School infection

I'm sure I heard on R4 that there had been no documented case worldwide of a teacher being infected by a pupil.

Norfolk too now. Attleborough.

Attleborough not exactly a large city (well, I'd never heard of it).
It shows that the virus can emerge anywhere, not just large centres of civilisation.

How are things going over there, Gagajo?

No, I only know it because my grandparents lived there. Only about 15 miles from Norwich tho.

It is supposedly very clear where I am, but I am mask wearing all the time, even when teaching, although a colleage of mine is very irritated by it. Shops all have hand sanitizer and require masks. Public transport requires masks although there are the inevitable corvidiots who fake-wear, with the mask under their nose. I move away if I encounter them..

MawB2

*Growstuff * According to the County website, Suffolk schools opened on Tuesday 1 September and most schools will have started off with 1 or more Inset days - especially after the disruption of last term.

The school involved opened on Thursday. There was a training day on Wednesday.

www.eadt.co.uk/news/samuel-ward-academy-coronavirus-outbreak-news-1-6826072

Eight staff have now tested positive. 16 members of staff and 90 pupils are self-isolating.

humptydumpty

I'm sure I heard on R4 that there had been no documented case worldwide of a teacher being infected by a pupil.

That's not true.

Baggs

The point, surely, is not whether teachers are infected but whether they are ill. The more testing is done the more infections will be found but presumably those who tested positive did not know they were infected or they wouldn't have been in school to get tested.

The number of cases is not the important number. The important numbers are hospitalisations and deaths. Are these going up?

One member of staff certainly did have symptoms. It's too early to know how ill the others will be because it usually takes a week or so for the infection to really start affecting the body's organs.

One of my online pupils is one of the ones who was sent home and is now self-isolating. She's awaiting test results.

Attleborough has a problem because the Banham poultry processing plant has just had a lot of workers who have tested positive.
They are all, or were, workers from the continent who live, work and socialise together.
I wrote were, not because any of them have died but because it looks like it may have spread into the community.

It does not surprise me at all that this has happened. As schools reopen there will inevitably be cases of closures in order to contain the virus. As anything reopens, where people congregate together, this will happen. No way round it.

My concern is the universities, - schools tend to take pupils from a smaller local area and quarantine could stamp it out there; but when students return to university, they are moving from one end of the country to another and mixing together.

There is no quick way out of this, and these measures, designed to keep the vulnerable safe, are bound to be needed.

The number of cases is not the important number. The important numbers are hospitalisations and deaths

How do you reach that conclusion, baggs?

Increase in cases will lead to more people infected and increased risks of hospitalisations and deaths. It seems to me to be a bit weird to see it in any other way...

There is always a possibility of debilitating 'long covid' and now there also seems to be a possibility of reinfection.

Not to mention the fact that I doubt if the NHS is in any better shape now for dealing with covid, plus all the usual winter outbreaks, than it was last March...

Do we really want this virus to be hanging around for years?

when students return to university, they are moving from one end of the country to another and mixing together.
Same with military establishments Luckygirl. Our local camp has an outbreak due to intake of new recruits mixing.

with the mask under their nose
I've seen a couple of those.
Strange.

Attleborough has a problem because the Banham poultry processing plant has just had a lot of workers who have tested positive.
Interesting. That is not the first meat processing plant which has had an outbreak of COVID.

I don't understand either Maizie. Eight members of staff at Samuel Ward have tested positive. That's over 10% of the workforce. Most of them will have family, who will all now have to self-isolate. Some pupils might also be infected. If they are, their families will have to self-isolate. If pupils were infected on Thursday, they might very well have gone into town on Friday or Saturday, without knowing they were infected and could have infected members of the public. The infection rate in this area has been very low (about 1 in 2000), so people have become complacent. I suspect we're going to see a big spike.

We just don't know yet how many other people will have been infected. If any of those are vulnerable, there could very well be a rise in hospitalisations, so an increase in cases does matter.

MaisieD
We don’t want the virus to hang around but I am afraid it will.

My DS flew home from the Middle East this week. She and herDH were in a packed plane with most passengers from a bit further east. The other passengers didn’t wear masks and didn’t seem to be taking many precautions to protect themselves or others.

