Coronavirus ROI/NI number 4

[eggandonion]

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

Not a word about the vaccine rollout ?? Or loneliness / people facing absolute ruin. Easy for the public sector to stay home. Omg it is absolutely catastrophic for some sectors. Health does trump all that your health is your wealth but the govt need to step up and show people the vaccine plan

Hopefully it starts going down now.
People have become complacent as it hasn't happened to them and don't understand how bad it could be.
We all want to get back to normal so we all need to do our bit.

@Radyward

Sorry i am fuming over childrens education and socilisation . Those teachers need to be put straight on the PUP if thats the case. How are front line workers like nurses ,People who work in tesco able to go out to work fgs ??its crazy. They need to go back the latest end of January. They must want all kids staring at screens.

I think many teachers would jump at the chance to have the PUP instead of online teaching. It really isn't the scary big stick that you seem to think it is.

Perhaps parents should take responsibility for socialising their children? A radical thought I know 🤔

Even with the back log numbers are so high and more worryingly is that hospital admission are too.
I am back to Match anxiety levels but at least now it feels like there's light at the end of the tunnel.

@Radyward the vast majority of teachers do not want children sitting in front of screens all day.
Those nurses and doctors - they are provided with full ppe and they are being prioritised for the vaccine - as they quite rightly should be!
Those people who work in tesco - well they are also all wearing masks, they have toilet breaks, hot water to wash hands, screens around tills. They are in contact with lots of people that is true but when you go to tesco how often do you spend more than 15 mins standing less than 1m from them? Do you ever cough, sneeze on them or lick or bite them?

They are usually all in air conditioned buildings also which allows for better air ventilation.
My classroom is small, there are 2 windows that open only a crack. The door must remain closed at all times due to health and safety. We are told not to wear ppe so we dont scare the children. The hot water tap in my room doesn't work. We keep the children in class bubbles but we don't organise transport the Education Authority does so they travel on buses with kids from all classes. I am continuing to teach in school as my school is sen and we will remain open but do I think it is safe? No not really.
My mum is ecv due to just finishing cancer treatment. Her consultant is adamant schools are an incredibly risky environment and has insisted that my 13 year old brother goes back to home learning to protect dm.
Also from a teaching element my life is far easier teaching in school than providing home learning. It is also far more enjoyable. I live for the children in front of me. The most rewarding part of teaching is seeing them thrive in front of me. Seeing them enjoy a lesson or achieve something they found difficult.
Many teachers also have their own children. If schools shut like they did in March then my child also stays at home with me, he did not get sent to nursery because it was not deemed safe by the government. So while I created videos, phoned parents, made activities, had zoom meetings with colleagues my own child got given an iPad or TV time and some snacks. Not ideal by any standards but it was needed for me to be able to complete the work I needed to do and yes there were times I was apologising to parents for my noisy toddler in the background.
The pandemic is not easy for anyone but I can assure you as a teacher I am not wanting to stay home to make my life easier. I would like to be in school, and for now I will be continuing, for how long I don't know. We find out the plan for schools on the news briefings just like everyone else. There is no consultation with schools or prior warning. In fact sometimes parents know before us when the news comes out while we are actually teaching.

Numbers are ridiculous. Another week and the proper Christmas/New Years numbers will be starting to show.
Tensions are starting to rise in my job. Nurse here in a Dublin hospital.
We are tired and sometimes overwhelmed.

One of the pharmacist's who visited my ward even commented it to me that she can feel a difference in the wards atmosphere as everyone seems much more on edge. I do think some of it is exhaustion as we have staff having to take 2 weeks off due to close contacts etc.. so we are all doing extra shifts.

Yes, it all seems to be very quiet on the vaccine. When will it be rolled out fully etc. My mum is in her 70s in residential care and is not getting in the in the 1st round, despite 2 of her neighbours(it's independent living) dying from covid. Same with my aunt she is a nurse and hasn't heard a word about her vaccination.

