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.

For a second I thought this was a thread from 2020 because a year ago we were discussing the same thing

Are teachers going to go home and isolate or are they going to meet with friend / family / going shopping if we break earlier ?

It won’t be our decision to close, if we do, @EasterIssland

@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 anymore. Now it’s daily testing since yesteday

They are all shutting anyway for two weeks? Not sure they need to do anything extra right now.

Close contacts don’t have to isolate anymore. Now it’s daily testing since yesteday

Yes you are right.
My school had almost half the staff off due to them being positive.

No thanks OP.

What ever teachers do if they finish early which of course they can't now I am sure most will be able to be free to mitigate their own risks. So for instance if they feel somewhere is too crowded or not safe, they can choose whether to enter or leave or go through quickly?
Rather than be forced to enter maskless crowds every day often with older children sneezing and coughing without any attempt at all to cover up?

@NearlyAlwaysInsane

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

Yes, weird how working in very close contact with completely unvaccinated people, who aren’t wearing mask does that. Oh, yes and in teeny tiny rooms crammed with 31 people x6 lessons per day.

In most cases, HCP are masked, socially distanced (GPs often by video call) and seeing those who are at least double vaxxed and also masked. Their job is incredibly stressful and hard (much more than mine as a teacher) but I don’t think they are, on the whole, more at risk from Covid at the moment, with some exceptions, for example those who work in ICU and on Covid wards.

This obviously spoils the narrative of ‘Covid doesn’t spread in schools’ which was so convenient for so many to believe. It was absolute bollocks as we kept trying to tell you. Thengovernment knew it was bollocks so they must be really worried about community transmission if they are even contemplating closing schools. They definitely don’t care about the health of teachers and children.

Are teachers going to go home and isolate or are they going to meet with friend / family / going shopping if we break earlier ?

I will be isolating from the moment we break up, as I want to go to visit my elderly parents after Christmas. I only even see them after a week of holiday - with isolation and then daily testing in the run up to the journey.

It's only sensible - they're elderly and therefore vulnerable. I have high exposure to Covid (a quarter of my class out today, doubled since yesterday) and do not want to be the vecotor of transmission.

\obviously teachers with different family scenarios will not be as drastic as I am - but PP is right. in school I am forced into risky contact and risky situations. Out of school I can make much more nuanced choices.

Than all other workers or than the average of all other workers?

I am a teacher. I have vulnerable relatives who I spend time with. I also have two kids aged 9 and 12.

I worked all through both lockdowns, in school full time the second time, on a rota the first.

I have had covid pretty badly despite being double jabbed.

I think shutting the schools again would be absolutely awful. Children need to be physically in school. We are going to be seeing the effects of those lockdowns and children effectively missing months of education (home learning is not the same) for years to come.

I feel worried about covid. I really do. I’m terrified about getting it again, worse this time. I was already quite unwell.

But shutting schools is not the answer.

To be fair the article states

He said the figures show the necessity for mitigations such as ventilation and air filtration, mask-wearing and isolation for siblings of positive cases, to keep Covid cases as low as possible in schools.

And I think to be fair mask wearing (certainly in communal areas) and now with omicron in classroom sibling isolation are entirely sensible mitigations that we should be using.

Ventilation - whole discussion in itself but I am in agreement

@ChequerBoard The Ofsted report I linked to. Okay, it said nearly every single child.

Even those who are still above average would be achieving even more without ak much disruption to their education.

So much*

@refraction I do care very much about my children not having their education interrupted any further. I care, as a single mum that I don't have to work/homeschool.

The issue of schools closing wouldn't have anything to do with kids on people's hands rather than the gap in education would it?

Teachers and associated professions are not respected as they are in other countries, and I am astonished at how crap their pay is. To me they are doing the country a great service and should be commended every day of the week.

Many of those up in arms are balking at the idea of having kids under their feet rather than at school.

I know, I know, plenty of jobs are risky Covid wise, and people have to work etc. but still.....

School that's got on line and ran tight ships were able too smoothly carry on with learning

Are teachers going to go home and isolate or are they going to meet with friend / family / going shopping if we break earlier ?

Are parents prepared to protect their children’s education by keeping their children at home, away from crowded shopping centres, sof play, pants,Ines, parties, sleep overs and all the other lovely stuff available to them over the festive period?

If parents are prepared to support school staff and ensure, in as far as they are able, that their children won’t be spreading covid in school come January 4th then I am a teacher who will also do everything I can to ensure I am able to work on January 4 th and for the foreseeable. Or is it only teachers you expect to forgo anything of a life over the next few weeks?

@refraction have you out of interest?

Pants, Ines was pantomimes!

That said though, if schools have so many staff off that it’s not safe to open then they have to close. There is a massively shortage of supply teachers and TAs at the moment.

I’m a teacher and the children need to be in school. The Govt need to actually put their money where their mouth is and fund air filters for starters.
It’s been lovely to have a little normality this term. Online is horrible. Filtration (rather than a co2 monitor that tells you nothing you don’t already know) and masks where needed.
We can’t just keep chucking kids out - too much at stake for them.

Nope

School that's got on line and ran tight ships were able too smoothly carry on with learning

Whilst I agree with this, we know that there are thousands of children with only a phone and top up data to be able to access online learning. It works for many, but not for all, I don’t begin to know what to do about that gap but we must acknowledge it and do what we can to ensure that all children receive a blended education, if it comes to it, not just the ones who have unlimited Internet and a laptop to hand.

I don’t think schools should shut at this point no - but I can certainly see how teachers are particularly vulnerable compared to most professions, especially in the very young years (surely anyone with a young child at home can see that…) They cannot teach in full PPE and very young children don’t wear masks. Most of the teaching is done in a crowded class room and opening the window won’t make a great difference there. Kids can be told to clean their hands at many intervals but noses will still be picked in between… Schools are massive breeding grounds for things like colds and d and v, but apparently not Covid I was very surprised school staff weren’t prioritised for vaccinations. If I walk into my local med centre (if I’m lucky enough to get an appointment) everyone is masked and PPE’d up to the nines and you’re told to use hand sanitiser at every turn… I know where I’d feel safer working.