Teachers - Anyone else worried?

[foundlingfar]

Any teachers on here concerned about the current covid stats? I am surrounded by kids in my class who's families are isolating, they clearly have symptoms but have tested negative so are able to attend school. I feel like I can't do anything to protect myself and my family 😕. I work with very little children so I'm constantly tying shoe laces, helping to zip up coats, comforting children etc. I'm just so anxious and feel like other workers have been told to 'work from home' or 'limit contact' whereas teachers have been largely expected to get on with it. I know we're not the only ones but in primary, we aren't even allowed to wear masks as children need to see us speak etc. I know this is an awful thing to say as I love my job and children, but it's like we are putting the kids before our own health?! And come of us have families and our own children too!

Not sure if this is helpful, but I work in hospitality and we don't wear masks. I'm not in close contact with customers, but I definitely am with colleagues! I haven't caught it yet and I actually have no idea why

*But even those 'working from home' often have children or teenagers coming and going, carrying the virus

Not sitting in poorly ventilated rooms with 30 kids at a time, are they?*

No, but my child is sitting in a room with 4 unmasked staff and 15 other generally germy (and obviously unvaccinated) 3 year olds so I may as well be!

I cannot work from home, and 4 out of 8 of our staff tested positive on Christmas Eve. I hate the saying "It is what it is', but...

It’s for the sake of keeping kids out of parents’ way so they can work (primary) and so they don’t have to fuck up cancelling exams again (secondary).

Exactly. Childcare is the government's priority.

Don't get me wrong. I understand why. I also understand that it's better for kids to be in school. But when you've spent 21 months being told you've got to avoid the virus at all costs, with the govt using scare tactics to ensure that you do, on a psychological level it's disconcerting to be in a room with 30 unvaccinated children, many of whom have Covid in their households.

At 8am a teacher nipping to the supermarket on the way to work has to wear a mask and use hand sanitiser to go inside a huge air conditioned space, and next they're being told to spend their working day unmasked, amid 30 unmasked and unvaccinated people in an unventilated and small enclosed area. That was pretty difficult for the human mind to deal with when household isolation was in place. Now it's even more difficult because they KNOW they have children in that space who have family members with covid.

@Talkwhilstyouwalk

I would have been very sympathetic a year ago, but not now. I think the time has come that we have to get vaccinated, live our lives and accept the fact that at some point we are all likely to get covid.

You can still be sympathetic without actually having to change your behaviour or thinking about ‘getting on with it’ - if someone is concerned then they still deserve sympathy.

But when you've spent 21 months being told you've got to avoid the virus at all costs

Is that the message you've been getting?

@Blubells

But when you've spent 21 months being told you've got to avoid the virus at all costs

Is that the message you've been getting?

Yes!

It’s a moderate to bad cold, you’ll be fine!

Everyone around me has had it. I’m slightly jealous as none have been very ill but all got 10 days off work. I want 10 days chilling at home with a sniffle. I know people are more ill but not in my rl experience so it’s hard to be the last one standing spinning all the plates. I’m exhausted. I work in a hospital rather than school but have 3dc so it feels inevitable.

@Mybalconyiscracking

It’s a moderate to bad cold, you’ll be fine!

You absolutely do not know if the OP would be fine. Some are not.

It's a bit weird all these people insisting that it's fine to catch when I've seen colleagues, friends and acquaintances be very much not fine.

Like gaslighting?

@MajorCarolDanvers

other workers have been told to 'work from home' or 'limit contact' whereas teachers have been largely expected to get on with it

The purpose of this is to try keep schools open. Not to turn you into a martyr. Its for the sake of the children.

So when did teachers ever go into teaching to make a choice between their own health and that of a job!

It is after all a job that pays money like any other. Yes, we like to teach but not at the expense of your health. We have no idea what variant is around the corner. Yet every time, its been a battle to get the most basic of measures implemented.
What shocks me the most is the gaslighting from the government over schools from day 1 and the fact that they hold no regard whatsoever to the health of the population of children.
Its disgusting.

@Mybalconyiscracking

It’s a moderate to bad cold, you’ll be fine!

How do you know that? Covid put me in hospital. A cold doesn't do that to me.

I sure we are in the home straights with covid, who knows but it feels like we are starting to move forward with it.
I'm really happy we are not in lock down, I'm happy to continue working and for dc to go to school.
What I can't for the life of me fathom is why we aren't not throwing all we've got at these next few weeks?
Eg allow pupils to wear warm homemade clothes?????? Forcing uniforms on in freezing classes??
Bring hot water bottles in, anything blankets!!
Make lessons shorter so pupils have more time to actually move around and get warm.
Stagger lunch times so they arnt all crowding at the same time?
Do some on live lessons if necessary.
Do rotas be flexible.
Etc etc!!

