Decision on masks for primary in Ireland?

[SuperDuperC]

Hi all, we're in Cork! Just keeping an eye on the news today that they may be deciding on whether children in primary will have to wear masks. Just wanting to see how everyone feels about it? I will personally feel really sad if it comes to this, they've been affected so much already and wearing a mask for 5 odd hours will be uncomfortable and block all facial expressions between each other 😕

@SuperDuperC - You really sound like you're reading off a script, almost like a politician.

There is no need to be insulting simply because I don't agree with you.

Can you at least recognise that this is not conducive to abnormal childhood?

Unfortunately, a pandemic is not conducive to normal life for any of us.

May I ask if you have children at primary age, you don't have to answer but you seem to keep leaning on the others people are ok with it' line.

My children are older but I have nieces and nephews of primary school age. What is wrong with saying other people are ok with it? The people I know who are affected by it are ok with it. The parents are taking a sensible, no big deal approach and the dc are following their lead.

This affects MY children, I'm not hysterical I'm sad and I'm angry as MY children are yet again bearing the brunt of idiots in power and decisions by someone somewhere who's making a lot of money out of all of this...

To be honest, suggesting that this is being done in order to make money for unknown people sounds a little hysterical. Do you really think the politicians want to make these decisions? It's not exactly a vote winner is it? Do you really think any other party would be making different decisions if they were in power?

If you are a vaccinated adult and are vulnerable its up to you to stay at home and let us all live our lives as we see fit. Vaccinated vulnerable should look out for thelselves and not subject everyone to this forever. So then this is it then this half life we all live now. Do us a favour also this BS i wear a mask to protect you / it shows i care / the vaccine shows i care its like a cult ! I think the socially responsible thing was to get the vaccine of course but this is a new low.
A part of my kids childhood will now be sacrificed at the altar of covid/nphet !!!

The mask wearing must be really working in Europe 😂👀

The problem here @OchonAgusOchonOh is that people can't see an end to it and actally the vaccinated can transmit is as the same viral load as unvccinated. I am v pro vaccine but the fact that we have a v high population vaccinateeld, v strict lockdowns and its still out of control what next? This could go on forever , every winter ..

The alternative to adapting, if the numbers keep going up and up and up, is back to homeschooling. Do any of the complainers want that? That was shit for parents, children and teachers. When we came back in Sep 2020, we had some very nervous children, some who'd been bereaved, some who had fallen behind academically or socially or behaviourally. They all got quickly into the swing of bubbles, sanitising hands and all the rest of it. They loved the few extra fun things we were able to do with them. They are happy to be in school and if we all treat the mask-wearing in an encouraging way, they will be happy to wear them. Here's an article from Scientific American magazine with study results, for those who want evidence www.scientificamerican.com/article/masks-are-a-must-have-to-go-back-to-school-during-the-delta-variant-surge1/

Apologies for typos. I have no confidence in the government now and we should have poured money into the health system. The hse isnt fit for purpose and needs an overhaul. I wont be agreeing to more vaccines and many of our friends agree. They can shut the place down, ruin our economy and education and the irish seem to accept everything without question

Like where does this end,.next winter will be the same etc etc ...

@SuperDuperC

Just because they're 'used to it' doesn't make it right and the term 'unvaccinated kids' almost makes it seem like they should be vaccinated and please please don't start me on that! This is dehumanising and killing the joys of childhood, it's crazy and considering 99% of children recover well from getting Covid please tell me why we are doing this to them?? The teachers are no doubt vaccinated already? We can let this become the norm and something you get used to, it is very very far from normal and rather scary🙁

Couldn't agree with you more!!

@Puppalicious

And, I have to admit, the vaccines for the under 12s, I’m struggling to see the benefit of it for them, if vaccines do not stop transmission. Will they require boosters every few months as well?

Exactly this. We are not vaccinating children for their benefit, only to protect adults, who can get their own vaccine

You're a teacher @Joolsin.... I have family in spain and france where kids over 6 wear masks and the numbers are v high there too, they don't have crap health systems though.

[quote OchonAgusOchonOh]**@SuperDuperC* - We've been 'putting sensible measures' in place for 2 years... again just because every other country is ok with it doesn't make it OK! Leave our kids alone and fix the healthcare system that is so badly damaged and needs protecting...*

Unfortunately, many people are not complying with the sensible measures we have in place and have not been for some time. How many people do you see with a mask under their nose or so loose on their face as to be useless? Hardly anyone socially distances anymore.

Fixing our healthcare system is not something that can happen overnight. It takes time.

Hysteria over masks helps nobody. I have relatives living abroad. Their kids really don't see the masks as being a big deal. Thankfully, the parents are sensible and don't make it out to be an issue when it's really not.[/quote]
We've had almost two years to start fixing the health system. Feck all done except impose restrictions on people!

@Joolsin

Wearing masks won't "affect" children unless their parents make a big song and dance about it (excepting children with SEN/sensory issues, etc, of course, who are a specific minority and who will be exempted if necessary). The vast, vast majority will just adapt as quickly as they've adapted to every other measure, with no bother.

This is damaging to our children, yes there will be a big song and dance about it I'm afraid, why are you so happy to "adapt", can't you at least take a step back and see what's happening to our country, our children? The next generation who can't even play with their friends unless it's outside...thank god it's not freezing cold outside...

