I was heartened to read this about covid.

The lies and damned lies are usually uttered by people who don't understand statistics or people who who try to abuse and distort statistics for their own end.

Donald Trump is an example of both.

I work in a care home in England and we were having weekly Covid 19 tests until last week when PHE told us to stop for now the restart the testing in September. This is because a lot of tests sent to care homes were faulty and needed to be withdrawn. They were shown to give a false negative result. I’m of the opinion that this problem with the tests and the decision to stop testing in care homes in England provides the lower positive care results.

Oh dear, Pinkarolina. That's a bit worrying.

29% of swab tests on infected people produce a false negative result.

Therefore, the only logical way to behave around people who aren't isolating is to presume that they are infected.

That's what happens in medical environments.

When schools go back in September, every single pupil should be seen as a potential carrier. They won't show symptoms for a couple of days and many of the younger ones are asymptomatic anyway, but nobody's 100% sure whether they can transmit infection. There will be no social distancing in schools and they're not advised to wear masks. Even in "bubbles" they're going to be in close contact with 30 others (fewer in private schools). Any one of those others could be infected. In a large secondary school, it would be amazing if a few aren't infected at any one time. I'm afraid I see a disaster in the making.

I've read recently that there is no known case worldwide of a child passing The Virus on to a teacher in school. I'll see if I can fond where it was....

*find

Here's one link, to the Pasteur Institute in France. This must be one of the places where the information I saw came from.

And this is from The Lancet.

At the moment, children aren't being taught in full classrooms with no social distancing, so the theory hasn't really been tested. It has also been reported that older children, who currently have generally not been at school, spread infection in the same way as adults.

In September, pupils will be sitting about a metre away from other children for 5/6 hours a day. Nobody actually knows whether they can spread it amongst themselves and take the infection home.

It's like playing Russian roulette and, personally, I wouldn't want to play.

The Lancet article confirms that infection rates amongst secondary age pupils are high. It also confirms that there was some transmission from younger pupils. Lastly, it points out that mitigation measures were in place to prevent further infection and emphasises that there must be effective Test, Track and Isolate, which the UK doesn't have.

Parents hoping to go back to work need to be prepared for schools' closing at short notice and whole families being in quarantine.

Are school teachers more likely than most to be carriers?

One thing I do know for sure is: if we carry on like this we are well and truely stuffed.

Here's another link, published two days ago:

www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/children-and-school-settings-covid-19-transmission

While transmission is likely to be low, it does still occur, and depends on social distancing, which will not be possible in UK schools.

I stand by my unwillingness to go anywhere near a child who has been attending school. It would be up to others whether they want to take the risk.

whole families being in quarantine
Why is that necessary? If a child us sent home with all the year group plus teacher to be quarantined for 14 days because another pupil has the virus, then mum or dad and siblings could surely continue going to work and school?

Alexa

Are school teachers more likely than most to be carriers?

I don't see why they should be more or less likely. Schools have been told that they must be kept two metres away from pupils, but I don't see how that's going to be possible, especially for teaching assistants.

Ellianne

^whole families being in quarantine^
Why is that necessary? If a child us sent home with all the year group plus teacher to be quarantined for 14 days because another pupil has the virus, then mum or dad and siblings could surely continue going to work and school?

I said that they need to be prepared. It's possible that a child could become infected from another child, in which case the family will need to quarantine.

If a young child is placed in quarantine, presumably one parent will need to be at home and maybe not able to work anyway.

I guess so, if that's how it works. It will be pretty disruptive for working parents of younger children. I don't know the answer, but as a grandparent I think many will seriously have to consider helping out with childcare.

I think hand washing and sanitizer is so important still

Don’t see why we should ever give up on the hand washing as it is basic hygiene and can stop other viruses spreading as well such as flu and gastroenteritis.

Good to read a positive take on things and the writer may be right but for now I prefer to err on the side of caution, hand washing, no face touching, mixing with as few as possible, not gathering in crowds, social distancing wherever possible and mask wearing where appropriate.

Our local hospital which is used by a very very large area (2 counties)has had no cases throughout July/Aug
Most of the time I have forgotten about the lockdown I ve been swimming and on the beach we have a big beach and everyone is in their own small groups but having a good time in the fresh air
The sea is beautiful not at all cold

Ellianne

I guess so, if that's how it works. It will be pretty disruptive for working parents of younger children. I don't know the answer, but as a grandparent I think many will seriously have to consider helping out with childcare.

The government have had their heads in the sand for months about this. It's why they should have worked with local health authorities and got an efficient test, track and isolate system in place. It would have, in my opinion, been better to aim for a blended face to face/online offering, which would have made social distancing possible.

It's quite likely that a child will be sent home form school because somebody in the class has tested positive. The child will need to be tested and the results awaited. Until it's known for a certainty that the child is negative, anybody would be at risk of catching an infection from the child. A grandparent, unless living with the family, would be an extra risk. It's also possible that the grandparent him/herself would be at greater risk. Many parents don't have family to help out anyway. The risk might be low, but it will happen. That's what I meant by Russian roulette.

BlueBelle

Our local hospital which is used by a very very large area (2 counties)has had no cases throughout July/Aug
Most of the time I have forgotten about the lockdown I ve been swimming and on the beach we have a big beach and everyone is in their own small groups but having a good time in the fresh air
The sea is beautiful not at all cold

How nice! Must be a strange area.

I live in an area where cases and deaths have been about average and there have certainly been hospital deaths in July.