DS is isolating, I wonder if the others are? Some will I expect but if their behaviour of the majority on the plane was anything to go by most won’t.
Unless we are able to cut ourselves off from the rest of the world and take very punitive measures here we will have to learn to live with it as best as we can.

Cannot see how there is any way to stop the virus hanging around probably forever. No real chance of a good safe vaccine for a long time.
Shutting ourselves away does not make the virus disappear - it will be there whenever we go out.
There are many illnesses out there that cause serious illness and some (eg: the biggest killer of them all - malaria) leaves its effect for life on anyone who gets it and survives.
Does seem as if medics have learned better ways of treating this in all forms.
In the meanwhile the suicide rates are rising and goodness know how many people have and will shortly die due to their treatments for things like cancer having been stopped. Also, the effect on so many families from redundancy, unemployment and even being thrown out of their homes will run into tens of thousands.
With regard to the story from Argentina of the teacher who died on-line - I also know of at least three teachers who died from Heart Attacks (not this year and nothing to do with this virus) -in front of their classes - but they did not make world-wide news.
Personally, I take great encouragement from the very low hospitalisation rate and extremely low death figures.

The fact that it’s spreading most amongst the young doesn’t surprise me at all.

Just one instance of many - the other day at my bus stop there were 3 teens of maybe 15/16, sitting very close together on a bench, with another 2 who couldn’t fit on it, standing barely a foot away. All chatting together, and not one wearing a mask.

No, I didn’t say anything - what would an old bag like me know? In any case, everyone at that age is immortal, aren’t they?

Good for you Franbern. Personally, I'm keen on minimising my chances of dying prematurely, so I'm keen on avoiding Covid-19. The reason the death rate is low is because sensible people in the high risk category are taking precautions. It really doesn't comfort me that more people are dying from suicide or heart attacks. FWIW I've had a heart attack and I know what to do to cut my risk of having another one.

Liverpool
Bradford
Leeds
Lancashire
Manchester
Nottingham
Leicester
Cardiff
Rochester
Redcar and Cleveland
Ormesby

So much for Boris saying children wouldn't spread it. We're barely into September.

And to clarify, in my last UK school, students and teachers are NOT allowed to wear masks in the classroom.

Increase in cases will lead to more people infected and increased risks of hospitalisations and deaths. It seems to me to be a bit weird to see it in any other way

There is always a possibility of debilitating 'long covid' and now there also seems to be a possibility of reinfection.

Not to mention the fact that I doubt if the NHS is in any better shape now for dealing with covid, plus all the usual winter outbreaks, than it was last March

^Do we really want this virus to be hanging around for years?

That’s the way I see it too MaizieD
Of course I am delighted that there are fewer hospitalisation but as I said on the same subject some weeks ago, the number of cases is of paramount importance. If it is rife in the community, we are all at risk and there will be some who are lucky and only have relatively mild symptoms while others - the elderly, the frail, those with other health conditions - will be as much at risk as they were back in April. We can’t afford to be complacent, just grateful that early treatment is less draconian and more effective than it was in the early days.

Add Caerphilly to the list, Gagajo

Seeing news reports of crowds of young people outside nightclubs in Cardiff and Newport, it's not surprising Cardiff and Caerphilly are on the list of rises in cases.

It could be too soon to blame those on schools returning as they are only going back this week. Not all pupils have gone back yet.

Add Bangor and Wrexham schools to that list gagajo

It was predicted that this would happen.

Welsh schools only returned today, didn't they?

If it is rife in the community, we are all at risk and there will be some who are lucky and only have relatively mild symptoms while others - the elderly, the frail, those with other health conditions - will be as much at risk as they were back in April.

Exactly why I wear a mask religiously, almost all of the time, apart from when I'm at home (I often work 7am to 10pm, so for LONG periods). A colleague of mine asked me to take my mask off yesterday because he couldn't understand me. But he is young, fit, with no underlying conditions. Selfish arse.

Add Haverhill to the list.
8 staff have tested positive.
A further 16 staff and 115 pupils are self-isolating.
The school will remain shut for another day.

As far as I am aware Callistemon in North Wales they returned last week.