Close the schools!

An older teacher caught COVID in the last week of term from one if the pupils. Started feeling bad some time between Christmas and NYE. Incubation can be between 3 and 14 days, though 4-5 is the most common.

So after pupils returning yesterday, we'll probably start seeing figures going up Friday, for the following ten days.

Sorry was replying to an earlier comment.

No way three months get back behind your sofa please? the economy would not cope with it.

Did you see yesterday’s we chat with Dr John and Dr Seheult? It was really interesting wasn’t it. I don’t understand why DrJohn is often interviewed on foreign news channels but very rarely in the U.K. It seems to me that Dr John is happy about the 12 week gap with the Oxford vaccine butI’m not sure about his view on the Pfizer one. What was frustrating was Dr Seheult saying he made a point of having saunas and cold showers given that the thing I miss most these days is going to the gym for a workout followed by a sauna and cold shower! Dr John has been a lifeline for me over the past year and has made me feel connected to the rest of the world with his webchats.

I just hope that 'they' have got it right about not giving the 2nd jab asap after the 1st and that they have done their arithmetic correctly.
I watch Dr John Campbell on YouTube. Full of good advice , common sense and gets his data from proper medical sources.
Also I like Professor Roger Seheult on Medcam which is on youtube again.

My DD just mailed me saying how much pressure the exam year students have been under, and now are still totally unclear what will be happening.

She said that is all he is talking about.

Then they wonder why there are so many mental health issues amongst children.

HMG have treated schools and children diabolically.

Yes, growstuff, and perhaps supplemented by the Army? Our police forces are stretched to the limit - two of my family are in the Police and regularly tell me that they feel like they are up against a tsunami with only a canoe to paddle against it..........

Trisha57 I think you've come up with the solution. The police need to be out and about, breaking up groups of people and knocking on doors if there are parties or gatherings.

And neither am I teacher bashing here, but at DD's school 2 of the (younger) teachers have reported ill with coronavirus today having picked it up over Christmas? We all have to be careful.

Are you sure that’s not kids going to/from school trisher? I think this will be far more like the March lockdown (although maybe not - sounds busy outside at the moment). My teen won’t be going anywhere.

Anyway how is this for bonkers. BTEC exams are due to start this week and appear to be going ahead!!! The exam boards themselves didn’t know last night (!) but then the dept for education tweeted saying the world.

My son’s school sent an email saying they were cancelled then had to send another saying they weren’t.

A lot of schools were struggling with invigilators (as often retired people who don’t really want to sit in a room full of teenagers).

This government really treats vocational students badly - they made a hash of their case last summer as well (even more than GCSEs/A levels).

The only real worry I have about closing secondary schools, if this becomes necessary, is that it will excacerbate the problem of large groups of teens roaming the streets together, gathering in supermarket car parks near the entrances and exits (which is a particular problem where I live) and generally making it more unsafe for the rest of the local population. I am not teenager-bashing, I've seen plenty of older people, middle aged people and 20s and 30s also ignoring the rules, but they generally are in ones or twos, not whole hoardes blocking pathways, shop doorways and footpaths. Unless there are effective patrols that are able to disperse large groups of people then I fear that our supermarket, local footpaths and nearby Common will become another place that I am unable to use safely.

So the schools are to close a day after they open

Absolutely indefensible!!

The evidence is there, but it's not filtering through to the government's "big data" spreadsheets, which don't tell the whole story.

For months, local leaders, headteachers, GPs etc have been complaining that they haven't been given data, so they can act proactively. Unless the local context is known, it's difficult to act. The tracking and tracing function should have been given to local authorities, who have experience in public health and know their areas.

Locals often know what's going on, but it's not reflected in the spreadheets. The Leicester sweatshops was a classic example, as are the schools which have been sending pupils and staff home. There's been almost nothing in the national press about the extent of the problem.

We were told that teens don't spread the virus, masks weren't necessary, to eat out, and that schools were to reopen and parents would be fined if they didn't comply.

Now we're reaping what we've sown.

I don’t think this is a situation where we have to wait for hard evidence before we take action because evidence takes a while to become valid. I think we have, in some cases, to act instinctively and use common sense. Look at the arguments against mask wearing in March: stopping testing and tracing in the spring because ‘ the virus was already in the community’.

"We simply cannot allow yet more dither and delay from this govt." Close and remain closed.

growstuff

Baggs

Thanks for the link, growstuff, but so far as I could tell that data does not give information about numbers of teachers and schoolkids badly affected by covid which is what I'm interested in as it is the only data that can tell us how safe schools are or aren't.

The data isn't available, but you're missing the point. Children can and do transmit to other pupils and family members.

I'm not missing the point, gs. I'm asking for evidence/data about the claim about children transmitting the virus and how dangerous that actually is.

Which is not to say that I deny children can be transmitters. I'm sure they can be. I'm asking whether it is really as risky as is being made out.

So far no answers to that.

LibDem leader Ed Davey says-

"The govt has completely lost control of the Covid crisis once again, and it is costing thousands of lives. Boris Johnson must announce a national lockdown. With the NHS really struggling, we simply cannot allow yet more dither and delay from this govt.

We also need a full and comprehensive economic plan for businesses and self-employed people, to help communities with the unbelievable pressure they are under. Otherwise this new year will bring another wave of closures, redundancies and bankruptcies.

And we need Parliament back. We need scrutiny of this crisis, especially the vaccine rollout. Govt have failed every challenge through this crisis. If Johnson fails on the vaccine rollout, the cost in lives, mental health and the economy will be too high to bear. "

twitter.com/EdwardJDavey/status/1346045324310302720?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Schools in Scotland are staying closed till February

Baggs

Thanks for the link, growstuff, but so far as I could tell that data does not give information about numbers of teachers and schoolkids badly affected by covid which is what I'm interested in as it is the only data that can tell us how safe schools are or aren't.

The data isn't available, but you're missing the point. Children can and do transmit to other pupils and family members.

I suspect they are MayBee, but the results aren't made available to the public for data protection reasons.

I read yesterday that they only started studying the effects of covid in children in mid December. This was the NIH (I think). Not sure if any other studies have been done. I don’t understand why every hospital admission can’t be put into a computer to collate everything. Maybe it is being done but I haven’t read anything to that effect.

Thanks for the link, growstuff, but so far as I could tell that data does not give information about numbers of teachers and schoolkids badly affected by covid which is what I'm interested in as it is the only data that can tell us how safe schools are or aren't.

Crikey Hunt is certainly not keeping to the script.

Whitewavemark2

John Crace

Jeremy Hunt declares UDI from Boris

Jeremy Hunt

Time to act: we need to close schools, borders, and ban all household mixing RIGHT AWAY.

I spotted that too.

Do you think Hunt is starting his leadership bid?