Masks back in Classrooms in secondary schools.

[storminabuttercup]

Our LEA have reintroduced masks in secondary schools, it's out first experience of this as DC us year 7. I'm absolutely not anti mask, DC willing wear one in shops etc and when moving about in school but is upset this morning about having to wear one all day, I'm guessing they will get used to it soon enough but I feel so sad about the whole situation, these kids have been through so much. It also makes me wonder if this is now the step before back to home learning.
I know we need to control the virus I'm not even complaining I'm just venting that this bloody thing is still here.

@noblegiraffe

For everyone? Even though the majority are most likely immune?

But you have already admitted that you can't tell who.

I'm assuming they are being reintroduced because infection rates are high and not on a whim.

But it’s still most likely the majority. I’d rather my children didn’t have to wear a mask all day if they’re immune, thanks. Particularly when it doesn’t look like it’s made much difference to cases in countries that kept them.

And infection rates are decreasing and have been since before half term.

Me either Bumbley

My dc have just had it. They don’t need to wear masks in class. They still do communally which is no benefit but they still join in.

I’d rather my children didn’t have to wear a mask all day if they’re immune, thanks

But you already said you don't know if they are.

@bumbleymummy And infection rates are decreasing and have been since before half term

I don’t think this is true is it? ONS reported “ In the week ending 22 October 2021, the percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) continued to increase in England.”. This was the week leading up to half term?

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveypilot/29october2021#percentage-of-people-who-had-covid-19-in-england-wales-northern-ireland-and-scotland

I think many people know that @noblegiraffe is a Maths teacher. I thought you were making a good joke.

Maybe not.

We have 40 CO2 monitors. We have many more classrooms than that.
Today mine was flashing red from about ten am. My windows and doors were already open and kids by the windows were shivering and dodging the curtains.
We've not been told what to do should they flash red ... but open the windows won't cut it when they're already open.
And we do have classrooms with no windows....

@borntobequiet

I think many people know that *@noblegiraffe* is a Maths teacher. I thought you were making a good joke.

Maybe not.

Oh right I thought it a dig.

Fair enough

That was to @MarshaBradyo

Oops X post

Love a good old mask debate....

[quote trumpisagit]@ChristmasCovid
I was told by 2 people they had. So I arranged a PCR, but it makes me wonder what test and trace are actually doing... [/quote]
As soon as anyone has named me in the past - been a fair few.I have received an automated text immediately and a call the following day.

Maybe they gave the incorrect contact number for you - bit weird that 2 have them would have both been wrong though.

You may be interested in this study, @bumbleymummy. It shows children with a mild dose of Covid are less likely to sero-convert than adults.

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.17.21265121v1

@MrsHamlet

We have 40 CO2 monitors. We have many more classrooms than that. Today mine was flashing red from about ten am. My windows and doors were already open and kids by the windows were shivering and dodging the curtains. We've not been told what to do should they flash red ... but open the windows won't cut it when they're already open. And we do have classrooms with no windows....

No CO2 monitors at my school but as you’ve made the comment I’m not sure what’s the point anyway? I too have the windows open (a few cm) and the door open (internal leading onto a long corridor with no external door) so if I did have one and it flashed, what would I do? Is evidence of poor ventilation being collated? Feeling so despondent with it all. We’re having to be as ‘normal’ in schools (learning walks, observations, Ofsted) whilst coping with high staff illness, cover and dual teaching (we stream every lesson live so when I’m observed I’m being assessed on how I engage students at home). Sorry, that turned into a moan but I just feel so fed up that even after all this time it seems the general public are still battling schools rather than supporting them.

So you remember that I think they should have kept the single measles vaccine available on the nhs during that time so that worried parents would still have the option to protect their child against measles? Last time I checked, the single measles vaccine is a vaccine so hardly an antivaxx position is it?

I know this was said a few pages back but I really want people to know that the single measles vaccine was the cause of my adult brother contracting measles back in the early 2000s and he nearly died from it. He has long term issues from it still.

He was a TA in primary school at the time and it was during the period when parents were scared of the MMR because of the idiot Wakefield and many were instead doing the single vaccines. However, the singles could not be taken at the same time and measles was always a few months later.

My brother caught measles from a child but took nearly a week to diagnose as 2 young GPs had never seen it. It was when we called an ambulance and an older doctor spotted it was measles as he had seen it before.
He was blue lighted to the diseases specialist unit at the Royal Free, where he was in a coma for 5 weeks. It was bloody scary.
Investigations at the primary schools were carried out as he was part of the disease unit at RF which is what they do apparently and a child was found to be carrying measles but was still waiting for the separate vaccine.
The results of the investigation reported that if the child had had the MMR at the scheduled time, my brother would not have caught it and there was evidence of this happening all over London.

It was about a year after that, that single vaccine were not as widely available for that very reason.

Sorry to derail but I felt it was important to highlight that refusing certain vaccines, can still have consequences.

@ChloeDecker

So you remember that I think they should have kept the single measles vaccine available on the nhs during that time so that worried parents would still have the option to protect their child against measles? Last time I checked, the single measles vaccine is a vaccine so hardly an antivaxx position is it?

