die so obviously none of this is an issue

Well primary school kids don't do LFTs so none of the primary school closures will be due to LFTs (unless a teacher caused the isolations)- it was a child testing positive in our daughter's school. Which means they were probably in school during the infectious asymptomatic phase of the illness in a class of 30 crowded into a tiny poorly ventilated room.

Which is why not having good ventilation, masks, social distancing etc is a bad idea.

Sorry to hear that @FlagsFiend

Teaching is such a demanding job, I'd imagine doing it when not feeling 100% must be tough.

Greater Manchester primary - utter carnage. All but 2 years affected currently. One of my DC on their second self isolation since half term. In upper primary they attempt a bit of contact tracing but in KS1/EYFS it’s the whole year group each time. Can’t imagine we’re going to see much of school between now and the summer hols