Do Schools need to inform parents if a teacher has Coronavirus?

[Ahmawa]

A teacher has been off for a few days but the School seem to not even provide an update, they have just brought in a supply teacher.

Do parents have a right to ask if the teacher may have coronavirus or due to privacy concerns we cannot ask?

@00100001

Why would you expect an "update"? They may not even be off ill for all you know....

Exactly. Why do you think you should have an update? You're very lucky to have a supply teacher in place.

No, you won’t be told. I’ve had two positive cases in my class this week and no notifications have gone out. That requirement stopped in August.
It was probably fairly obvious why I had 2 weeks off, especially as it coincided with 3 children sitting in my front row being off, but nothing was officially said to parents.

Hell, they don't even tell me tat a teacher has covid when I am the one covering their class and using their desk and keyboard

No, like they don't tell you if someone in the class has 'flu or TB. They only let you know if you need to know, e.g. hepatitis A.

No you are not entitled to confidential medical information. Teachers are human beings.

Schools in England do not have to inform you of covid cases anymore.. it’s up to test & trace & the parent of the positive child reporting school as a close contact.

Although our school do let us know if over 6 people in one class test positive. We got a letter saying there was rising cases & to be vigilant. Seems reasonable. 🤷🏼‍♀️

It's not about that, is it? It's about being told, or not, that your child has been in contact with a positive case
I get where you are coming from. I thought it was ridiculous that despite COVID being rife in my daughters year group, parents weren’t informed of the high numbers and yet track and trace phoned my daughter because she had been for coffee with a friend who tested positive the next day.

It seems the government don’t think COVID is transmitted in schools, so you don’t need to be told there is a positive case in the school/class.

@StucklnAMuumuuCantGetOutOflt

Hell, they don't even tell me tat a teacher has covid when I am the one covering their class and using their desk and keyboard

...but if you're that bothered,you'd be sanitising and washing hands anyway??

@Maryann1975

It's not about that, is it? It's about being told, or not, that your child has been in contact with a positive case I get where you are coming from. I thought it was ridiculous that despite COVID being rife in my daughters year group, parents weren’t informed of the high numbers and yet track and trace phoned my daughter because she had been for coffee with a friend who tested positive the next day. It seems the government don’t think COVID is transmitted in schools, so you don’t need to be told there is a positive case in the school/class.

It isn't that they "don't think it's transmitted in schools"

It's that they don't want kids missing yet more weeks/months of education. And on top of that, they aren't paying furlough etc.

No

There’s a supply teacher. Your child is being educated. What do you think entitles you to know personal medical information about another person?

@Heckythump1

They should tell you that there has been a positive case in your child's class, but they absolutely don't need to tell you who that is.

No this isn't a requirement anymore.

00100001
It isn't that they "don't think it's transmitted in schools"

For the vast majority of the pandemic, the Government has insisted that children do not spread Covid and that it is not ever transmitted in schools. They even spent millions on a propaganda campaign in the mainstream and social media with messages to that effect when they were worried parents wouldn't send their children back after the first lockdown. They have perform mental gymnastics in order to claim the infections have come from the wider community rather than the location that children and teachers spend the majority of their waking hours. They have gaslit teachers and parents over their concerns which, in the end, have turned out to be completely valid.

We now know, thanks to minutes from Sage meetings etc., that the Government did know that transmission happens in schools and at a high rate. However, they don't want to combat this: they want to encourage it. "Natural infection" for children has been the plan for a while. It's just Herd Immunity under a different name.

I'm my dd's class, at least 12 children tested positive over a 2 week period (which including the recent half term break). Including DD. Not a peep from school. Test and Trace were very disinterested. We only know because the parents were sharing our own updates on our class WhatsApp.

In England, it really does seem that some schools will choose to tell but many won't because they don't have to.

@Iamnotthe1

00100001 It isn't that they "don't think it's transmitted in schools"

For the vast majority of the pandemic, the Government has insisted that children do not spread Covid and that it is not ever transmitted in schools. They even spent millions on a propaganda campaign in the mainstream and social media with messages to that effect when they were worried parents wouldn't send their children back after the first lockdown. They have perform mental gymnastics in order to claim the infections have come from the wider community rather than the location that children and teachers spend the majority of their waking hours. They have gaslit teachers and parents over their concerns which, in the end, have turned out to be completely valid.