@LegArmpits - The mask wearing must be really working in Europe

Wearing masks correctly has been shown to reduce transmission.

@Abitlost2 - The problem here is that people can't see an end to it

I know. It's crap but pandemics usually take about 4 years to die out.

and actally the vaccinated can transmit is as the same viral load as unvccinated.

That's actually not true. While the peak viral load for vaccinated and unvaccinated is similar, the duration of the peak is significantly reduced for the vaccinated so less transmission over all.

@Radyward

If you are a vaccinated adult and are vulnerable its up to you to stay at home and let us all live our lives as we see fit. Vaccinated vulnerable should look out for thelselves and not subject everyone to this forever. So then this is it then this half life we all live now. Do us a favour also this BS i wear a mask to protect you / it shows i care / the vaccine shows i care its like a cult ! I think the socially responsible thing was to get the vaccine of course but this is a new low. A part of my kids childhood will now be sacrificed at the altar of covid/nphet !!!

Exactly this! I'm so mad at this! Our children are sacrificing so much

We've had almost two years to start fixing the health system. Feck all done except impose restrictions on people!

ICU beds have been increased as far as I know but realistically, the system is such a mess, it will take a lot longer than 2 years to fix it. It's not just a question of money. A structural overhaul is needed.

@Joolsin masks in schools won't solve this like hand santisers didn't, like lockdowns didn't , it may marginally slow it down.
It will continue to circlate , its a virus that is now transmissable though vaccines ( thankfully it's managing to stop most people getting v v ill) , ive heard of more people catching it now with vaccines than without and schools were open in March last.. This isn't going away, they can keep trying to control it while having massive consequences on society

Hospitalisations, deaths and ICU have all dropped in the last few days (notified deaths in particular have weirdly halved or more from about 3 weeks ago, now it’s probably an anomaly but you would barely even know about it from the Irish media). Varadkar says we should how the numbers go before introducing further restrictions, I would agree with that at least.

@Abitlost2 - masks in schools won't solve this like hand santisers didn't, like lockdowns didn't , it may marginally slow it down.

No one measure will solve it on its own. Masks plus ventilation plus social distancing will slow it down significantly if used together.

@OchonAgusOchonOh theres a lot of money in this country, look at the childre's hospital fiasco. We pay high taxes. Our society is being held to ransom

My daughter is in mainstream primary (4th class) and just diagnosed with autism she finds it very hard to read facial expressions and with her peers potentially now wearing masks this will make it all the more difficult so for selfish reasons I would be very upset if masks were enforced in schools.
Children will not wear masks properly so I think it will make very little difference to the spread of Covid
NPHET dropped the ball by not following up on contact tracing for the past month and it backfired spectacularly which the dog on the streets could predict what was going to happen and now our children yet again are paying a price

[quote OchonAgusOchonOh]**@SuperDuperC* - You really sound like you're reading off a script, almost like a politician.*

There is no need to be insulting simply because I don't agree with you.

Can you at least recognise that this is not conducive to abnormal childhood?

Unfortunately, a pandemic is not conducive to normal life for any of us.

May I ask if you have children at primary age, you don't have to answer but you seem to keep leaning on the others people are ok with it' line.

My children are older but I have nieces and nephews of primary school age. What is wrong with saying other people are ok with it? The people I know who are affected by it are ok with it. The parents are taking a sensible, no big deal approach and the dc are following their lead.

This affects MY children, I'm not hysterical I'm sad and I'm angry as MY children are yet again bearing the brunt of idiots in power and decisions by someone somewhere who's making a lot of money out of all of this...

To be honest, suggesting that this is being done in order to make money for unknown people sounds a little hysterical. Do you really think the politicians want to make these decisions? It's not exactly a vote winner is it? Do you really think any other party would be making different decisions if they were in power?[/quote]
Hmmm, I didn't actually say that you sounded like a politician for it to be taken as an insult, I apologise if you felt insulted. It must mean you too hold little faith in our politicians...for it to be taken as an insult that is, some would take it as a compliment...
I'm not here to argue, I know my feelings on this, I love my children and I cannot just adapt to this, they are so young and slowly their freedoms are being taken from them, again. Not being able to see the expressions of their friends, a smile, a frown, whatever, for most of the day is absolutely tragic, not being able to have a play date, a party, put together a nativity, is so sad and if anyone thinks that's just something we have to live with to 'do our bit' it just doesn't sit right with me anymore.

Seriously @OchonAgusOchonOh , this is whats been on loop for two years...

Like a well read script...

Of course masks won't stop transmission, but they will help. I want my pupils to be able to have a good Christmas holiday, and if wearing masks helps that happen by reducing numbers and sickness in schools and families, which it should, then I will cheer the day they start wearing them. And with that, I'm out, I can't be bothered engaging any more with the hyperbole and over-reaction on this thread.

@OchonAgusOchonOh , you are referring to studies about adults as if you can just extrapolate the results to children. From my knowledge of children who have tested positive, they’ve been asymptomatic, or had a half day headache, maybe a sniffly nose. How can that compare to the experience of unvaccinated adults? It seems likely their infectious period is much shorter to begin with.