Coronavirus- All schools to close? [MOD NOTE POST 346

Paulramone66

Is it only a matter of time before all schoolc close?

deiseindublin

I don't know, it seems to be a case of staying open unless there's a confirmed case, and then what?
Can't really stay closed for a few months.

i57dwun4yb1pt8

Paulramone66 wrote: »

Is it only a matter of time before all schoolc close?

its 'schools' - please try harder Teech

Dave0301

Xander Thoughtless Stopwatch wrote: »

its 'schools' - please try harder Teech

Should that not be "it is" or "it's"

Anyway, I would suspect that schools in Ireland and the UK will close like other countries, if there are thousands of cases.

Treppen

Anyone got any structures / plans in place if we have to work from home?

Skype and all that!

wirelessdude01

Personally think that if it expands the way I think it will then they will try and keep them open until after Paddy's Day and then roll a two week closure into the Easter break.

Now all that could be brought forward if things get bad very quickly.

Alex86Eire

We were told to make sure all of our exam classes are on google classroom just in case the school closes in the next week or two.

greenttc

Treppen wrote: »

Anyone got any structures / plans in place if we have to work from home?

Skype and all that!

Also Interested in hearing about what contingency plans schools have in place

blackbox

They could bring forward the summer holidays and restart in July if all clear.

Important that kids don't end up with reduced education.

Cash_Q

Our principal is asking us to prepare work packs to be sent home in the event of a closure. I teach in a special school and it can be hard enough to get them working in school, unlikely many parents will be able to get their children to do a lot of the work but we'll be covered I suppose. Some of the other teachers are setting up the children on Studyladder but my class aren't really at that level yet.

Treppen

So if you do work from home every day you're off....

And then told to make up the days at a later stage!

boege

Local university here has issued instruction to unit/dept managers to prepare contingency plans for partial or full close down. Was sent at 5pm today which is a little surprising.

deiseindublin

I'm laughing at the LLS panel telling school not to panic because U18s not in any danger, what about the fekin teachers? :rolleyes: Not many of those U18 I'd be thinking.

rom

blackbox wrote: »

They could bring forward the summer holidays and restart in July if all clear.

Important that kids don't end up with reduced education.

They could but they can't. The standardisation of the school year does not allow this to happen.

joebloggs32

I reckon they might **** us down a week early for easter and hope a 3 week lockdown might work if things are getting bad.
Told my exam classes to make sure to have Teams app downloaded.

Ikozma

Whats the point in closing schools when parents are in and out to work every day, it makes no sense

valor rorghulis

They've set a precedent with the school in "the east"

So surely once a teenager in any school has it they will need to then shut down their school.

Its going to be here in large numbers in the next few weeks, so yes, the schools will be shutting down

YFlyer

As long as everyone self isolate and not head off on holidays.

Millem

blackbox wrote: »

They could bring forward the summer holidays and restart in July if all clear.

Important that kids don't end up with reduced education.

Can’t see that happening. As it stands the circular in place for school holidays basically says....looks a few days at Easter (3 days).

We had been told previously (with regard to weather) keep exam years until the end of May, cancel Sport’s Day and limit or cancel summer tests for non exam years.

Our teachers have devices and use Microsoft a lot so in my own case I use ‘teams’ with my classes, ‘one note’ etc. My exam groups will be fine as will can send work over and back. At this stage the majority of the work is done.

In my OH’s case he also received the email another poster mentioned re Universities. All staff must bring their devices home every evening now and make sure they have everything uploaded that they need.

mr_fegelien

Does anyone think this is all a bit mad? I mean the virus has a 2% mortality rate and that's in the elderly/those with weakened immune systems. As a doctor said on RTE, kids will recover quite well.

Treppen

mr_fegelien wrote: »

Does anyone think this is all a bit mad? I mean the virus has a 2% mortality rate and that's in the elderly/those with weakened immune systems. As a doctor said on RTE, kids will recover quite well.

If you had one carrier going into a school every day for 2 weeks I think there's a chance they could pass it on to at least one more. Then that carrier goes undetected for another 2 weeks while spreading. Possibly with siblings going to other schools.

We've 3 students with compromised immune systems and teachers who are pregnant.

It's more about prevention from spreading at the start than mortality at the end.

poster2525

mr_fegelien wrote: »

Does anyone think this is all a bit mad? I mean the virus has a 2% mortality rate and that's in the elderly/those with weakened immune systems. As a doctor said on RTE, kids will recover quite well.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Of the 'currently infected cases' 15% are serious or critical. That's a lot of beds and a lot of oxygen needed.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

blackbox wrote: »

They could bring forward the summer holidays and restart in July if all clear.

Important that kids don't end up with reduced education.