I'm sick of hearing people say "we've got to learn to get on and live with it".. No fucking shit sherlock but right now in the middle of the usual winter shit storm is probably the time to keep going with some caution?????
Right now!!

I'm a swing voter, I'm no socialist left wing "let's turn every single thing" into a rant about the tories but! I'm also absolutely appalled at the bizarre treatment she disdain for schools.

@Mybalconyiscracking

It’s a moderate to bad cold, you’ll be fine!

A local dad at our school was 46, caught covid and died. No underlying health conditions-he absolutely wasn’t ‘fine’.

I'm CEV. I'm a teacher. So yes I'm worried.

@Evvyjb

I'm not worried about getting ill (have now had it twice...) but I AM worried about the growing levels of chaos and stress at work associated.

This. I have had it, DH has had it, dc3 has had it. I am not worried about catching it, but do feel stressed at the thought of so many colleagues off, the impact on my own kids, my class, my colleagues’ mental health - I could go on and on!

After 2 lockdowns, I just feel I don’t have anything left in the tank. Our lovely head was telling us how we have to have lessons available for on line learning, as well as teaching in class… and I just thought ‘I can’t’. I’m not even worried about not making my appraisal, our ‘mocksted’ next month, SATS. It’s not that i don’t care, I just don’t feel anything much.

@noblegiraffe

Its for the sake of the children.

Don’t be daft. If this govt gave a shit about the education of children they’d put some money into it.

It’s for the sake of keeping kids out of parents’ way so they can work (primary) and so they don’t have to fuck up cancelling exams again (secondary). There’s certainly zero concern for any quality of educational experience while they’re in school.

Ask about how well-funded CAMHS is for the sake of the children.

Too true!

Was I supposed to work from home during the last lockdown? I was in school every day, teaching face to face and online.

I do think that if you are not CV/CEV and are triple jabbed, then talk of 'keeping safe' etc is a little dramatic now, Omicron is overwhelmingly likely to just be a nasty cold for you. Same as any other winter bug.

I do get it about the stress of absence and cover though, but we are talking about a pandemic where people have lost their entire livelihoods, so I guess we have to try and keep perspective on it.

The mad thing is that school would close and everyone would get sent home on health and safely grounds if the heating was broken and temperatures fell to a certain level, or if there was no water be wise of a burst main. Your employer has a duty of care for the health and safety of their employees at work - yet not against infectious diseases apparently.

Are you unvaccinated or particularly vulnerable?

Almost everyone I know has had Covid now. Hardly anyone has been properly ill - well I had the post viral fatigue for a few weeks.

Everyone is going to get it OP.

@MyGreenTutu

The mad thing is that school would close and everyone would get sent home on health and safely grounds if the heating was broken and temperatures fell to a certain level, or if there was no water be wise of a burst main. Your employer has a duty of care for the health and safety of their employees at work - yet not against infectious diseases apparently.

Those things are not comparable because they are very short term and get fixed pretty quickly, within days. This pandemic has been going on for 2 years, you can't shut schools for that long.

@MyGreenTutu

The mad thing is that school would close and everyone would get sent home on health and safely grounds if the heating was broken and temperatures fell to a certain level, or if there was no water be wise of a burst main. Your employer has a duty of care for the health and safety of their employees at work - yet not against infectious diseases apparently.

What’s that level? As my classroom was frequently around 10 degrees last winter.

What shocks me the most is the gaslighting from the government over schools from day 1 and the fact that they hold no regard whatsoever to the health of the population of children. It's disgusting

Agree 100%.Tonight I saw posted that that the number of hospitalisations is rising fast in 0-5s. I cannot believe how little we're doing to protect children.

It's one thing to ventilate, have air filters and do everything you possibly can to mitigate risk (most of these measures being quite easy and cheap) and then still have some children (or indeed teachers) in hospital, it's quite another to NOT BOTHER with all the things we know work, accepting that there will be little tiny children who can't possibly protect themselves who will pay the price. It's monstrous.

"Data from the UK Covid dashboard shows 569 children aged 0 to five were admitted to hospital with Covid in England in the seven days to 3 January. That was an increase of 73% compared to the week to 27 December when there were 328 admissions, much higher than the average increase across all age groups of 58%. In the week to 3 January, there were 14.5 admissions for every 100,000 under sixes in England, a rate four times higher than for children aged six to 17, for whom there were 3.5 admissions. That is a record high to date in the pandemic. Last January the rate peaked at 4.4 admissions among 0 to five year olds."

I've seen these data reported by several academics on twitter too - it's from government data, seemingly. www.nationalworld.com/health/coronavirus/should-young-children-be-vaccinated-call-for-covid-jabs-for-0-5-age-group-after-rise-in-hospitalisations-3517635

There have been warnings from South Africa and the US that Omicron may be more serious for very young children. And they have no air filters in their classrooms.