Annoyed that schools weren’t mentioned once in the press conference

[OnceuponaRainbow18]

So masks back in shops and on public transport, where most people are double jabbed and can distance, yet not in secondary schools where majority unvaccinated and unable to distance at all. But don’t fear we can open a window.

Th DfE has just emailed all secondary heads (4pm on a Sunday, obviously) and told them to mandate masks in communal areas.

@Piggywaspushed

Th DfE has just emailed all secondary heads (4pm on a Sunday, obviously) and told them to mandate masks in communal areas.

I look forward to the mental gymnastics that will take place when this makes NO difference to infection rates.

@Lovelyricepudding

Will you be glad when your child has no teacher (qualified or otherwise) for their class?

The point is masks won't make any difference to this so why inflict this on children to their detriment? To make you feel better but actually despite it does nothing to lower incidence of covid?

How is it a detriment?

My 5 and 7 year olds have worn masks in class the better part of the last two years. They are just happy to go to school.

It’s sad when children complain less than adults

@roarfeckingroarr

Good. There shouldn't be masks in schools, it's damaging to kids' education. If you're double jabbed you'll be fine.

So it is better for ALL children’s education for all not to wear masks but for some to catch Covid, for some to get long Covid, for some to be absent from school for long periods, for many to be missing their normal teacher (in some cases a teacher at all) for significant periods?

Or do you mean that it is better FOR SOME that they don’t wear a mask and, by chance, avoid all the consequences?

So by the same token it’s best for nobody to wear a seatbelt, because some people aren’t involved in accidents and wearing a seatbelt all the time is slightly uncomfortable?

I am old enough to remember the seatbelts arguments, and yes, this was exactly the type if thing that was said...

@Piggywaspushed

Th DfE has just emailed all secondary heads (4pm on a Sunday, obviously) and told them to mandate masks in communal areas.

True to form with the lack of notice.

And it's never made any sense to mandate masks in the environment with lowest duration of exposure whilst they're not needed in the environment with the highest duration of exposure (and lowest airflow in many cases). In most secondaries that I know of, they're all mixing with different kids in different lessons. It's window dressing and was never going to achieve much.

Proper ventilation would be much better or failing that ffp2 masks for all freely available and worn everywhere indoors (except when eating).

Yes, it's exactly the same thing as seatbelts.

I expect the Tories will try and get rid of the law to wear those next and say it's all down to 'personal responsibility'. To be honest, I think that argument carries a bit more weight for seatbelts than it does for covid as you're not affecting anyone else if you don't wear a seatbelt or don't get your kids to.

Exactly @MrsHamlet my year 13 dd has been without one of her A Level teachers for 3 weeks and another for 2 weeks. All this after being abandoned in her GCSE year with no exams and some isolating in year 12..
Looks like she will sit her first public exams which will determine whether she gets in a RG University with no mitigation and harsher grade boundaries than the previous two years. Will probably be in competition with some of these students. But schools are open so everything is great right?
Never mind highest infection levels are 5 to 17s and their parents age group.
Cheers Boris.

I think it's difficult to start calling for tighter restrictions in schools than there are outside schools. I understand that it's worrying for teachers but workers elsewhere are in a similar position. Particularly for those who commute by public transport - DH commutes into central London and his firm is working to get people in more often at the moment. Yes, they can socially distance at work, but there's no way that masks are going to stop you getting Covid on the tube - it's rammed every day. But as a PP said upthread, he goes with it or quits.
So we're just getting on with it. I view him as a far greater risk of bringing covid in than any of my DC (at 3 different schools), but we're lucky that none of us are particularly vulnerable and it's just how it is.

Why do you see a Tube as a greater infection risk than a classroom (genuine question)? If a teacher shares a poorly ventilated room with 30+ pupils for 6 hours, and that is the age group with the highest infection rate at the moment, why are adults in tube trains for shorter periods more risky?

My DS15 is hoping for a January lockdown in the hope he doesn't have to sit GCSEs

We, as his parents, are not of course !

I think wearing an ffp2 mask would protect you on the tube. The type of mask matters. It's been shown in hospitals and special schools that when ffp2 masks introduced the number of infections reduces dramatically.

At the moment restrictions outside of schools far tighter than in schools anyway. No masks in the classroom.

@Northsoutheastwest76 yep... as long as we don't have masks in classrooms anything goes...
it's batshit crazy and we all know it. I don't want to catch covid, but equally, I want my students to have the best possible chances. And that's having me in front of them, not at home because I am ill. Or they are.

@NeverForgetYourDreams

My DS15 is hoping for a January lockdown in the hope he doesn't have to sit GCSEs

We, as his parents, are not of course !

Let's hope his school has already got plenty of evidence. Because the more disruption, the more likely we are to end up with TAGs again.

@NeverForgetYourDreams on one level my dd feels the same especially as she has sat mocks and achieved the grades she needs already. But of course she also doesn't want COVID infections to rise either.

Nice to know they haven't changed their way of giving timely guidance @Piggywaspushed

It's literally about as much use as a chocolate teapot sending out advice to schools this late in the day on a Sunday.

Even if the school tries to communicate to parents, half of them won't read it before they send their kids in tomorrow, and those that do who don't already have masks are unlikely to be able to obtain them before their kids have to leave tomorrow morning.

It's almost like they're trolling teachers.

Well secondary kids are back in masks in communal areas; so hopefully will be classrooms next

It's almost like they're trolling teachers

As my year 10 would say, "standard".

We've had the Sunday LFT text reminder with an additional line about masks from Tuesday

@OnceuponaRainbow18

Well secondary kids are back in masks in communal areas; so hopefully will be classrooms next

It's been classrooms masks in Scotland the whole time and the virus has STILL spread. Are people just deliberately ignoring this?

@DaisyMum40

In my mind it’s about viral load; I know I won’t dodge it again, but if I teach a kid with covid and they are wearing a mask as am I the vital load will be less; thus hopefully less ill

@theemperorhasnoclothes Presumably as the rule change for shops and public transport comes into force on Tuesday, they are expecting masks in schools to start in the same day.

@cantkeepawayforever Because adults are shoved right up against one another for over fifteen minutes, with little ventilation and breathing the same air. Crowded as schools may be, I would hope that children do not spend periods in excess of 15 minutes squeezed up against one another and unable to move.

I used to commute on the central line and used to work very long hours in the summer to avoid peak hours - on the deep line stations when it was hot, the doors would open and you'd be hit by the wave of hot air and BO. Don't miss hours of being rammed up in people's armpits.

But presumably your DH has been wearing a good mask throughout, whereas nobody in school (primary) has been allowed to in class? Also, don’t be too sure about distancing - in my classroom every child sits touching at least 1 other, and is within a metre of at least 6, all the time.

There's protests outside of schools for even offering the vaccine! Insisting on masks is pointless

The press conference was simply a call to arms to the British public to take sensible measures, the details will be published in full and may include schools and workplaces anyway. Asking us to wear masks in limited circumstances should help reduce spread a bit

@cantkeepawayforever he has, but people do still catch it with masks on. And not everyone wears them on the tube and I'm fairly sure that will continue. Fortunately, he is reasonably pragmatic and, whilst would rather not be ill, sees it as one of life's risks as do I. He is not calling for tighter restrictions anywhere.

I am far more concerned about my teen with ASD who is now worrying herself sick about school tomorrow - she hates people wearing masks as she ends up with greater misunderstanding of them than usual.