Not much point if you can't actually go on a holiday. In any case, I'd imagine plenty of families have made bookings by this stage.

drunkmonkey

mr_fegelien wrote: »

Does anyone think this is all a bit mad? I mean the virus has a 2% mortality rate and that's in the elderly/those with weakened immune systems. As a doctor said on RTE, kids will recover quite well.

We've huge numbers of people with diabetes, cystic fibrosis, heart disease and a host of other medical issues. These people are of all ages and over half a million of them. That's a lot of people who could wind up in ICU.
Saying it's just the elderly and people with weakened immune system dums down the huge threat this is.

CraftySue

mr_fegelien wrote: »

Does anyone think this is all a bit mad? I mean the virus has a 2% mortality rate and that's in the elderly/those with weakened immune systems. As a doctor said on RTE, kids will recover quite well.

Rate is 3.4 %, in Italy it's 4%, I know people are saying Italy has an older population, but so does China. If it's believed that Iran, China etc didn't give true death totals then Italy's rate may be more accurate. In addition, 15% of active cases are severe to critical, we have to question our ability to deal with those numbers in our healthcare system.

Bobtheman

Schools will close . It's inevitable. I think it will happen in April.
The Government has a conundrum over Paddy's day parades. Seemingly the virus is not that dangerous in outside air but I think its cancellation is inevitable.
The sooner they announce this the better

wirelessdude01

Bobtheman wrote: »

Schools will close . It's inevitable. I think it will happen in April.
The Government has a conundrum over Paddy's day parades. Seemingly the virus is not that dangerous in outside air but I think its cancellation is inevitable.
The sooner they announce this the better

Schools are shut from April 3rd anyway for Easter. Personally think they will also be shut for the two weeks prior to this as well.

Millem

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Schools are shut from April 3rd anyway for Easter. Personally think they will also be shut for the two weeks prior to this as well.

Me too....they are the two weeks for the JC home ec practicals!!!
There is an emergency extra week of practicals the week we come back. This is because the SEC do not have enough examiners.

KWAG2019

Individual schools may be hit in the next two weeks. That will create problems for them but not system wide. After that it depends on whether the numbers infected begin to skyrocket and the health service is going to be overwhelmed. They will try to stagger to Easter for exam purposes etc. I see some wise heads here looking at technological supports and the next few weeks could be usefully spent establishing these and testing them for LC classes in particular.

It's really touch and go about which way the numbers go. Absolutely insist on hygiene practices and obviously cancel foreign travel.

JoeFritzl

It's only a flu, why would we close the schools over this when they've always been open during flu season.

Bobtheman

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Schools are shut from April 3rd anyway for Easter. Personally think they will also be shut for the two weeks prior to this as well.

Yes I see this as the most pragmatic thing to do

RealJohn

blackbox wrote: »

They could bring forward the summer holidays and restart in July if all clear.

Important that kids don't end up with reduced education.

Teaching during July would make an awful mess of the exam marking, given that most of it happens in July, or at least partially in July. Putting the exams back probably isn’t an option either, since that would delay the start of the college year.

Also, I can’t speak for other schools, but if we closed, and then reopened in July, we’d get about 50% of students back.

rainbowtrout

Opening in the summer won't happen. It's not part of teachers' contracts, it interferes with the marking of the LC and JC which is dependent on teachers working in July.

While Ireland is in the early stages of coronavirus I don't think it will lead to a complete shutdown. Italy is a bit nuts but that's because nothing was really done about the initial cases that arose and the virus spread. All of Ireland's cases are related to travel to Italy and those that have it have been in contact with those who have been in Italy. Without travel to Italy over midterm break this country would be coronavirus free, as would many European countries I imagine.

I know only too well that cases can increase exponentially, but people are hyper vigilant at this stage. We've had fair warning (despite the decisions of the HSE/Government). The numbers will increase but I don't think we're going to see thousands of cases.

Granted China being communist and all can put a halt to people's movement fairly easily, but they have had 80,000 cases in a population of 1.5 billion. And the numbers are dropping every day. Today they've only had about 50. We are aware of how it's transmitted, the symptoms and what we can do to reduce the risk. So while we are seeing and hearing a little daftness in people buying industrial quantities of toilet roll and hand sanitizer, people have been taking precautions.

Millem

RealJohn wrote: »

Teaching during July would make an awful mess of the exam marking, given that most of it happens in July, or at least partially in July. Putting the exams back probably isn’t an option either, since that would delay the start of the college year.

Also, I can’t speak for other schools, but if we closed, and then reopened in July, we’d get about 50% of students back.

And 50% of the teachers too!!!!!!

Millem

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Opening in the summer won't happen. It's not part of teachers' contracts, it interferes with the marking of the LC and JC which is dependent on teachers working in July.

