Covid-19 pandemic

[ad hoc]

https://www.tes.com/news/exclusive-t...-above-average

[Antepli Ejderha]

https://www.tes.com/news/exclusive-t...-above-average

Thanks for that. No surprise

[steveeeeeeeee]

I'd hazard a guess the over 25% of teachers in my school have now tested positive. Main reason why classroom teachers aren't in the news is that, especially in London, most classroom teachers are under 35 and generally recover within 2 weeks.

I'm going in this morning to ensure my year 10 class have their course books over lockdown. It's my day off (I'm part time) and still not feeling great.

[Antepli Ejderha]

We were told on New Year's Eve that we would be expected to deliver all classes online from Tuesday 5th January, that was despite the government telling everyone it's exam groups only. The union have challenged him, he's given a bullshit answer. The union have come back to us and said we can push back or possibly suck it up as it's only four days. WTF?

I'm going to start teaching online at 9am and I'm expected to teach all my normal classes, there are no plans to collapse classes, have one person teach a whole cohort, or try to reduce workload at all. Teaching online requires double the preparation time and it's almost impossible to check what the students are doing. It's a show.

Then we add in the fact that 2 in 3 students were actually logging in. This means many students couldn't even access the online lessons.

Soon we'll be asked to prepare work for them.

And to go in and supervise the handful of kids coming in.

This is while the school leaders have few or no classes and will come up with more ways to add to our workload.

Welfare calls, that's coming.

We spent yesterday in online sessions planning for Year 11s, all wasted. And it was so obvious that was going to happen.

Going back to MATs, our CEO left with a redundancy package worth ?200k apparently, this after running the school into the ground. They didn't have a 70k car, they had at least 3 cars including a Jaguar. The new CEO is a more polished version of the same shite. Academies are corrupt, on a level Johnson would be proud of.

[Antepli Ejderha]

I'd hazard a guess the over 25% of teachers in my school have now tested positive. Main reason why classroom teachers aren't in the news is that, especially in London, most classroom teachers are under 35 and generally recover within 2 weeks.

I'm going in this morning to ensure my year 10 class have their course books over lockdown. It's my day off (I'm part time) and still not feeling great.

Stay safe.

The biggest teaching group in our school to be tested positive for Covid-19 were the senior leaders. The head, their two deputies and two of the four assistants. That's what we know so it might have been higher.

[Uncle Ethan]

There is little comprehension in the broader community that keeping schools open is actually easier workload-wise for teachers. It is just potentially fatal for them. Closing schools to all but vulnerable kids and the children of essential workers means prepping three types of lessons - in person, online and work packs. Most teachers will have worked through their holidays (as usual) yet you still get cockwombles on Twitter and elsewhere saying teachers don't care about kids etc.

[Fussbudget]

Apparently reception is closed because the school can't guarantee adequate staffing. It will open for children of critical workers from Wednesday. But I just read the full letter and you're only allowed to send your child in if a) you are a two parent household and both parents are critical workers or b) you are a critical worker and a single parent. As I am classified as a critical worker but my husband is not, we can't send my son in.

So, now we both have to try and do our jobs with a four year old bouncing round the house shooting nerf gun pellets everywhere. And we're supposed to educate him as well. Which I realise is what many families were doing earlier this year.

Not sure if this is any use to you as you might feel it's safer to keep your children at home at the moment anyway, but I believe the DfE's instructions to schools state that only one parent needs to be a key worker for their kids to be allowed in school.

[Antepli Ejderha]

There is little comprehension in the broader community that keeping schools open is actually easier workload-wise for teachers. It is just potentially fatal for them. Closing schools to all but vulnerable kids and the children of essential workers means prepping three types of lessons - in person, online and work packs. Most teachers will have worked through their holidays (as usual) yet you still get cockwombles on Twitter and elsewhere saying teachers don't care about kids etc.

This.

We're also expected to make calls home.

The fuck wits in my school have no idea how things work and think I can speak many languages because I can communicate with kids.

[Antepli Ejderha]

https://twitter.com/dgurdasani1/status/1346362183454773248?s=19

A good thread.

[Balderdasha]

Not sure if this is any use to you as you might feel it's safer to keep your children at home at the moment anyway, but I believe the DfE's instructions to schools state that only one parent needs to be a key worker for their kids to be allowed in school.

Thanks. We'll consider it. The school has sent out another letter confirming that both parents need to be key workers, and requesting that children are not sent in unless there really, seriously is no parent at home, so I would feel a little guilty about it. Plus they'd be put into mixed year groups and have different teachers every day (though at two metres distance). I think they're probably safer at home.

[Patrick Thistle]

At the risk of diverting another thread into independence discussions...

https://twitter.com/padrigmcg/status/1346202275316981760?s=19

I'll put it on the Indy thread too

[elguapo4]

The dining room in our building is still open and with only about 20% of normal capacity, it's easy to social distance. There are signs on all the tables saying only two persons per table ,sitting at each end. Just now, there were four people at one table, talking and laughing very loud, with their faces about 2 feet from each other. Honestly, some people can't be helped.