We now know, thanks to minutes from Sage meetings etc., that the Government did know that transmission happens in schools and at a high rate. However, they don't want to combat this: they want to encourage it. "Natural infection" for children has been the plan for a while. It's just Herd Immunity under a different name.

This x 100.

Blaming parents for spreading out at the schools gates and teachers for spreading it in the staff room (most were closed) were other popular strategies.

Clearly it wasn’t the thousands of children sitting for hours together in poorly ventilated rooms with no masks on that was spreading it!

@FrenchToasty

No you are not entitled to confidential medical information. Teachers are human beings.

We were told before they changed the rules.

The rules now are utterly ridiculous. Makes it difficult to risk assess whether your own poorly child may have covid, especially as the top three official symptoms are no longer actually the most common symptoms of covid.

And so it continues to spread as a result.

@CagneyNYPD1

I'm my dd's class, at least 12 children tested positive over a 2 week period (which including the recent half term break). Including DD. Not a peep from school. Test and Trace were very disinterested. We only know because the parents were sharing our own updates on our class WhatsApp.

In England, it really does seem that some schools will choose to tell but many won't because they don't have to.

Yep. Our school sent the most unhelpful email saying that there were several cases within school. I had to insist they at the very least tell us the year groups affected.

Farce.

The rules now are utterly ridiculous. Makes it difficult to risk assess whether your own poorly child may have covid, especially as the top three official symptoms are no longer actually the most common symptoms of covid.

And so it continues to spread as a result.

But that's the plan. The Government want it to spread through schools. They believe that if enough children get and spread it before the harshest parts of winter then the NHS won't become overwhelmed and they won't have to take any measures. They are prepared to accept the current mortality rates in children and the increase in Long Covid as a trade off.

Wait until March when people have to start paying for tests and the isolation requirement is removed...

@Iamnotthe1

The rules now are utterly ridiculous. Makes it difficult to risk assess whether your own poorly child may have covid, especially as the top three official symptoms are no longer actually the most common symptoms of covid.

And so it continues to spread as a result.

But that's the plan. The Government want it to spread through schools. They believe that if enough children get and spread it before the harshest parts of winter then the NHS won't become overwhelmed and they won't have to take any measures. They are prepared to accept the current mortality rates in children and the increase in Long Covid as a trade off.

Wait until March when people have to start paying for tests and the isolation requirement is removed...

I know. And it doesn’t make it any more ridiculous.

The government are absolute idiots.

@Iggly

So what would you do if you were in charge? Having already sent billions and already had schools affected do badly?

What is your solution?

Absolutely not. No parent has the right to know a teacher’s medical information. The school have a responsibility to provide an education. They’re doing that.

[quote 00100001]@Iggly

So what would you do if you were in charge? Having already sent billions and already had schools affected do badly?

What is your solution?[/quote]
Have proper ventilation in schools. What happened to those mythical oxygen monitors?

Have test and trace back with schools so that parents are informed of possible close contact.

Have an update to the covid symptoms. Too many stories (and research) showing that the top three are not cough/fever/loss of taste. Coughs are so common at this time of year so the argument about encouraging over testing doesn’t stack up.

And encourage masks wearing. My ds is in y7 and the amount of covid is absolutely and utterly nuts. It has spread like wildfire and it spreads to people in their wider families. An absolute disgrace when not enough boosters have been rolled out.

And finally, better access to vaccines for 12-15.

How are you going to get "proper ventilation" in schools? How would that work, what time frame? Or are they just to open windows in the middle of winter?

They don’t have to no. But I think bearing in mind what we are going through, teachers might decide to let a school tell parents and vice versa. We are all in this together and I would want to know if my child has been in close contact with a teacher who has COVID just like the teacher would want to know if they have been in close contact with a child with COVID. That way we can be responsible and test if eg my child sat and read for 10 mins with a teacher who then tested positive I would want to be testing my child daily and being aware. Seems sensible for everyone to be as aware as possible.