Scottish Schools - Face masks now "obligatory"

[WeAllHaveWings]

Regardless of whether anyone agrees or not these are now "obligatory" on buses, in corridors, and communal areas (not sure exactly what that means, some classrooms, but guess school will clarify?)

So ds(16) will need a mask for:

Bus/entering school to well-being/registration class
Going to periods 1 - 7
Goingwil to break/lunch
Bus home

So does he use the same mask all day, taking it on/off 11 times, or should he have several masks for the day and a dirty mask bag?

What will you be doing?

I am thinking maybe 2-3 masks per day......one for before morning break, after morning break and after lunch.....as I doubt ds would take/use 11 masks totally hygienically!

Trying to be kind, I'll just say that your scenario is OTT and unreasonable
That was a much more reasoned response than that post merited.
Are the posters who yet again are seeing this as an opportunity to SNP bash hoping we'll all forget that Boris has made masks compulsory in schools too? Actually, don't answer that. I don't want to go round in your political circles when everyone can see that neither WM or SG have covered themselves in glory with their schools' strategy.
As for masks, we're currently opting for reusable mask with bag to place it in; sanitising hands before and after every change; washing mask every night. I was wondering whether to send a few different ones in so a clean mask gets put on for each change.

@Lweji, but that is an argument for having masks IN the classroom as they spend hours in there. In the corridors you move from A to B.
Also, don't forget the by-product of the masks being a breeding ground for all sorts of nasty stuff. In fact quite a few of the people studying the "Science" have maid this very point, even in main stream TV and papers.

Lweji, there was no debate in this.

I must live in a parallel universe then. And parallel MN too.

This is what I don’t understand @Bessica1970 if you are clinically vulnerable how were you in school this time last year? Did you feel ‘safe’ at work? Or say January/February when there were cases already in Scotland? What measures did you personally take to feel safe and protected from Covid and all the other high-risk illnesses that can be prevalent and easily transmitted between young people? I’m sorry you found the corridors scary, but teachers already have the option to protect themselves with face coverings for corridor movement during the day and can choose to wear a face shield, where appropriate for lessons. It’s not the responsibility of the children to make teachers feel safe in the workplace.

[quote Arkadia]@Lweji, but that is an argument for having masks IN the classroom as they spend hours in there. In the corridors you move from A to B.
Also, don't forget the by-product of the masks being a breeding ground for all sorts of nasty stuff. In fact quite a few of the people studying the "Science" have maid this very point, even in main stream TV and papers.[/quote]
Well, yes. Where I work and teach we wear masks EVERYWHERE. Except our own offices when alone.

But we are only scientists, what do we know?

SockYarn if your question was genuine - the reason you wear a mask in a supermarket isn't because of risk of infection from walking by someone but because supermarkets tend to use air conditioning/recycled air to maintain temperature levels and Covid can be caught through aerosol transmission.

What a crock of shit indeed.

Point me to the thousands killed by supermarket air conditioning 🙄

Oh Arkadia you've given me a laugh tonight. You realise we don't need to wear masks when, erm, doing the horizontal shuffle? I think humanity will survive the wearing of masks.

And yes SockYarn, I'm a teacher with friends at Kings so I know exactly the make up of the school.👍

The fact is that quite a few of the people who do science had been demanding that masks should be worn.

The consensus is moving towards sars-cov-2 being transmitted through aerosols through the air. Speaking loudly being a major source of such aerosols. And such as happens in corridors when pupils leave classrooms.

Btw, outbreaks have occurred recently in Berlin where pupils only have to wear masks in corridors but not classrooms. I suspect regulations will change soon.

@BottomOfMyPencilCase

SockYarn if your question was genuine - the reason you wear a mask in a supermarket isn't because of risk of infection from walking by someone but because supermarkets tend to use air conditioning/recycled air to maintain temperature levels and Covid can be caught through aerosol transmission.

Was that recycled air not working in March, April, May etc. That’s when I was i supermarkets without a mask. Did the dangerous covid air kick in the week we had to start wearing masks? Like the schools, back for two safe weeks already, but from Monday it’s all change to ‘unsafe’ without masks on the children?

@Lweji, I meant that I will believe that a vaccine can be produced and deployed so quickly when I see it. It has neve happened before, nor has any virus been eradicated with the exception of smallpox (and how long did that take?)

Interesting to see that numbers have been going up since masks have been introduced, when we were told that we were to expect a 40% decrease in infections. Is there a correlation? Or perhaps there is a correlation with the number of tests being carried out?

In any case, Boris acted very badly when it introduced masks in England too as he was clearly doing it for PR reasons, and that is NEVER a good idea when you talk about public health.
At least in schools he did specify that masks are required only when there is a lockdown.
Here it has been forgotten that the WHO which has been cited as the font of all knowledge in this case, specifies that the virus has to be widespread to make masks worthwhile.
What will we do when the virus does get widespread? There is very little room for manoeuvre now and the public will be even more fed up, and so even less inclined to comply.

To be fair, supermarkets don't worry me too much.
And I do think some regulations, notably in the UK, are contradictory.
But I've given up on Johnson's government a while ago.

I meant that I will believe that a vaccine can be produced and deployed so quickly when I see it. It has neve happened before, nor has any virus been eradicated with the exception of smallpox (and how long did that take?)

