Schools and Covid 19 (part 5) **Mod warnings in OP**

Primary school presumably? Since ours went to secondary the joy of parents' whatsapp groups is behind us. 😀

It's an automated system. The HSE do not nor can they look at every individual case. People should not need there hands held. A lot is common sense. If you have a positive antigen test it makes sense to count from it if there is a positive PCR days later.

We cannot micro manage COVID.

It's not a mess. At present we have 20k cases a day and probably more we cannot diagnose fast enough.

It all about managing the disease. Omicron is more infectious but less dangerous than previous variants.

Medical grade masks will not significantly improve the outcome neither are HEPA filter a margin bullet. We should not constantly need the government to micro manage this. In any job you have to manage you workload and risk. People are not exacting falling dead around the place at present. It's not the end of the world if you get Omicron, IMO if it gets into a normal healthy vaccinated household every body is as well off getting it 5-7 days will see it over and done with in that situation effectively and you probably have good immunity until next winter

They are still sticking to the mantra that most outbreaks occurred in homes but new numbers show a high number of out breaks in schools in second half you the year.

This is my favourite bit but it's worth reading the whole article

"The latest data from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre looks at the total number of outbreaks recorded in the fourth wave of the virus between 27 June and 31 December 2021.

While the largest number of outbreaks, 919, were recorded among families in private homes, the next highest figure was associated with school students and staff, with 514 outbreaks among these groups in the last six months of the year.

The next highest amount of outbreaks - 458 - were recorded in workplaces."

My take on it is, all schools were closed for July and August. So you are comparing 4 months data to 6 months data or for 1/3 of the time the schools were closed for holidays. Why is RTE not picking up on this?

https://www.rte.ie/news/education/2022/0106/1272079-schools/

supervised two classes today 5th and 6th teacher taught them remotely in 6th and was on for first 15 mins setting them up in 6th. i just set up the call. in fairness both classes could have been left there on their own for all the difference i made. Never had to say a word in either class. Some kids are amazing when they get to that age.

Hse took antigens into account for my children, symptoms before the antigen for me and my husband. They do take the antigen into account if you speak to someone instead of following generic text

"but I'd love to know what the teachers have been at for the last two weeks."

It's a pretty odd comment, it comes across as accusatory...more than likely they've been doing the normal stuff that nearly everyone else in the country has been doing for the past couple of weeks.

Normal enough to ask a friend or relative if they have an idea how they got it because that's general conversation and long before covid people would say who they caught a vomiting bug from etc. but for people who you don't know then it's weird to ponder how they got it, especially considering it was over Christmas where as I said they are probably doing the exact same thing the rest of the country did!

My eldest childs school have had to tell a year group to stay at home on Thursday and another year for Friday due to staff shortages also. They had a contingency plan in place for if it happened last year at several points through the year but never needed to implement it. I've never at any point wondered what the teachers were up to that meant so many were out at the same time.

But once the kids are in and out of their parents way they don't care. I still don't understand why parents can't recognise that when teachers are calling for Hepa filters so they can at least reduce the amount of time windows are open ,they are ensuring the learning environment is comfortable for their children.

Instead all you get is ,well if shop keeper have to go in to work bla bla bla....

More parents should be lobbying govt ministers to ensure their children are in a safe learning environment instead of worrying about where teachers visited over Christmas

I've seen this point raised before about parents lobbying government - but fact is nobody in education ( government or schools) gives a damn what parents think. Nobody wants to listen to the parents view - we are just moany pains in the ass. Thiis will achieve nothing.

A quicker solution would be for each school to get quotes for HEPA filters installation and ask each parent to contribute. It was mentioned way back by someone that the cost per parent ( depending on numbers could be quite low). In my kids school over the year we are asked to pay for all sorts of silly things way less important - most parents wouldn't have an issue with this.

Do you have kids yourself?

We can't get our parents to pay for a pencil for their kids,let alone a hepa filter . Whilst I agree its a lovely idea, I couldn't see it happening on a practical level

HEPA filters really are a waste in schools. They are for use in closed environments with no ventilation.

Putting in a hepa filter will make a difference to the few centimeters in front of the filter, and nothing else.

not bad here today but im on all classes and no break,because of duty, although we have a half day. have to eat on duty

4/13 today for me in a DEIS school

I work in the type of environment they are used in and I would definitely be no expert in them. Anyone I have spoken too from engineering side that actually would be an expert in them has made similar points to yourself. Initially I thought it sounded like an idea worth exploring but now it just sounds like it would be a huge waste of money.

Same here.

The thing is though, the vast majority of those working adults that would normally be in work sitting at a desk are now sitting at home, so ....

If this is considered 'keeping quiet' I don't know how loud they are expected to shout!!!!

Links below and for the utmost clarity, I have even cropped the relevant bits out for you

ASTI

TUI

https://www.tui.ie/news/reopening-of-schools-%e2%80%93-january-2022-update-on-the-current-position.14360.html

If I remember correctly, teacher unions were to a point of up to strike action last year when they weren't getting priority in vaccines, saying they weren't safe, and also included pay in the arguments! Didn't hear them shouting for vaccines for vulnerable kids before going back to school this term....didn't hear them threaten strike for filters during the week either. Putting a proposal/demand into writing is far different than what they did last year.

I've written unions above, I don't think teachers have a say anymore tbh.