I know this was said a few pages back but I really want people to know that the single measles vaccine was the cause of my adult brother contracting measles back in the early 2000s and he nearly died from it. He has long term issues from it still.

He was a TA in primary school at the time and it was during the period when parents were scared of the MMR because of the idiot Wakefield and many were instead doing the single vaccines. However, the singles could not be taken at the same time and measles was always a few months later.

My brother caught measles from a child but took nearly a week to diagnose as 2 young GPs had never seen it. It was when we called an ambulance and an older doctor spotted it was measles as he had seen it before.
He was blue lighted to the diseases specialist unit at the Royal Free, where he was in a coma for 5 weeks. It was bloody scary.
Investigations at the primary schools were carried out as he was part of the disease unit at RF which is what they do apparently and a child was found to be carrying measles but was still waiting for the separate vaccine.
The results of the investigation reported that if the child had had the MMR at the scheduled time, my brother would not have caught it and there was evidence of this happening all over London.

It was about a year after that, that single vaccine were not as widely available for that very reason.

Sorry to derail but I felt it was important to highlight that refusing certain vaccines, can still have consequences.

It's vitally important to highlight things like this, and thank you for doing it. Too many people still think that measles and other "childhood" illnesses are nothing to worry about. And of course, the abhorrent Wakefield should also still be trying to get the blood off his hands, yet people still believe his lies.

Yes, I believe Wakefield’s awful legacy has contributed to the hesitancy (putting it politely) of the Covid19 vaccine too. Things have never been the same since.

Well, if many refuse the vaccine, masks are surely better than nothing in certain highly infected schools, I would have thought. I mean, they didn’t get to have high infection rates by accident did they? No mitigations at all have consequences.

Sorry to hear about your brother Chloe but the point was that, at that time, some parents were choosing no vaccine because they were worried about the mmr. Having a single measles vaccine available on the NHS would have at least given them a choice and many would have chosen to vaccinate against measles. Most people giving single vaccines privately prioritised the measles vaccine, because it is the more severe disease of the three, so I’m not sure why the child in your brother’s class wasn’t given the measles vaccine first. Was your brother not vaccinated himself? The single measles vaccine was used in the U.K. for decades before the MMR came out.

Anyway, don’t want to derail but I was simply pointing out that continuing to offer the single vaccine on the nhs at that time would have ensured that more parents would have vaccinated their children against measles.

Thanks @Dishhh. There are other published studies that have shown a strong immune response in children even after a mild infection:

corporate.dukehealth.org/news/children-mild-or-asymptomatic-covid-have-strong-antibodies-months-later

(Link to study in summary article)

@MrsHamlet

"Cruel" is ridiculously hyperbolic

I think it’s cruel.

Sorry to hear about your brother Chloe but the point was that, at that time, some parents were choosing no vaccine because they were worried about the mmr.

No, you are gaslighting here. I was responding to you making the point that you were not anti MMR because you supported the single measles vaccine

Having a single measles vaccine available on the NHS would have at least given them a choice and many would have chosen to vaccinate against measles. Most people giving single vaccines privately prioritised the measles vaccine, because it is the more severe disease of the three, so I’m not sure why the child in your brother’s class wasn’t given the measles vaccine first.
Evidence for this please? There was no set criteria to ensure measles was first. It was a lottery. The delayed protection of single vaccines is well documented.

Was your brother not vaccinated himself?

Nice to see you turn this around on my brother. I see what you are doing here. He had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma as a child and was told not to have those vaccines. That okay with you?

The single measles vaccine was used in the U.K. for decades before the MMR came out.

Yes I know. But the reason for the MMR was to have them all at the same time due to the risks of separate vaccines and children still being carriers or not protected of the other two diseases while waiting.

Anyway. I have made my point. I know full well you won’t agree with me but hopefully, some lurkers might find it useful.

Sorry to derail from masks in schools.

No, you are gaslighting here. I was responding to you making the point that you were not anti MMR because you supported the single measles vaccine

I am not ‘gaslighting’. Don’t be ridiculous. I said I wasn’t antivaxx in response to a previous poster’s accusation about her remembering me from discussions about mmr/wakefield. Saying that I think the single measles vaccine should have been kept available on the NHS (which is what I was saying back then too) does not make someone antivaxx. It’s also a vaccine!

I’m not sure what evidence you want really. It was pretty well known at the time that the single measles vaccine should be offered first because measles was more serious than mumps and rubella. All the websites of the private clinics that were offering it stated this.

I’m not ‘turning it around’ on your brother. I was asking because it’s unusual for an adult to develop measles because they have either been vaccinated or have had measles when they were younger (such as people around my age group).

I’m not really sure what your point is tbh. I simply pointed out that supporting alternative vaccines on a schedule that had been in place for years at a time when there was concern about one specific vaccine, does not make someone anti-vaccine. It wasn’t intended to be a debate about which vaccine or vaccine schedule was better. I’m sure you would agree that any vaccine would have been better than none at all which is what some concerned parents were opting for.