Time to think about closing the schools

[DolphinFC]

ONS survey finds that education staff are 37% more likely to catch Covid than other workers.

Previous data showed they were no more likely to catch covid than other workers and many people (especially MNetters) felt that this was all the proof needed to keep schools open.

Well, new data shows the reverse is now the case.

@NearlyAlwaysInsane

How’s that shocking to you? Our GP is mainly doing phone calls and seeing about 10 people a day in a room with a window, both In masks sitting apart… I went to opticians yesterday one in one out, ventilated and both wore masks… most adults visiting healthcare professionals are double jabs.

I work in a primary school and about half the staff have already had it- I don't think we should close- most of the staff are young and vaccinated and nobody so far has been dangerously sick from it!

@WonderfulYou

Er, no. We are all going to catch Covid. I caught it at work. Should my workplace be shut down?

It’s not that simple.
If you caught Covid you would have had to isolate. Anyone who is a close contact with you would also have to isolate - there are only a certain amount of staff and cover staff able to do the work - if there are no staff then the schools will have to close.

My school had to close early.
I would be ok with a week or two firebreak if needed but any more than that then I’ll be leaving the profession like so many other teachers in the last 12 months.

Close contacts don't have to isolate any more if vaccinated, it's changed to doing a daily LFT (in England anyway).

Not too sure the army of retired teacher plan will work. Apart from the practical difficulties. There are no effective mitigations in schools; why would an elderly individual take the risk ?

@walksen yeah the retired army of teachers. Hilarious. The generation of teachers who were 'capabilitied' out are going to be oh so desperate to volunteer. 😂

@walksen

Not too sure the army of retired teacher plan will work. Apart from the practical difficulties. There are no effective mitigations in schools; why would an elderly individual take the risk ?

They won’t it’s all lip service. Ridiculous suggestion. We have some older volunteers in our school doing readers / library etc none of them have been in the building understandably they don’t want to take the risk.

Maybe if they used the 24m they are giving ofsted, to schools instead to support them through this crisis it might be a start.

Nope. Teachers should get priority for jabs though.

I bumped into my DD’s teacher in the shops tonight & she was furious at the idea schools would close again. She thought it was ridiculous. She’s CEV as well due to a lung condition.. 8/12 teaching staff had covid in October (including her, she was back in 10 days). Why should school close when they’ve all recently had it?!

Schools should do it on a case by case basis. If there are outbreaks, close for a couple weeks or so. Then re-open. Leaving schools without outbreaks to continue running. We are a small, rural school. Cases have been extremely low this half term. Why should they close & impact my child’s education when they don’t need too?

Take it on a case by case basis. Short term closures if needed. Not a blanket closure across the country.

Noooooooo. I'm a teacher and don't want them shut. We need to stay open and keep things as normal as possible for kids.

@discoland

They don’t close though do they??

Some pupils are sent home and not allowed any contact with anybody whilst everyone else stays in the classroom getting a proper education.

We can’t have another year where this happens and we end up with a 2-tier split of children where a minority are made to sit at home.

Absolutely this. ^ ^ Allowed to be educated in school with their peers full time while others have to stay at home not allowed to see anyone from outside of their household depending on what their parents do for a living.

@Omicrone

So what if teachers are more likely to catch it? Everyone has been double, and many now triple vaccinated, the chances of being seriously ill from Covid now are very very small , so they can't really use the whole 'its not safe for us' line any more. Everyone is going to get this strain anyway.

I say all of this as someone who works in a school and was a bit at how keen some of my co-workers were to 'shut the schools'.

A lot of teachers are like kids hoping for a snow day lol I'm sorry and I know teaching is a hard and important job, but a lot of teachers I know have never had any other sort of job and don't seem to understand that work in general is hard

No teachers need to teach many professions are at risk but continue to go to work and not complain.

No.

Covid is here. Covid is endemic. Covid is something we will all now catch repeatedly.

Get on with life.

@NearlyAlwaysInsane

Tosh. So they're more likely to catch Covid than healthcare workers then? Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Quite probably yes. What with infection control not being a key part a school's remit.

Nope. DS1 already broke up yesterday, DS2 tomorrow. Most schools round here are the same. Also plenty more steps to take first, lots of other things to close, other social distancing rules, bubbles and staggered drop off / pick up. Closing schools absolute last resort when hospital admissions much higher and death rate rising.

@Silversun83

Every single child is currently behind where they should be.

Based on what?

That's not my experience.