I never said it would be quickly. We don't know when it will happen.
And never said it would be eradicated. We only need the vaccines to keep numbers sufficiently down to not need other measures such as masks and distancing to keep the numbers down. Like we have been keeping down many diseases for which there is a vaccine. (Before antivaxxers)

@Scotslassie1, you have clearly missed that lengthy article on the BBC website explaining how to have safe sex. It was published a couple of weeks ago.
From memory I quote: "during a pandemic the best person you can have sex with, is yourself" (and I kid you not!)
They were advocating sex with masks if you were doing it with someone who is not your partner (unless you were more creative and the sex was not, let's say, for reproductive purposes).
I am not making it up, a some.google search will unearth it. There was a similar one in Ireland too (I saw a hilarious Facebook thread on it).

Also, don't forget the by-product of the masks being a breeding ground for all sorts of nasty stuff.

And the fact that concerns about the long-term impact on the environment of all those single use plastics and disposable products being discarded in the street is totally forgotten, because COVID.

My kids have homemade, cotton masks. They will be taking one each per day, and I have no doubt that in class they'll be shoved in a bag or the blazer pockets. SO hygienic.

My DD15 has plenty masks as Ive been making them and has always carried sanitiser. I’m glad of this as I was concerned at the lack of distancing.

Interesting to see that numbers have been going up since masks have been introduced, when we were told that we were to expect a 40% decrease in infections. Is there a correlation? Or perhaps there is a correlation with the number of tests being carried out?

Again, no, it's not since masks were introduced.

For different reasons, cases have gone up in different countries at different times. Some have had nightclubs open. Others have had younger people spread it.

Masks are one protective measure and that should allow us to have more normal lives without risking lockdown.

For reference, I'm in Portugal, where masks have been obligatory everywhere indoors since months ago. We've been keeping numbers stable. Not as low as we'd like, but not rising either. Everyone is wearing them. No "just customers" nonsense.
Everyone.

@SockYarn
27 confirmed cases in one Dundee school first week back so it could become very prevalent.

My current staple mask has anti-microbial properties demonstrated in the lab. And been shown to inactivate sars-cov-2 after 1 h. And it can be washed 50x at 30oC without loss of properties. It also has a good filtering capacity.
It's produced and sold by a Portuguese company.
All my washable masks have also been certified for filtering capacity and number of washes.

Most people don't wear masks properly, or safely enough. I'm guilty myself.
But if they can reduce the concentration of particles in the air and prevent us from touching our mouth and nose, then it's certainly better than nothing.

I have no doubt that in class they'll be shoved in a bag or the blazer pockets. SO hygienic.

They may end up having to wear them in class.
But, you could make hard plastic wallets to keep the masks cleaner and from contamination.

@Lweji, a life where no human contact is allowed and where we are surrounded by a sea of perspex is NOT a normal life, by any stretch of the imagination.
In Italy they introduced masks at the very beginning and, if you like, that makes the measure more reasonable from a logic point of view: they didn't wait till cases were at a minimum. The SG could have said: " sorry, we screwed up. We should have done this ages ago, but better now than never." Instead we were given the usual nonsense about "the Science" which hadn't really changed at all.
Here, after masks have been introduced, the infection trend has not really shifted. So the question of what is actually at play is a reasonable one.

[quote SBTLove]@SockYarn
27 confirmed cases in one Dundee school first week back so it could become very prevalent.[/quote]
We've already been over that.

Firstly, there is a known cluster in Dundee/Coupar Angus.

Secondly, the school concerned is a school for children with SEN to a level they can't be accommodated in mainstream. Kids who can't/won't socially distance, need 1 to 1 with adults, who aren't all siting in pairs at desks facing the front.

a life where no human contact is allowed and where we are surrounded by a sea of perspex is NOT a normal life, by any stretch of the imagination.
No need for hyperbole. It just makes you unreasonable, tbh, even when making fair points.
Of course distancing and wearing masks is not normal. Or hasn't been normal. In fact it has been fairly normal in Asian countries to wear masks. We find it less normal.
But it doesn't have to and I'm sure it won't be forever. My best guess from the start was a couple of years. It seems it is still approximately around this mark, from what I've read about this.

In Italy they introduced masks at the very beginning and, if you like, that makes the measure more reasonable from a logic point of view: they didn't wait till cases were at a minimum. The SG could have said: " sorry, we screwed up. We should have done this ages ago, but better now than never." Instead we were given the usual nonsense about "the Science" which hadn't really changed at all.
Here, after masks have been introduced, the infection trend has not really shifted. So the question of what is actually at play is a reasonable one.

Well, that is certainly an issue for the UK authorities. The science did need to catch up in this respect. I wasn't convinced at first either. The science is still catching up in many respects, including aerosol transmission.
The UK has been slow at pretty much every point in relation to many other countries.
Now, this is normal. This is how science evolves. Usually over longer periods. Now we have to decide one way or another over few data and quickly.
My approach is to err on the side of caution. But allowing for some risk.

At my work we are going through this process.
I imagine all schools are going through the same.
It's not easy.

Adding that when masks were introduced in the UK, and elsewhere, it was to allow less isolation. Like plates in a balance. It's a good sign if numbers didn't change much.
That was the aim. That you wouldn't see a rise.

SockYarn there's 4- 6 kids in a class. They don't move around school. It was brought in via someone living with someone working at the covid hit factory.

Point is it can hit anywhere and you won't know until people become ill two weeks later.

Kids who can't/won't socially distance, need 1 to 1 with adults, who aren't all siting in pairs at desks facing the front.

Children in mainstream aren't socially distancing, many require 1-1 with adults and it's impossible to stop them coming near you anyway.