What’s the point of masks at school anymore?!?

[VaccineSticker]

Before anyone shoots me down, I have worn an ffp2 mask right from the beginning and never stopped, and wont be stopping, but it’s obvious now that the plan is that there’s no plan and they are letting the virus spread, so why are they asking kids to mask up?
Asking kids to mask up is like trying to build a sea defence wall to protect ourselves from a tsunami. 🤣
The horse has bolted.
Night clubs are open, packed pubs and restaurants are open, people going into poorly ventilated offices and the list goes on, all maskless especially after all the NYE parties.
But oh no, kids now need to be masked?
Do they think we are stupid?
Do they want us to believe that they are doing something to fight omicron?
Why don’t just be honest and say we are going to let it rip?
The plan is to take it on the chin people. 🙄

@Comedycook

wait sorry, you don’t mean the kids who’ve been left with long term illness thanks to covid do you

How many have been left with long term illnesses?

Masks in schools is absolute nonsense done to placate the public...it's inhumane.

Children have done enough to protect adults.... absolutely makes me sick. How many adults complain about traffic calming measures outside schools designed to keep children safe?

What kind of fucked up world makes it children's responsibility to keep adults safe?

no, there is a scientific consensus that masks help reduce infections

@Comedycook

Because the whole debate almost insinuates that children are being unreasonable to even attend school in the first place...the initial closure of schools has changed the entire public perception of education imo.

no it doesn't, failure of comprehension there

no, there is a scientific consensus that masks help reduce infections

Yet we were told at the beginning the general public didn't need to wear masks?

@Comedycook

It seems sadly that there is a huge appetite for closing the schools again judging by this thread. It is staggering that education now appears to be seen as an optional extra rather than essential.

what nonsense

@Comedycook

no, there is a scientific consensus that masks help reduce infections

Yet we were told at the beginning the general public didn't need to wear masks?

hmm you need to do some reading up, don't you?

@Aimeehedge

Piggywaspushed

I also think that the approach to chickenpox vaccination in this country is wrong. Having read the jcvi minutes for vaccinating 12+ they considered a similar “benefit” to be gained from refusing to vaccinate them too. That it was even a consideration to wilfully let kids be infected to protect adults is immoral. No one knows the long term effects of the virus either.

totally agree about chickenpox too

I'm a primary teacher.... many cases, many staff absent etc etc. No masks. That's fine by me.
This thread is all about secondary ... no one mentioning us in primary / infants just getting on. There's no distancing from a 5 year old!
I don't think masks do much at all and it's just making life tough for teenagers who have had to put up with lot.
We are all able to have a vaccine (unlike primary kids) which will stop us being very ill. We just need to get on with it now.

@Comedycook

Sad that the public don't seem to learn and will happily throw the mental health of children under the bus....

indeed, people seem to be so reluctant to comply with even the smallest measures that will help keep schools open (like wearing masks to some extent will, vaccination will help more, testing and isolation will help...)

@Finfintytint Wow. I’m presuming you don’t attend a GP ever? Or send your kids to school? The teaching unions have precisely no power. The only reason schools ever ‘closed’ (which they didn’t really) is because that was the only way they could get families to stay at home. Masks in classrooms is window dressing, but it is a way of making sure parents aren’t so whiny about having to look after their own kids when there are no teachers left. At least they’ll be able to say they tried to keep schools open!

@Popfan

I'm a primary teacher.... many cases, many staff absent etc etc. No masks. That's fine by me. This thread is all about secondary ... no one mentioning us in primary / infants just getting on. There's no distancing from a 5 year old! I don't think masks do much at all and it's just making life tough for teenagers who have had to put up with lot. We are all able to have a vaccine (unlike primary kids) which will stop us being very ill. We just need to get on with it now.

why do you think masks *make life tough for teenagers"?

My Dc would much rather be in class with a mask if it makes it more likely that he can remain studying in school, rather than at home

indeed, people seem to be so reluctant to comply with even the smallest measures that will help keep schools open (like wearing masks to some extent will, vaccination will help more, testing and isolation will help...)

Closing schools should never again even be an option.... And I'm bored of being promised things if we just comply a little bit more.