I’m a teacher in a massive (primary and secondary) school. I absolutely don’t think schools should ever close again.

I’ve not caught it (yet)… although am prepared to.

@ChequerBoard exactly. I went to the hospital this week- had to have my temperature taken before entry, wear a mask, be distanced in a waiting room. Things that aren't happening in schools..

That’s what the report said, Chequers.

Surely we’re all aware by now that we are all going to catch covid at some point? It’s mostly a mild illness and we are all getting jabbed to protect us more.
The main point is we can’t catch it all at once, or we’ll overwhelm the NHS - schools are about to close for 2 weeks so there will be a nice break there to stop big school outbreaks at this time.
The problem is we closed the schools before, so now people think this is an option. We would never close the supermarkets, pharmacies or the hospitals, so despite knowing the staff and customers there may catch covid, it’s a risk we accept. Schools are not akin to a bar or pub, they should never be included in a category of things we just close.
Of course teachers will be at a higher risk, they are also more likely to catch sickness bugs and flus (until they’re seasoned, then they seem to be indestructible to these things!). Covid is not the huge killer we once thought it to be.
There should be measures to make those at risk of being severely ill to work from home, aside from that, everyone needs to soldier on now.
Schools will naturally close in drops as there are outbreaks, but 2 weeks staggered closures from self isolation for year groups is far preferable to the months that we will have if we agree to closure whenever covid pipes up again.

@NearlyAlwaysInsane

Tosh. So they're more likely to catch Covid than healthcare workers then? Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Well, just anecdotally...half my extended family are NHS, most frontline, close contact (nurses and allied healthcare etc) None of them have caught COVID. Don't forget they use PEE, have extra cleaning and hygiene measures, were the first to get vaccinated, get priority testing, do regular LAMP tests, can space out their patients in waiting rooms, a lot of trusts' procedures involve telling staff to isolate if they have a positive case in their household, inpatients in our Trust have to have a PCR 2 days before their admission, outpatients to things like dental hospital are screened beforehand. etc. etc. There are a LOT of measures in health care.

I had COVID at the end of September. Half the staff in the primary school I work in have too. One DS has just had it, he's secondary. None of the measures that are in healthcare in the above paragraph are in place in . Not one. No PPE there, bubbles are gone, no distancing. My school's nursery and KS1, so there are PLENTY of chidlren who are coughing and spluttering all over the place, with questionable hygiene practices (as most kids that age have, wiping their nose on their sleeve or hand). We do have to take the very little ones by the hand, and carry them sometimes. And yes, they do cough in your face.

And of course, now the new guidelines say that children from households with positive cases can just come in to school if their parents say they have done daily negative LFTs. I hope you're not naiive enough to think all parents will comply with that.

We had someone send their positive child in today who should have still been at home for their last day of isolation. Some parents just don't care. Send them in with a cough and try and say it's just the cold weather. Then they say "oh she didn't want to miss the awards ceremony/concert/whatever." You would not believe it. They just want the kid dropped off so they can get to work. There are plenty of others who think "it's child abuse to stick things up babies' noses so I won't be doing it." We won't be able to stop them coming in now if they tell us they've done a negative LFT on them. Can't ask for proof.

No, I don't think the schools should have a blanket closure for a lockdown. But I think that schools due to finish middle of next week should probably finish tomorrow. I think bubbles should never have gone, and they should never have promised that parents would be able to see nativities etc in person. And they DEFINITELY should not have just got rid of PCR testing for asymptomatic household contacts, not to mention the under 5s free for all......

It IS a daily worry for school staff, especially those with vulnerable relatives. We know we are at much higher risk every single day but (and I know it's a cliche) we do it for the kids. No-one who works in education wants to lock down for weeks at a time again. But there ARE measures which could make it better. I'm at a loss as to why the government has scrapped them.

I work with with patients with learning disabilities and dementia do you think they have the capacity to isolate and social distance ? No I get hugged pulled and hand held every shift for 12.5 hours by different people and this has happened with COVID positive people . Infection control goes out the window as you need a person to understand and comply with the request. I've never said we should shut the hospitals and care homes because that would be inhumane I go to work knowing I might pick it up . children NEED an education and school.

@Monkeytennis97 if they can’t get temp staff to cover, then they’d have to close. Same as if they had any other infectious disease going round. Which would be absolute last resort after a lot of thought, not a knee jerk reaction to the latest scare mongering.

Literally closing tomorrow

What is the point

@Theunamedcat

Literally closing tomorrow

What is the point

Quite a lot don’t until next week.