BMJ: Teachers not at greater risk of hosp'n, and lower risk of severe disease, than general population

[Kokeshi123]

www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n2060?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_term=hootsuite&utm_content=sme&utm_campaign=usage

Unlike previous studies, this one actually looked at periods when schools were open and compared like-with-like for those periods.

Compared with adults of working age who are otherwise similar, teachers and their household members were not found to be at increased risk of hospital admission with covid-19 and were found to be at lower risk of severe covid-19. These findings should reassure those who are engaged in face-to-face teaching.

This should not be taken to mean that we should do schooling with no mitigations whatsoever--I'd be in favor of doing indoor masks for kids and teachers till the winter is over if it was up to me, and ventilation is always a good thing anyway. However, at least this should provide some reassurance for teachers and families. And in my opinion, this kind of thing should settle the argument on having any further school closures; mitigations are one thing, but schools absolutely must remain open IMO.

I didn’t start thread after thread about Covid cases in school pupils sky rocketing

What’s that got to do with anything?

[quote BustopherPonsonbyJones]@AchillesLastStand
It is an absolute disgrace that university staff haven’t returned to face to face teaching yet, TWELVE MONTHS after schools returned, especially with the amount universities charge for tuition. Those poor young adults have been royally screwed over by you and your colleague who have been happy to take the cash.

No wonder so many people are looking at other options. If you value your jobs, you should have been fighting to get back to work.[/quote]
Be upset with Vice Chancellors not university staff. It wasn’t our decision to stop teaching face to face.

You do have quite a lot of bad luck with covid though, @mumsneedwine

I’m not sure your school is representative of many.

[quote mumsneedwine]@AchillesLastStand so will all Unis be back to normal next term then ? And if not why not. [/quote]
They should be but we’re having our pensions taken off us so strikes are on the cards again unfortunately. It’s awful for students.

"Be upset with Vice Chancellors not university staff. It wasn’t our decision to stop teaching face to face."

EXACTLY!!! Welcome to the world that we school staff have been living in for the last 18 months!

But I don’t think schools should close again.

Neither do I. At all.
Whether they will or not, or whether young people will have a disrupted education year again or not, won’t be down to what we ‘think’ though.

@SpicyJalfrezi with 200 staff I think we just represent the society we live in - cases are v high again near school so a positive rate of 2% seems unsurprising, especially when we have all been sitting in an unventilated room, v v close together with no masks🤷‍♀️.

I didn’t start thread after thread about Covid cases in school pupils sky rocketing

The amount of people still posting as if I was wrong to do so Schools closed because of those rocketing cases and yet I’m the bad guy for trying to tell people that there was an issue that was being covered up rather than dealt with.

People who spent the Autumn term telling teachers to shut up about schools really ought to have had a big rethink in January.

Be upset with Vice Chancellors not university staff. It wasn’t our decision to stop teaching face to face.

What, like teachers then?!

Oh dear.

I taught university students F2F all through semester 1 of last year, until the govt instructed us to stop on 8 December or whenever it was. Not all universities were entirely online...

Not at all surprising. They really aren’t dropping in droves.

That’s not showing a ‘can do’ attitude, achilles. You could have fought to provide the students with the education they deserve and for which they were paying. You have let down a generation of students and should hang your head in shame. Such cowardice!

They should be but we’re having our pensions taken off us so strikes are on the cards again unfortunately. It’s awful for students.

But but but what about the benefits of education ?!

You can’t be holier than thou on that and then write about striking again (I don’t disagree with striking for your pensions btw but I do disagree with your hypocrisy on this thread)

@AchillesLastStand more strikes ??? Does no one care about the students ? World class university education it is not at the moment, and staff won't even be needed soon as students from abroad will stop coming. But that's not COVID related.
It's v v sad.

@GrinchTastic every Uni that my kids and their friends attended were all on line for most subjects. Some of my youngest's have not met a member of staff or a person on their course all year.

Most of my students from last year have also not had any f2f teaching all year. So you are not representative of the sector I'm afraid.

Ok, but please stop saying that all unis were entirely online for the whole year. I know plenty of colleagues at other institutions who also taught F2F.

[quote mumsneedwine]@AchillesLastStand more strikes ??? Does no one care about the students ? World class university education it is not at the moment, and staff won't even be needed soon as students from abroad will stop coming. But that's not COVID related.
It's v v sad.
[/quote]
I agree it’s dreadful, I don’t want these strikes to happen. My OH is the head of the union though so it’s very difficult. The pension cuts are appalling. Vice Chancellor’s are spending millions on vanity projects then claim they can’t afford to give us a decent pension. The situation is dire.

I’m very worried about the media portrayal of the strikes (if they happen at all), they won’t represent the complexities of the situation and will claim students are being let down again, which they are. Nobody wins in a situation like this.

For the record, the last strikes we went back to work and caught up with all the classes students had missed. We gave the university free labour and the time before that. That’s how much we care about students.

@SpicyJalfrezi

Unless I work at the same school as @mumsneedwine then the 6 staff who tested positive last week in my school is seeming like it's a more common occurrence than I thought.

@GrinchTastic I've never ever said that all Unis were on line all year as I know some did their best. But many should be ashamed of the way they've treated students. I hope one day their is a public enquiry about it all.
It is however a bit much being lectured that teachers should be risking their health for education by someone (not you) who has spent 18 months on line. Obviously not caring quite so much about the education of their students. F2f is vital in all education sectors.

I meant the deaths, really @sherrystrull

@mumsneedwine has very sadly lost a number of colleagues.

@sherrystrull SW London ? Although I'd think you'd know who I was if at same school 😊

@SpicyJalfrezi 2 colleagues. 2 lovely people. Do not try and use that to score points. Vile thing to do.

Pardon?

@SpicyJalfrezi sorry, it sounded like you were disputing the deaths, like you did not believe how 'unlucky' I've been. If this is wrong I apologise. It's a v v touchy subject as one was my dearest friend and her kids are really struggling with going back to school. It shit.

[quote mumsneedwine]@sherrystrull SW London ? Although I'd think you'd know who I was if at same school 😊[/quote]
Nowhere near! Clearly widespread!!