@MrsHamlet

Masks in schools is absolute nonsense done to placate the public...it's inhumane. Inhumane is somewhat hyperbolic.

batshit is another way of describing it

@Finfintytint

Are teachers dropping like flies though? More so than any other worker?

I know some later figures suggest that, compared to many other work settings then school staff are more likely, yes.

Anecdotally:

Over 80% of our staff have had covid - teachers, TAs and some support staff. Almost all cases the source can be linked to school exposure.

DHs workplace - about 10% of staff have caught covid so far, al but 2 cases linked to outside sources; 2 cases likely to be within work spread.

comedycook you seem to be a bit behind the times.

No one is talking about the government closing schools nationally, rather that schools will have to close individually due to not having enough teachers to staff them.

The government has put out an emergency call for ex teachers to return and prop schools up but that seems to not have generated much interest.

How do you propose keeping schools in the position of having enough staff to stay open?

making sure parents aren’t so whiny about having to look after their own kids when there are no teachers left

And this perfectly illustrates the attitude I'm talking about.... parents who want their children to attend school just can't be bothered to look after their kids... I mean seriously .

Flimsy disposable masks crumpled up at the bottom of a teenagers bag, covered in crisp crumbs, worn for days at a time

😂 So accurate!

@herecomesthsun I don't want my teen at home either. He'll comply with wearing a mask and I'll provide him with them bit I honestly don't think they do much when you are spending hours in a classroom etc. It is tough wearing a mask for extended periods of time, whatever anyone says!

@Comedycook

indeed, people seem to be so reluctant to comply with even the smallest measures that will help keep schools open (like wearing masks to some extent will, vaccination will help more, testing and isolation will help...)

Closing schools should never again even be an option.... And I'm bored of being promised things if we just comply a little bit more.

closing schools will become rather likely if 25% teachers in a particular school are off sick, can you understand that?

We are being told to prepare for absences of 25% in workplaces, and teachers are particularly likely to go off sick.

No one wants to close schools.

And saying yadda yadda never again is not going to keep the schools open.

You could go and volunteer to be a supply teacher, if you want to help in your own small way.

[quote Popfan]@herecomesthsun I don't want my teen at home either. He'll comply with wearing a mask and I'll provide him with them bit I honestly don't think they do much when you are spending hours in a classroom etc. It is tough wearing a mask for extended periods of time, whatever anyone says![/quote]
we have FFP2s, I think he would rather that than be at home

Someone has already mentioned this but I thought I would just repeat the 'guidance' that states that if there are not enough teachers for each class then they recommend combing classes in halls with reduced numbers of adults who can basically babysit them whilst they sit and marinate in Covid and possibly norovirus or maybe flu or even super cold germ soup! We have gone from bubbles to this?

Does this really make sense to anyone out there? It's like a Covid version of a chicken pox party that is government decreed!

The only thing that could close a school* is if there aren't enough staff there to keep the children safe.

Reintroducing masks might just reduce the number of cases in the adults by enough to keep schools functioning.

*not that I said "a school". There's no way the govt is going to close schools as a policy, and teachers don't want that either. But individual schools are going to struggle with staffing this time around, due to the increased likelihood of infection with omicron.

I just asked my teenagers what they think.

They said they think masks in corridors where you’re mixing with other year groups makes sense, but it’s too hard and not worth it in the classroom. They’re sitting with the same people they mix with (unmasked) at lunch.

Seems sensible to me 🤷‍♀️

@Doggoo

I think it’s most likely a ploy to stop the teachers calling for closures. They’re not going to close schools again (rightly) so they’re going to put something in place so they have a comeback when they’re told they are unsafe.

How many teachers genuinely called for closures? How many teachers did, however, call for some form of guidance and mitigation?

Stop believing everything you read in the red tops and social media.

Every teacher I know prefers to be in school.

Remote learning, alongside school provision for key workers and vulnerable children, is by far much harder work, much longer hours and more time consuming out of school hours than being in work normally. It makes little sense for most teaching staff to want school closures. They'd be voting to give themselves more work 🤷‍♀️

*not= note

Agreed @BoPeeple