Coronavirus ROI/NI number 4

[eggandonion]

I don't believe it, would it ever go away!

I was just thinking the same thing.

@halfpasteleven
I agree with you.
The principals have worked above and beyond since March.

The good news is that Level 5 does seem to be having an effect as there is a nice downward curve on the 7 day average. I always have a Worldometers tab open as I love a bit of data. Hopefully the down curve will continue when schools are back.

Do schools generally tell everyone when there is a positive case, or just the students who were in close contact? I haven't heard of a single case in DD's secondary school and that seems unlikely to me as there are around a thousand pupils, so I'm wondering if they are just keeping quiet about cases and only telling those who need to know. But even in that case I would surely have heard about it through the power of the parent's WhatsApp group.

A teacher texted in to a radio programme that as a parent in the school she knew of ( can't remember exactly ) 4 cases in the school but as a teacher she knew of 10 cases.

I believe we are not getting the full picture re schools and infection / transmission rates.

I hope to goodness that the ASTI don't go on strike.
They'll shoot themselves in the foot and I know it must be so difficult for all involved in education.

It’s the effects of level 3.8 we’re seeing now, not level 5.

I suspect the nuclear option was both unnecessary and counterproductive. The spike in late dec/jan will be bigger because people will be so desperate to see friends and family after the harsh lockdown.

@BlackAmericanoNoSugar
Do schools generally tell everyone when there is a positive case, or just the students who were in close contact?
They just tell the close contacts. However, sometimes (often??) the close contacts don't get told either because of delays in testing.

Friends became ill with Covid a few weeks before midterm. The children, who were asymptomatic, were removed from school only when another family member got a positive result - several more symptomatic family members tested positive over the next day or two. Owing to delays in contact tracing (and protocol whereby the gp only sends people with symptoms for testing) the children weren't tested for several days. It was almost a week before positive results came back for them. As they hadn't been in school for more than two days at that stage it wasn't necessary for the school to tell any of the other parents that their child may have been exposed a week earlier. That's the way the system works. Too bad if you're a vulnerable family member of one of those other classmates.

I just don't trust the system at all I'm afraid. Or, to quote someone else on a thread here, I trust schools with my children's education, not with their health. Not that I blame the schools - ultimately the rules are coming from the department. And maybe those rules would be ok if everything was working perfectly, no delays in contact tracing, families isolating at the first sign of symptoms etc. But that's not what happens, of course, and department protocol needs to reflect the reality of the situation.

I don't think the school say it on every case.
I recieved 2 HSE letters the 2nd late last night to confirm cases.
I know from DD and other parents there has been a lot more.
DS school has had 3 cases

Are children who are out of school for two days or more before testing included in the official list of cases in schools?

This group on FB are sticking up School and HSE mail re: schools and positive students.
Don't know how true it is however some of the letters look definitely legitimate.
Taz.

@tazzy73 Unfortunately it was due to the FB group that they stopped notifying often.
People were trying to narrow down the spreader.
I wonder if it is DDs class not bubble as I was notified last night.

@EmeraldShamrock
Is it really because of the Facebook group that they stopped notifying often?
As far as I know, the two day rule - whereby no parents need to be notified if the positive child was absent from school for two days before testing - has been in place since schools reopened after the summer. Otherwise, parents of contacts should be told that a child in their child's group is positive (no names given), but the wider school community isn't told (unless there's a large outbreak I suppose).
That's my understanding of the situation. I'm not a teacher though, so open to correction.

If they stopped notifying due to the FB group, I'd put money on it being more likely that the Govt want to downplay the amount of cases - multiple report letters from one school works against them. The admins of that group are quite firm on not identifying children or adults involved.

I do think the government are trying to downplay the school numbers as they are adamant they need to stay open. They need to justify why children are attending school while the rest of the country is in level 5.
I wonder what will happen with Asti union and the schools. I know my daughters school has Asti members so I shall wait and see.

We've been getting emails from the schools with an attached letter from the HSE re positive cases, they've been informing us of cases throughout the school. In saying that there have been some cases not reported as I know first hand of positive cases but schools said nothing.