[Muukalainen]

The context sounds quite different (eg 30 in our classes, children used to a free-flow of continuous provision), but maybe, as you say, masks have been normalised to a degree now. Interested to hear from other OTFers outside the UK with younger children.

The situation here locally is that all schools were open normally up until (can't remember exactly) about the middle of November. At this time the number of new COVID-19 infections had been steadily climbing to the point of getting out of control. A council meeting decided on a number of measures including recommending social distancing, face masks, limiting gatherings to 10 people, closing of public sports and social facilities, etc. However, although all high schools were closed and became work from home, all other schools and kindergartens remain open. Mask wearing is compulsory in the upper schools (years 7-9, ages 13-15) at all times except lunch, but not in the lower schools or kindergartens. This situation is in force until at least 18.1 (my guess is that it'll be extended), schools re-start this Thursday. Although I have heard of teachers and pupils having contracted the virus, I am not aware of this being anywhere near a widespread problem.

What all of this means in terms of the spread of COVID-19 in this area is almost impossible to assess. For certain, headline figures are down which makes the situation look promising if not good, but the amount of testing done is way down due to the holiday period. Only when the level of testing is back up to pre-Christmas numbers will we be able to see a clearer picture.

[Balderdasha]

India is the third country to officially reach a death toll of more than 150,000 deaths from Covid-19, after the USA and Brazil.

I say officially because data from Russia last week suggests that it has also exceeded 150,000 deaths, but its official data (which only includes cases where Covid-19 was officially recorded as the cause of death on the death certificate) is still fewer than 60,000 deaths.

[Balderdasha]

Spain is the tenth country to have recorded over 50,000 deaths due to Covid-19.

[Balderdasha]

South Africa is the first African country to have recorded over 30,000 deaths.

As a reminder, Africa as a whole has still only recorded just over 68,000 deaths, fewer than either Italy or the UK.

[Balderdasha]

Hungary has reached over 10,000 deaths, and recorded nearly 330,000 cases.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

I got offloaded from my flight to Tanzania via Amsterdam this morning. Although I had a printed copy of our negative test result from Saturday, it wasn't accepted by the airline, as it didn't say 'PCR' on it, although it is common knowledge that the NHS tests are PCR tests. Apparently - and I honestly didn't know this - all travellers are to undergo private tests, which cost between ?100 and ?250 each, depending on how soon the results are needed. So we have to go back to the testing centre in Manchester airport tomorrow (it's about an hour's drive) get tested, hope the results come through in time (they say within 48 hours) and hopefully fly out early Saturday morning.

Someone's making a lot of money out of this private testing malarkey.

[Nefertiti2]

https://twitter.com/paulbranditv/status/1346503869698859010?s=21

[ursus arctos]

That sucks, VT, but is emblematic of what appears to be a completely inconsistent approach being taken by individual airlines, airports and even individuals.

If only there was some kind of multi-national organisation through which to co-ordinate such things.

[S. aureus]

I got offloaded from my flight to Tanzania via Amsterdam this morning. Although I had a printed copy of our negative test result from Saturday, it wasn't accepted by the airline, as it didn't say 'PCR' on it, although it is common knowledge that the NHS tests are PCR tests. Apparently - and I honestly didn't know this - all travellers are to undergo private tests, which cost between ?100 and ?250 each, depending on how soon the results are needed. So we have to go back to the testing centre in Manchester airport tomorrow (it's about an hour's drive) get tested, hope the results come through in time (they say within 48 hours) and hopefully fly out early Saturday morning.

Someone's making a lot of money out of this private testing malarkey.

That's a complete pain, and an obvious scam (the requiring private testing part). What are the requirements for isolation/quarantining when you arrive in Tanzania?

[Patrick Thistle]

Tbf this isn't a terrible idea. Not sure how much warning the Beeb got before it was announced

https://twitter.com/kateferguson4/status/1346506345839779850?s=19

[Gangster Octopus]

Eh? I thought that the Tories were trying to get rid of the BBC.

[Kowalski]

Meanwhile...

https://twitter.com/emilyytayylor/status/1345915679011086336

A later tweet in the thread shows a woman yelling at the COVIDiots about her dad being in the hospital with COVID. One of the anti-maskers yells back "People die, that's life. Your dad isn't special."

We have one person dying from COVID every 15 minutes in the county.

The person that shouts "People die, that's life. Your dad isn't special." is the clown from the first clip.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

That's a complete pain, and an obvious scam (the requiring private testing part). What are the requirements for isolation/quarantining when you arrive in Tanzania?

No serious control requirements in Tanzania.I'll get a temperature read out at arrivals and they will take my contact and address details. My daughter will have to isolate for three days before going back to school.