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!

@Blubells

There is a viable alternative, just the government have been able to get away with not investing in schools to limit spread because for some reason

Would air filters and other investments really prevent omicron from spreading rapidly? This virus seems so very transmissible that such measures may not do much to prevent kids passing in the virus.

I do not understand many parents are happy to accept absolute shit school conditions for their kids.

Our school is doing a great job and my kids are very happy to be in school. One has exams coming up this summer and the teachers are doing a brilliant job.

My kids are also very happy and the teachers are doing a good job.

I just like to aspire to the best rather than nationally accept the minimum the voting public will tolerate.

Yes there is evidence in support of improved ventilation and air filters.

Do you have some principled objection to that, are you concerned too much clean air will affect the brain or something? Let's just get on with it.

It is like dealing with the parental luddites.

Yes there is evidence in support of improved ventilation and air filters.

Doing all this would be lovely for various reasons and probably a healthy thing to do for the long term. However, it is really unlikely that it would stop omicron in its tracks. It would also take a long time to get set up. Omicron wave will probably have been and gone by that point.

Ventilation is a great thing, but it's not bloody magic--people need to have realistic expectations here.

Do you have some principled objection to that, are you concerned too much clean air will affect the brain or something? Let's just get on with it.

I have no principled objection, but I do like to look at the costs and benefits of any investment. We don't have an unlimited money supply unfortunately.

Portraying reasonable concern at a lack of government planning compared with other countries as 'health anxiety' is bullshit

Oooh look here you are. Knew it wouldn't take long.

I'm not suggesting OP is wrong to be concerned, who am to tell her what should or should not concern her. But I do think (and OP has said herself if you cared to read) that the past 2 years have created more anxiety in people than would have existed for a similar illness previously. It's not logical imo to be so worried about catching what for most is a cold, so much so that you're terrified to go into work etc... Understandable given the last two years but still OTT imo.

But we all know your stance so I imagine you'll come back with some aggressive reply as you do on all these threads. Save it though because I'm not interested.

Are you vulnerable?

I'd do it. Please get on with it. Kids and parents need school. Otherwise covid will be the least of our worries.

Doing all this would be lovely for various reasons and probably a healthy thing to do for the long term. However, it is really unlikely that it would stop omicron in its tracks. It would also take a long time to get set up. Omicron wave will probably have been and gone by that point

I think the co2 monitors have been a shock for a lot of teachers, especially those 15-20 years in, on how poor the air is in their working environments all day every day. The monitors are red all day. You can get them back down by having all doors and windows open and silent working, but that doesn't work for long. The noise around the building makes leaving the door open a massive distraction, especially for the SEND students. Having the doors and windows open affected one of my SEND students so badly, he was in a constant state of anxiety. High alert all day. He has been home schooled now for twelve months, which in itself will create issues. Some classrooms are so poorly designed the monitors are showing the max setting all day.

So for a number of teachers, it isnt the fear of omricon, it is the realisation of how poor the environment is generally. And theyve working in that environment for decades.

@rrhuth - what is the reasonable alternative?
My DC are already sitting in a cold classroom with windows open... I can't afford thermals for them (unlike their teachers), they wear their coats and masks for protection.

But at least they are in school and mixing with their friends & peers rather than being isolated at home.

The cost/benefit analysis of doing as little as possible is not good. UK has spent a fortune not dealing with covid properly.

Regarding an unlimited supply of money - we threw £37 billion at a test and trace system, when Germany spent only 10% and got better results. The government clearly do have an enormous supply of money when it suits them and benefits their preferred suppliers.

It isn't sensible to look at 'government spending' as the only cost through all this. Every time a class shuts, it impacts workers, which impacts households, public services and the treasury by far more than the cost of mitigations would have been.

@WeDontTalkAboutBrunonono

You seem to be annoyed, obviously I have no idea who you are and you have no idea who I am.

I don't know what you mean by a 'stance' - everyone has views, they get discussed. You also have a stance presumably.

@Sinuhe

I really dislike these our children are toxic threads! You gain nothing from this, all of the 30 toxic children are also in a classroom with 30 potential covid spreaders... Children will suffer from any staff shortages and disruption just like the adults. And so will the families behind them. At the end of the day we just have to suck it up and get on with it because there isn't a viable alternative.

Most teachers, in schools across the country are just getting on with their job and are extremely good at what they're doing.

Covid is here to stay and will flare up in waves for the next few years or even decades. If being around children feels too unsettling and unsafe it's probably sensible to strata looking into changing careers and looking for jobs that allow ex-teachers to WFH rather than expecting schools to close so they can WFH.

WRT mitigations, the jury on mask wearing is out apparently, although common sense dictates that wearing masks will reduce transmission. Having good airflow in classrooms is common sense too and straightforward to invest in.

I suspect, however, it's not the classroom where people catch covid but sitting and chatting at lunch or socialising with friends. Of course there will be many teachers also, who have passed on Covid to their pupils, it's common sense. There is also the issue of super spreading and recent research suggests that younger kids are less likely to be 'vectors of transmission' due to the levels of aerosols they project.

This is a great article
www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/coronavirus-outbreak-and-kids

I feel empathy for the teachers on MN who are anxious about being around 30+ families, I hope, seeing that Covid isn't going anywhere soon, these lovely people will be able to transition to alternative jobs where they feel safe and in control.

I suspect, however, it's not the classroom where people catch covid but sitting and chatting at lunch or socialising with friends

LOL. Just LOL. Clearly been no where near a school in the last 20 years.

Sitting and chatting at lunch! Ha!

oh and you don't think the crisis in teaching is worry enough without suggesting that anyone who is worried about covid should just leave?!

@user1477391263

Yes there is evidence in support of improved ventilation and air filters.

