Teachers, how do you feel about no masks?

[Dontwantsummertoend]

I'm not teaching in the UK anymore, but I start back on Monday and they are removing the mask mandate. I am double vaccinated, but it was more than six months ago, and I am so worried about there being no masks. It just seems to me to be such an easy way to make things safer, but now work will involve being in close contact with 150 different 16 - 18 year-olds all day, every day without even masks to protect us. I am so worried for the baby, as I know Covid, even milder cases, can increase the risk of preterm labour and stillbirth.

I am entitled to a risk assessment at work, but I don't really know what that will involve. Who deems what a "risk"? For me, not wearing masks is a risk, but they might just say that I am double vaccinated so it is no longer a risk?

Is anybody else worried or have any thoughts/ideas about this?

I'm terrified. I dont want to to back next week at all.. I'm not quite sure what to do tbh, I can't start maternity for another 10 weeks and I'm so scared

Me too. I am only in the second trimester, but by the time I am in the third trimester, it will have been 8 months since my vaccine, and the country I live in is not planning any boosters. I feel so helpless...

Never had them in infant school and happy to be trying to get back to normal.

Masks are optional for all staff and students at our school. At Summer School last week, there were about 15 staff, only maybe 3 of us wore masks. None of the kids did. I will continue until I am forced to stop.

Yes I’m also really worried about this. I’m planning on still wearing mine and keeping my distance as much as I can, though busy school corridors are my biggest worry. You can still get covid when double vaccinated (happened to my DP) so I would insist on still wearing your mask if anyone tries to tell you not to.

I'm going to wear one. I have a head mic set so I can be heard clearly. I'm not pregnant. Good luck everyone! Really feel for any pregnant teachers in this absolute nightmare 😘

But the thing is that wearing a mask doesn't really protect you. You need the students to be wearing masks for that to happen!

A (teenage) member of my family was double vaccinated with Pfizer more than six months ago and now has Covid. She is struggling to breathe, hence why I am worrying.

@Waveafterwaveslowlydrifting

Never had them in infant school and happy to be trying to get back to normal.

Good for you, but teenagers transmit the virus like adults. Infants have so far not been as infectious or as touched by the virus. Besides, the risk is the same, whether you want to get back to normal or not - it's risky for the baby and for the pregnant woman to catch Covid, especially in the third trimester.

@Dontwantsummertoend

You can get more expensive masks that protect the wearer, might be worth looking into those

[quote User5827372728]@Dontwantsummertoend

You can get more expensive masks that protect the wearer, might be worth looking into those[/quote]
None that fit me. I've tried them already, but I am tiny and they all have huge gaps, unfortunately.

I'll be wearing my mask still, but I know full well no students will be and very few member of staff. We had a huge outbreak just before summer in our school and thankfully I was off with HG. I feel like I'm about to very exposed.. I've only had one vaccine as my age group was eligible until quite late and I wanted to wait until I was past 12 weeks

I caught Covid at 32 weeks pregnant while teaching (primary school, so no masks). Luckily all was fine, but I wasn't surprised when I got it.

Have you tried the Cambridge masks? They do different sizes that you measure up for and I found them great in pregnancy. I really feel for any teachers going back now though. It dosent sit right for me that pregnant ones are being put at risk. I understand the whole getting back to normal thing and kids needing school but I do think anyone in their third trimester in particular should be allowed on paid leave(ready to be flamed for this suggestion) I know the vaccines are good but I do still think the fact heavily pregnant people can get significantly sicker, warrants extra caution and if the kids are not masking what alternative is there. I know not every pregnant person will suffer badly but I do think there should be choices there aside from unpaid leave or sick leave as such if it’s wanted.

Or at least that students should perhaps have to wear masks in a class taught by a pregnant woman? Do you think that is something that could be a request on the risk assessment?

@Yummymummy2020 is this what you mean? cambridgemask.com/

I wear an FFP3 mask so I guess better than cloth or surgical ones- certainly feels very safe (although they are quite expensive). Who knows....

No it's not good for me. I have 30 little people in a cramped space breathing in my face, sucking pencils, trying to climb on my lap but if I thought about it I'd be quite anxious about getting ill. So I just get on with it.

Teachers and secondary pupils still wearing them in Scotland.

Schools went back here last week.

Record cases today. I'm not convinced masks do much when the strain is as contagious as it is at the moment.

Oh, and masks still mandatory in shops and other indoor public areas. Our rates are worse than England where masks are no longer mandatory. Hence my thinking.

@Awrite

Teachers and secondary pupils still wearing them in Scotland.

Schools went back here last week.

Record cases today. I'm not convinced masks do much when the strain is as contagious as it is at the moment.

This scares me even more. If that's how fast it spreads with masks, then surely it will be so much worse without them?!

@Awrite

Oh, and masks still mandatory in shops and other indoor public areas. Our rates are worse than England where masks are no longer mandatory. Hence my thinking.

@Awrite English schools aren't back yet, though...

Yeah, both good points.

I’m not a teacher / an optometrist.
You cannot communicate effectively with someone in a mask.

@underneaththeash

I’m not a teacher / an optometrist. You cannot communicate effectively with someone in a mask.

Since my senior class of this last academic year got the best exam results I've ever had but were taught throughout the two-year course by me in a mask, I'd dispute that claim, @underneaththeash!

(Yes, they sat exams as normal - IB exams went ahead this year, unlike A Levels).

Masks are annoying, but not hugely inconvenient for most people, and they are a pretty simple method of reducing transmission, i.e. they have the least impact when compared to school closures, quarantines and isolation. Also, even if what you assert were true (and I don't believe it is), I think some reduction in communication is worth it to reduce the risk of stillbirth, personally.

I'm just so worried about it all. I think in all professions, people classed as vulnerable should still have protections while case rates are so high. Once the virus is more controlled and case rates are normal (i.e. the "pandemic" part of the pandemic is over), then I think those protections should be relaxed. For now, though, it's far from that scenario.

I feel even more sorry for parents of vulnerable children as the children can't even be vaccinated, or immunocompromised people for whom the vaccine hasn't worked. It feels like the government are just leaving them to the wolves.