Covid and education

[JustAnotherRandom]

With the covid inquiry taking place and discussing pandemic preparedness, I thought I'd share a thread on the impacts of current covid policy on education https://twitter.com/natebpanic/status/1674342348740866049?s=46&t=G9BWOZlYGPa11_pR7aKkbHQ

@Jamiejones44

You mean this virus:

When you pull out an Andrew Bridgen tweet to support your argument, that's an instant loss to you. Sorry. Try better arguments next time instead of the usual, well-worn trolling ones if you wish to be taken seriously.

Dodgy as Matt Hancock and that other entity whitty? Who on national TV told everyone that the virus has a 98% survival rate and everyone still insisted on lockdowns? Bridgen who has supported those injured and killed by a vaccine that came out so quick it has never been tested like the other vaccines, by the way it was a GP that told me it takes 7 years mimimum to test safety of it long term. And now look there is an epidemic of 'long covid' strangely in many vaccinated. Meanwhile EVERYONE I know and there are many that didn't take the vaccine seem to sail through winters and maybe catch a sniffle and don't seem to be effected. It's so sad as it's such an elefant in the room and only on mumsnet it's not discussed in a reasonable manner, I suspect trolls come out and say not tue, lots unvaccinated dying but they are are they only on mumsnet. Only on mumsnet andrew birdhen is dodgy as fuck for speaking out and trying to get justice for a vaccine that has killed people and many too. It is injuring people everyday and on real life many people are not taking it anymore and have regretted but not mumsnet oh no its the best vaccine ever isn't it.

Deep down they know no matter how much they try and shout that it was so dangerous. Everything is in plan sight and Whitty told everyone just how mild it was on TV but they were already under a spell but are nw so silent about the side effects of lockdowns and the vaccines and excess deaths now..just from that you can see the denial.

I think the point is @Jamiejones44 : there is a majority global opinion based on the most robust, peer reviewed research. And then there is fringe science that is controversial, cherry picked, taken out of context, unverified and tends to be ‘jumped on’ by very right wing politicians like Andrew Bridgen because it suits their ‘economy over lives’ type agenda. It’s safer to go with majority opinion.

To get back to the thread title and speaking personally. My older DD and her cousins seem relatively unaffected education wise by Covid. If anything, they performed better in exams because they were more focussed on their studies. DN did far better in his first year at Uni then subsequent years because he had no other distractions. I realise this is not the case for so many.

However my DS has a significant speech delay. Many people say to me that this is due to lack of socialisation due to Covid. I’d say he was showing signs prior to Covid and I think there is a risk of ‘blaming’ it on Covid rather than missing the root cause which is most likely an ASD diagnosis. Covid restrictions certainly didn’t help, and I know there is a HUGE demand on SEN services in our area at the present time.

Do you have any relevant and reputable links? Rather than 13 year old links about swine flu turning out not to be as serious as scientists believed it could have been? Which was obviously great.

It would also be helpful if your links weren't from people whose opinions have led to the official bodies they were once members of distancing themselves publicly from them and them actually being removed from the positions they once held.

See also Yeadon (Waborg's friend)

@Jamiejones44

Whatever argument gets pulled out though, your head remains firmly stuck in the sand. I suspect I could present evidence to you that a ripe banana is yellow, but if it was Andrew Bridgen who said that, you would probably claim it was a conspiracy! Utterly blinkered.

Not at all. If you presented arguments supported by reputable sources - not fringe tweeters - then I'd be happy to read it. (And I haven't claimed that anything you've written is a conspiracy, BTW.) If AB said a ripe banana was yellow, I'd think that at least he's saying something reasonable for once. You simply seem to repeat Covid anti-vaxxer greatest hits of the last three years.

@Jamiejones44

You went quiet after telling me the people I knew " most likely " died " with rather than of" Covid.

Obviously you had no idea.

Now I notice you trumpeting about only 17 k deaths of rather than with etc etc ....

You got the stats wrong about the yearly excess deaths.

You seem to be rolling out a lot of rubbish.

I'm very happy to debate.
But every single one of the people you have so far out forward to prove your point has been totally and unequivocally discredited by not only society at large, but their scientific peers.
Though it takes a special kind of person to object to the idea of providing reputable links.
I'd have thought that as you believe so strongly about this, you'd be willing to show us where your beliefs were rooted.

I don't see any links to the BBC?

Here's an extract from the WHO about the proposed treaty:

"In light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO’s 194 Member States established a process to draft and negotiate a new convention, agreement, or other international instrument (referred to in the rest of this FAQ, generally, as an “accord”) on pandemic preparedness and response. This was driven by the need to ensure communities, governments, and all sectors of society – within countries and globally – are better prepared and protected, in order to prevent and respond to future pandemics. The great loss of human life, disruption to households and societies at large, and impact on development are among the factors cited by governments to support the need for lasting action to prevent a repeat of such crises.

At the heart of the proposed accord is the need to ensure equity in both access to the tools needed to prevent pandemics (including technologies like vaccines, personal protective equipment, information and expertise) and access to health care for all people."

Sounds pretty good to me.

https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/pandemic-prevention--preparedness-and-response-accord

Link to full proposal to avoid accusations of cherry picking.

I've never watched the BBC. I don't even live in the UK.

*And there we go again, same old chestnuts, 'fringe scientists' 'reputable sources' 'cherry picked' 'out of context' 'controversial' 'links to far-right' etc, etc.
*

"propaganda", "brain washed" "the narrative"
"head in the sand" "blinkered" "the bearer of truth"

etc

*And there we go again, same old chestnuts, 'fringe scientists' 'reputable sources' 'cherry picked' 'out of context' 'controversial' 'links to far-right' etc, etc.
**

"propaganda", "brain washed" "the narrative"
"head in the sand" "blinkered" "the bearer of truth"

etc

oh and " cos the BBC told you"

@Jamiejones44

And there we go again, same old chestnuts, 'fringe scientists' 'reputable sources' 'cherry picked' 'out of context' 'controversial' 'links to far-right' etc, etc.

It's true, though. And reputable sources, even if you don't appreciate them, help your credibility.

@PortUmber that's interesting and glad your oldest did well. Some children flourished out of the school environment. It was also interesting what PP said about child feeling teacher invaded home space via zoom.

My youngest has speech delay too - in the media, this was painted as masks, but we were at home with her (mat leave), so weren't wearing them there! There was a shortage of groups for various reasons after lockdown - in our area, there were loads of stay and plays that my eldest went to which had shut down well before covid. The mix of fewer people allowed in a setting and already stretched access to groups (cost to run and funding) meant waiting lists were through the roof for any classes etc for those that could afford to stay open. I think my eldest also 'spoke' for/over her a lot.

Oh, and just to be clear @Jamiejones44, most definitely shitty - and that's being polite. Engaging with you feels like reading an Allison Pearson article.

Thanks for sharing from a school's perspective. From an anecdotal point of view, I know a couple of teens that were on track to do really well. They worked their socks off and did do well. I wondered how they and others like them felt when certain sections of the media (normally the ones 'concerned' about mental health) kept saying how everyone did well, but not on merit, just on teacher say so. I know another that was also on track, but that's been put to one side whilst she tries to recover from long covid (two years).
How did you feel about Gavin W getting a knighthood?!