Doing all this would be lovely for various reasons and probably a healthy thing to do for the long term. However, it is really unlikely that it would stop omicron in its tracks. It would also take a long time to get set up. Omicron wave will probably have been and gone by that point.

Ventilation is a great thing, but it's not bloody magic--people need to have realistic expectations here.

Addenbrookes used air filters in covid wards and when they were on there was no sars-cov-2 detectable in the air.

They are amazing.

And you can buy them online and get them delivered tomorrow. There is zero set up, you plug them in and turn them on. They could be in all classrooms by Monday if there was a will.

Covid is here to stay and will flare up in waves for the next few years or even decades. If being around children feels too unsettling and unsafe

If it will flare up in waves for this long - why on earth would we not seek to put in place mitigations to prevent spread in schools? The costs of just leaving it to run through schools are very high.

Surely you can send any child coughing etc home and request they tested etc

I don’t know where you got this from. Do you live in a parallel universe?

'If there was a will' is the most galling part of all this

The money poured down the drain on some completely unproven things and just point blank refused for others - even where there is early evidence it works - is enraging.

@WeDontTalkAboutBrunonono

I think we are going to have our work cut out for us when this is over getting rid of all the health anxiety it has caused in so many people.

Of course death generally gets rid of health anxiety.

There's a difference between doing everything you can to mitigate risk and there still being some infection (of course there will be - but far fewer kids and teachers will be ill and disabled - and viral dose will be lower) and doing nothing.

It's like saying 'school is really important but sorry, there are no toilets, the only way they can access school is to go in a pit out back and the teachers have to as well'. No-one would think that was acceptable, it's the equivalent with covid - they're doing sweet fuck all to protect teachers or kids.

In many other countries they have air filters, ventilation, ffp2 masks provided to students 5+ , smaller class sizes, bubbles, and this all makes a huge difference.

It's not rocket science.

@noblegiraffe

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?

I agree, it can be very not fine to catch. I've had a lot of colleagues off with it recently and one or two felt awful. Thankfully didn't have to go to hospital or anything. But, they need their salary, so had to come back ASAP when she recovered and had done her isolation, to serve people food and drinks, like I do (no masks in our work either).

It's a funny one as the obvious thing would be to close hospitality to avoid illness, but they won't and I see why. As an industry, hospitality is the second biggest employer in the UK. I think the first is health care? Not sure. Anyway, if we aren't open, we aren't earning money, staff aren't getting paid and may have to apply for benefits. Businesses are not paying any tax on their income and neither are staff on their income. Funding the NHS takes huge amounts of money. Where does that come from if not from taxation?

And school is definitely childcare. It was said for years on here that it wasn't but its become clear that it is critical to the economy that parents can work.

My children's children will still be paying for this when they become adults (my kids are preschool and primary age).

I don't think there are any easy answers, but I can understand why school is used as childcare and why they haven't closed hospitality either. I think I am at a similar level of risk as primary teachers, so I think I do understand the concern. It's just that I'm also concerned about having a job to return to if we had another closure.

A lot of people are leaving the profession, I know and I understand. The same happened in hospitality.

Like a pp btw, NG's name is very familiar to me, so I'm awaiting the outrage / confrontation from her

@rrhuth

The cost/benefit analysis of doing as little as possible is not good. UK has spent a fortune not dealing with covid properly.

Regarding an unlimited supply of money - we threw £37 billion at a test and trace system, when Germany spent only 10% and got better results. The government clearly do have an enormous supply of money when it suits them and benefits their preferred suppliers.

It isn't sensible to look at 'government spending' as the only cost through all this. Every time a class shuts, it impacts workers, which impacts households, public services and the treasury by far more than the cost of mitigations would have been.

Well said.

The government sucks. That is clear. They've spent all that money on track and trace and it was a woeful waste (except to line the pockets of their rich buddies).

But now what? I don't vote tory. Never have. I'd oust the fuckers today if I could. But that would still be shutting the stable door after the big, blundering, posh horse had bolted. Now probably isn't the time to be softly softly, let's avoid all risk. Too late now really!

Agree with providing ventilation in schools though. The outlay would be worth the saving in hospitalizations I imagine.

But, my mp is one of the worst anti covid restrictions bak bencher tory fuckwits. I will get nowhere with him and his bulldog of a secretary. I have tried. Please try more sensible mps on my behalf!

@Sowhatifiam

I suspect, however, it's not the classroom where people catch covid but sitting and chatting at lunch or socialising with friends

LOL. Just LOL. Clearly been no where near a school in the last 20 years.

Sitting and chatting at lunch! Ha!

Don't kids sit at lunch and chat?Apologies, if this is wrong, I thought that generally children have lunch in the lunch hall and don't wear masks while eating.

oh and you don't think the crisis in teaching is worry enough without suggesting that anyone who is worried about covid should just leave?!

100%, if it makes you unhappy and anxious you must look into alternatives, it's not worth it, protect your mental health! There are many jobs in the private sector that let you WFH, look into retraining or jobs where being an ex-teacher is seen as an asset

@rrhuth

Covid is here to stay and will flare up in waves for the next few years or even decades. If being around children feels too unsettling and unsafe

If it will flare up in waves for this long - why on earth would we not seek to put in place mitigations to prevent spread in schools? The costs of just leaving it to run through schools are very high.

As you can see from my post, I'm all for mitigation, who wouldn't be . I feel incredibly sorry for the level of tangible, visceral anxiety and stress that comes across in some of these posts, it must be a desperate situation for many individuals. I wish the government would have a more consistent approach but I am very happy that schools are teaching children on site as it should be. Mask wearing (if indeed the science is rock solid) and air ventilating are must haves and some lovely support grants would go down well to help schools manage these unusual times.