Can't believe we've had trick or treaters, I had to open the window to ask them to stop knocking as they just kept banging and banging. 2 large groups of about 10 kids and their parents. One woman called me a fun sponge 😂😂😂😂😂 never been called that before.

So does Boris' announcement mean that as a country the whole of Ireland is on lockdown until 2nd Dec?

Arlene Foster has said ni restrictions will end on the 13th November still. Though I would be surprised if that doesn't change

@Lipz
What part of the country are you in?
We're in Dublin and had no callers.
I had scary decorations up outside but no one called, thankfully as I had just enough goodies for my own dc and wouldn't have answered the door.

A fun sponge !
I wouldn't worry. She must be thick.

Arlene Foster has said ni restrictions will end on the 13th November still. Though I would be surprised if that doesn't change
It just proves the lack of communication between the UK governments.
All border counties are riddled with coronavirus NI daily death is still high considering the population while the mainland is locking down.
I can't see restrictions ending on the 13th that's if they're being adhered too I hope so.
We had no callers for Halloween tonight there was a few organised firework displays that were well spaced out.

Re schools telling parents- they are obliged to adhere to certain guidelines. Anything else would compromise GDPR etc etc. As for the sanitizer fiasco-our principal got rapped over the knuckles in August for buying a supply for the school without waiting for DES “procurement” recommendations. Are we glad now that she did! At least we knew that our stuff was safe and didn’t have to spend midterm righting a situation that the idiots in the DES are responsible for. But will any of them be hauled over the coals for such ineptitude?? Not likely!

I am sick of the fakery / lack of transparency here. So now we all wait like naughty children to be told we can go out and play DeC 1st
I can just see the narrative. I don't believe any numbers now. The govt need the numbers to go down to prove level5 was the " right thing to do " and " has worked ". All hail our saviours . They who no better.
I am sickened by the whole management of the entire population. I do not like being micro managed and I am not buying into it any more .of course I font want hosp overwhelmed but I want a bit of media questioning now . That will not happen as rte need money !! And want / need it off the govt. Reporting so onesided !

Re schools telling parents- they are obliged to adhere to certain guidelines. Anything else would compromise GDPR etc etc.
It's often not GDPR that's the issue though. One of the issues is that children who have been very recently in school and who have a very good chance of having Covid (as most of their family are testing positive around them) are not being tested fast enough. Then when they do get a positive result when they're eventually tested, no contacts need to be informed precisely because - and only because - of the time delay. If children are symptomatic but fall ill /arrange testing at the weekend the same sort of thing can happen. It doesn't make sense and isn't fair on the children's contacts or their families imo. GDPR isn't relevant to this situation. The contacts should be informed, but aren't because the system used isn't fit for purpose at present.
Impovements have been promised so let's hope they'll be followed through and things will get better.

@LizzieAnt I’m very concerned about those issues too. The 2 day thing is a very neat piece of bureaucracy, and with the delay in testing it’s a dangerous nonsense.

When I took my dc out while I was waiting for a test, the principal assured me (unsolicited) that it was completely confidential and the teachers wouldn’t be informed why the dc were absent. Naturally the dc were quick to fill teacher in on the excitement when they got back anyway. I’d have had to have got it from the Angel Gabriel himself so I wasn’t worried (needed the test to get medical treatment for another issue) but if I’d actually been genuinely concerned I think I’d have said something on the class WhatsApp. Even if it just caused someone to not bring their dc to for a haircut that particular week, it might make a difference to someone down the line.

I was thinking that if myself or DH got it, we wouldn’t necessarily test the dc, as they’d have to be off school anyway. But if we didn’t, then their pod wouldn’t be contacts officially. Ds has autism and I would hesitate to put him through a jab up the nose, unless it was absolutely necessary. I can’t be the only parent thinking along those lines.

I don’t have much confidence in a system that relies so heavily on parents being a) honest, and b)willing to disclose.

Was going to do a bit of online shopping today for stocking fillers - diaries, calendars, bookmarks etc. Can anyone recommend a book/stationary shop online for these? Any of the smaller bookstores etc?

@Lazysundayafternoons Papermint in Dalkey is a lovely shop for cards etc. They are online.

Bookstation is online I think. Dubray books. Art & Hobby.