People are getting more anxious seeing the numbers go up and it just looks like the government have completely lost control of things now.

I was reading in the Gaurdian that within 1 week of the vaccine being rolled out in the UK 600,000 had been vaccinated.

Why the delay here?
l saw the a huge number of GPs and Pharmacists signed a letter written to the Government asking why they had not been contacted or given a timetable for the vacancie to be administered.
A shambles.

Strongly suspect that schools wont reopen on the 11th and am planning what to do with DC until the end of January.

Am self-employed- a flood of emails from clients last night, cancelling for this week. I expect that the rest of January will be the same. So, no income to add to the fun.

Balaam those numbers aren't right, partly because the UK counts cases per 100k over a shorter time period than Ireland (and the rest of Europe) and partly because sometimes figures report per million instead of per 100k (as other parts of the world use).

So London has about 850 cases per 100k in the last 7 days.

Latest Northern Ireland dataa is just under 400 cases per 100k in the last 7 days*.

Ireland (RoI) is currently 470 per 100k in the last 14 days, and I also saw a report yesterday (via Richard Chambers' Twitter) that said it was 330 per 100k in the last 7 days.

It's bad here, but nowhere near as bad as NI or London

Some parts of London are running at over 1400 cases per 100k over last 7 days Very roughly, that's about 2800 per 100k in last 14 days - less if cases are rising, more if they're falling. That's quite scary.

Ugh, bold fail. Sorry. Meant to highlight the 7-day versus 14-day difference in counts.

I am sick of reading that schools and childcare services are safe. Who are they safe for? The children? The staff? The parents? I am extremely nervous this time around, more so than the last time. I want to open I dont want to be sat at home but I dont want to put people at risk either. We have over 40 children in our care. 21 in the mornings and up to 24 on the evenings. Our afterschoolers come from junior infants to 6th class. That is an awful lot of people to infect. The whole school would have to shut down and then there's parents and staff on top of that.
I am really nervous
My Parents are my bubble as I live alone but I will not be seeing them this time when I go back to work.
I am concerned about me getting it more so other people.

I’m self-employed too @FionaMacCool so no money for me either.....weehea and I think there’s even a risk they are closed now until September. ...
There’s no provision for key workers kids in Ireland so my cousin who works In icu can’t work!!
And nope.. we had two online programs autocorrected in the last lockdown and I saw teachers from our school out running during school hours. BTW I’m sure they’re plenty who worked loads and secondary teachers I believe had to teach online but honestly don’t know how so many plp are going to cope this time. Maybe funding needs to be allocated to parents who want to pay privately for online tutoring etc.
I don’t know what the answer is but the absence of education will have big repercussions.

Oh wow so Nolan had said these are our actual figures and doesn't uncles the 9k from Christmas and that some will be added today which will bring our numbers over 6k.

I am totally bewildered by the statistics, and how they get the figures at this point.

@Radyward I'm one of 'those teachers.' I haven't seen my parents at all, haven't been in their house since March. I teach Senior Infants. The children in my class need to be in school, they thrive when they are there. We were out of school for two weeks in November because of a positive case in the class and it was a nightmare. I know that the part of my job that I live for is the relationships I build with my pupils. The interaction in class every day is the reason I have always loved my job.
I have no interest in returning to online learning. It is thoroughly unsuitable for younger children and is not appropriate for Junior Classes. It will not have educational benefits for any of the children in my class, nor my own four children; however, I'm also not so myopic that I cannot see the bigger picture.
It is not feasible to open schools. Even during the short two week period we had of online learning, the children in my class went on playdates, met up outside of school and did not restrict their movements. Despite all of them being told not to do so. The country is now at crisis point and being angry at teachers, who want to be in school, but know that it is not safe, for anyone if schools open, is unfair.
We have not been consulted, we have not been given guidance or practical support. We have been hung out to dry by an incompetent Minister and DES who are now pretending that everything is fine to return and trotting out the party line, thus making the situation worse, as we cannot put measures in place with parents to prepare for school closures until they say it is actually happening.

