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.

Not sure that masks in corridors help that much. Even last year outbreaks at school centred around people in classrooms. Lots of teachers got it but no technicians or cleaners really. That began to change with delta.

There is no contact tracing in schools at the moment. However I'm not sure what will happen if a school gets an Omicron outbreak, a d seeing as it is already present in the uk this. seems inevitable at the moment

Face masks are compulsory in DS's secondary school.

@Toottooot people choose to ignore that, I can't see to many children wearing masks effectively especially in primary

What exactly were you expecting to be said about schools?

@Whinge

My kid in reception mixes freely inside with the whole year group of 90 for most the day, then after school they all go off to different after school clubs and all mix with another different 20 kids
From Across the infants school

Its the same old shit.
All it comes down to is business.
Its quite clear - No school, parents can't work.
That has an impact on business.
Wear masks, other mitigations - that means openly admitting that children are at risk of covid. They just won't do that.
It is very clear that schools are driving transmission.
It will sadly be hell or highwater before the do anything.
The only way they will, is if this new strain adversely affects children.

My 12 year old has been full time mask wearing for weeks!

Yes my 15 yo has been wearing masks fulltime since about the beginning of October and it's definitely helped bring case numbers down.

[quote OnceuponaRainbow18]@Whinge

My kid in reception mixes freely inside with the whole year group of 90 for most the day, then after school they all go off to different after school clubs and all mix with another different 20 kids
From Across the infants school[/quote]
Yes it's similar here. If Omicron means close contacts need to isolate for 10 days then that's a lot of children who will need to stay home, and a lot of parents taking time off work if they're not old enough to be supervised.

Vaccines don’t only have an effect on disease severity. How do you explain the fact that case numbers in vaccinated groups are a lot lower? Why are case numbers highest in children? We have mass events, hospitality and workplaces with no mitigations yet case numbers are highest in children?? It would be interesting to see figures of the percentage unvaccinated over 12s getting it

unsupervised

Primary here. So many off with it at the moment- can't expect small ones to wear a mask and of course they are unable to have the vaccination. I ventilate my classroom and hope for the best.

So

• vaccines offered 12-15
• spacing where possible in classrooms

-Keeping in year groups

• contact tracing
• kids sent home if close contacts (eg my daughter was not even told that the boy she sits next to had Covid!!!!! Hardly difficult as it’s a specialist class and there are only two of them in there!!!)

@Tabbydancer

I was hoping he’d decide to offer second vaccinations to the 12-15 year olds. They don’t have to take them but mine would to protect our elderly relatives

I agree, this would be good news for me too. I presume Pfizer have applied for a licence in the over 5s here too, if approved they need to offer it to them too, especially the vulnerable groups

• Schools being stricter about kids wearing masks. Zero secondary school kids near me wear masks. They hang around outside school without masks. They get in buses without masks. They always have done. I used to complain to the school during the first lockdown. Never received a reply even. My nephew goes there and mask wearing mead never enforced in school even when mandatory. Such selfish little t@@@

@Comedycook

Oh yes. I'm alright Jack pull the ladder up.

If teachers start getting this new variant and are not very weill protected then it will be worse for your child than a few simple protection measures.

Try and think things through before you type.

Also at least say they are now looking into vaccinating younger groups
Enforce mask wearing )which of course bj can’t do as he is the ultimate twat not wearing his own. Such a contemptible man).

God here we go again; it was shown that teachers were at much lower risk than many other workers. Please don’t start this nonsense again re closing schools, it’s never going to happen

Schools are full of covid. My 3 dc have all got covid. They are largely fine. Dh and I have caught it and we are not fine. Never been so ill in my life. This has been a miserable experience. I feel for teachers and school staff and vulnerable parents. Dh and I are 49, fully vaccinated and healthy. I can't imagine how we might have felt if we weren't.

Don’t people realise: there will never be another lockdown here. The economy cannot sustain it. Everyone is behaving as normal and they will continue to.

@Comedycook your kids education is far more likely to be disrupted by the teacher catching covid than having to wear a bloody mask.
I caught covid a couple of weeks ago, I haven’t been back in school since. Despite being double vaccinated ( and since the government wouldn’t prioritise teachers not eligible for a booster)
I definitely caught in school ( my tracks for the previous 10 days were school, walks in the evening where we never meet a single person and 20 mins in aldi). The 300 kids kids i teach every week have had their education massively disrupted by me not being in school. There is a huge shortage of supply teachers so whilst a couple of years ago we could easily get one person to cover all my classes for the absence the kids have had a rolling portal of cover. I have no idea what they have learnt, or not learnt, so when I am finally well enough to return further lessons will be spent on establishing this.
Anecdotally when we have reintroduced masks, eg y9 since i got sick, the number of infections has dropped dramatically.

I think it's a financial decision. Long term illnesses in kids, teachers etc will be on someone else's watch. People not going on transport and in shops because so many haven't been wearing masks costs. By sticking to online shopping they don't pick up the little ad hoc bit and pieces they buy in shops, along with refreshments, spur of the moment purchases etc.
Govt are not bothered about spread in schools and collateral damage of that - health or education. Other countries addressed ventilation etc - we say enhanced handwashing and ignore organ damage and impact on inperson education, mental health etc.

Interestingly I've just seen the DfE tweeted at 11am today explaining to parents how and why nativities and Christmas shows can still go ahead

I'm really curious about whether masks in schools makes much of a difference. My school has no mandatory masks, but probably 20% of kids choose to wear them anyway. We don't have any mitigating factors in place, except wiping down desks after every lesson, and everyone testing twice a week on lfds.

We've been amazingly lucky with infection. Not none at all, but it's certainly not spreading like wildfire. I wonder if it's partly (largely?) because we're an independent school with lovely big classrooms with nice big windows, and only 22ish in a class rather than 30 odd? Most depts have their own buildings as well, so we literally don't have many corridors 🤷‍♀️

Im glad schools weren't involved. I hate mask wearing and probably will get my Xmas shopping online now as my glasses misting when it's cold is just a pain. I've just started enjoying going shopping again too so that is a shame. But at least that is a choice I can make. Wearing masks on their bus for a half hour journey each way and then all day at school made my children really struggle. They have to wear them in communal areas but at least they can concentrate properly when in class. Both my children struggle wearing them.

If the teachers get covid (or need to isolate due to contact with the new variant) @FreeBritnee there won't be an option