All children thrive when in school. It's good for them socially and mentally. We as parents can see a huge difference in our kids when they are in school.

However, we have been told by ministers and teachers that schools are safe, we put our trust in the schools, we agreed with the government to have our children wear masks all day long in secondary schools, we were assured that socially distanced tables and students would be put in place, we can only go by what we are told, but we didn't get to see this happening with our own eyes, only for my kids telling me how their school operates I wouldn't know, some schools have followed guidelines, some haven't because they physically couldn't. Schools never informed us not been able to do this, we were assured our kids were safe.

I asked in our special needs school some questions and was told that under no circumstances would they endanger our kids, I wasn't happy, I never sent dd back, every week there has been at least 2 cases, some kids have been hospitalised and some have brought it home to vulnerable family members. We as parents have been informed of cases, that is all they can tell us, we only know the further details from parents of kids affected. I was treated like a criminal for not sending my dd to school. Told I was over reacting etc reporting me and I could paper the walls with the threatening letters and emails.

I've sent 4 other kids on public buses to schools all that have many cases, still we were told it was safe. My kids came into contact with positive cases in their secondary schools and had to isolate, this has happened many times. Then at Christmas they get their report and every one of them complaining about absentism, teachers commenting how bad it is, how we need to try harder, so I phone, from 4 different schools I'm told it's unacceptable, what am I meant to do? Send them in when we've been alerted to isolate.

We've been listening to schools and ministers, all ensuring us that schools are safe, and to send kids in. Now there's a u turn and the teachers who have NEVER said they felt they or the school is unsafe are now saying it's not safe. Of course parents are fuming, why wasn't all this mentioned before. We can only blame who is telling us that it's safe.

It's frustrating for everyone, parent's are blaming schools, schools are blaming the government, if everyone had been honest to begin with. Parents did not know teachers felt unsafe, because they never said. What are we meant to think now? It was obvious children are carriers and bringing it home, but everyone denied this and claimed schools were safe.

The figures we as a country are given for schools are lies, utter bullshit, because I personally know of many many more positive cases. I have 5 kids, 5 schools, I speak with other parents as does other parents, we know who's testing positive and these schools reporting no cases and ministers saying cases in schools are low is lies.

I suspect schools won't open on the 11th. I won't be sending mine in even if they do tbh.

It's hard to know. If schools dont open, we wont open. I really don't want to be sitting at home. It gives you too much time to over think.
This strain just seems worse. In childcare we dont get to Social distance. The children's needs come first and I cant help but hug them, dance with them etc. It has to be safe for both of us.

Executive meeting at 6 p.m. Sounds as if they’re going to close schools. Not sure what this means for anyone who was supposed to be doing exams.

Nothing is being announced about schools until Wednesday apparently. Though I wouldn't be surprised if they row back on that.

Really galls me that the Government has tried to play the waiting game on this issue. So disrespectful to parents (who need to sort childcare and work) and teachers (who need to put plans in place). Not to mention the poor kids.

@halcyondays

Executive meeting at 6 p.m. Sounds as if they’re going to close schools. Not sure what this means for anyone who was supposed to be doing exams.

Yes, it can only be schools or implementing a distance limit but they've never done that before so can't see it (would be a good idea, though, given the photos of Portstewart at the weekend!)

Parents and teachers are calling for clarity sooner than later. I am sat here in tears. I know I have a lot of shit going on that I could do without but couldn't hold it in anymore. I am so upset about everything I just want to know what's happening.

DS has a GCSE maths module on Wednesday. I’m not too bothered - I think he’ll be fine if it’s delayed - but he would rather get it over and done with.

I feel sick at the thought of all the P7 kids who have worked their butts off for the last year for AQE, if it is cancelled.