While Ireland is in the early stages of coronavirus I don't think it will lead to a complete shutdown. Italy is a bit nuts but that's because nothing was really done about the initial cases that arose and the virus spread. All of Ireland's cases are related to travel to Italy and those that have it have been in contact with those who have been in Italy. Without travel to Italy over midterm break this country would be coronavirus free, as would many European countries I imagine.

I know only too well that cases can increase exponentially, but people are hyper vigilant at this stage. We've had fair warning (despite the decisions of the HSE/Government). The numbers will increase but I don't think we're going to see thousands of cases.

Granted China being communist and all can put a halt to people's movement fairly easily, but they have had 80,000 cases in a population of 1.5 billion. And the numbers are dropping every day. Today they've only had about 50. We are aware of how it's transmitted, the symptoms and what we can do to reduce the risk. So while we are seeing and hearing a little daftness in people buying industrial quantities of toilet roll and hand sanitizer, people have been taking precautions.

We are in the stage now where people who have not travelled have been infected.

STB.

Millem wrote: »

We are in the stage now where people who have not travelled have been infected.

We are also at the stage whereby some schools are and were traveling to Italy on skiing trips. That'll certainly increase the numbers when they come back. If indeed they get back!

The HSE have made a dogs dinner of it. Instead of learning from the Italians mistake, we sat on our hands.

rainbowtrout

Millem wrote: »

We are in the stage now where people who have not travelled have been infected.

Yes, and the numbers will rise because some of the people who travelled didn't self isolate etc, etc. But they will fall again. There are 200-500 deaths in Ireland each year from flu and no one bats an eyelid. Over 100 students were out sick for two weeks in my school (about a quarter of the school) with the horrible flu that was going around before Christmas and I'm sure other schools were similar and we got over it.

Germany has had 1040 cases identified up until today and so far no deaths. We are also a rural population which may actually help in this case in comparison to other European countries. Cases so far have been limited to three counties.

rainbowtrout

STB. wrote: »

We are also at the stage whereby some schools are and were traveling to Italy on skiing trips. That'll certainly increase the numbers when they come back. If indeed they get back!

The HSE have made a dogs dinner of it. Instead of learning from the Italians mistake, we sat on our hands.

A lot of schools would have travelled at midterm break so if they have coronavirus the symptoms would be showing by now. Many other schools have cancelled their trips and northern Italy has been quarantined by the Italian government since yesterday. So realistically that will probably mean cancellation of any pending school tour groups to the region.

STB.

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Yes, and the numbers will rise because some of the people who travelled didn't self isolate etc, etc. But they will fall again. There are 200-500 deaths in Ireland each year from flu and no one bats an eyelid. Over 100 students were out sick for two weeks in my school (about a quarter of the school) with the horrible flu that was going around before Christmas and I'm sure other schools were similar and we got over it.

Germany has had 1040 cases identified up until today and so far no deaths. We are also a rural population which may actually help in this case in comparison to other European countries. Cases so far have been limited to three counties.

Are you for real.

The coronavirus is nothing like the flu. Read that again and keep reading it.

Experts are now saying its not going to disappear when the summer arrives. Its a pandemic and its endemic. Its not going away. There are no drug available to treat it.

Once it hits the breeding grounds that are schools, then it will get out of control. There are cases that cannot be traced to Italy/China meaning its already in communities.

Rural lol. I don't know what your local hospital is like, but mine is already creaking under everyday use. I doubt they are ready for a pandemic.

rainbowtrout wrote: »

A lot of schools would have travelled at midterm break so if they have coronavirus the symptoms would be showing by now. Many other schools have cancelled their trips and northern Italy has been quarantined by the Italian government since yesterday. So realistically that will probably mean cancellation of any pending school tour groups to the region.

As of last week there were and are schools continuing with their skiing trips in Northern Italy. Because no one told them they couldn't. General cop on didn't seem to come into it, at parent or school level.

endacl

Paulramone66 wrote: »

Is it only a matter of time before all schoolc close?

First week of June for us.

Millem

STB. wrote: »

We are also at the stage whereby some schools are and were traveling to Italy on skiing trips. That'll certainly increase the numbers when they come back. If indeed they get back!

The HSE have made a dogs dinner of it. Instead of learning from the Italians mistake, we sat on our hands.

I totally agree with you! Bonkers....all group travel should be banned. I heard on Joe Duffy the reason why the trips were going ahead was because they couldn’t get their money back.

Treppen

JoeFritzl wrote: »

It's only a flu, why would we close the schools over this when they've always been open during flu season.

Flu is a vague term. There are mild ones, and ones that'll kill ya (Spanish flu killed 50 million).

It's not gonna kill most but it's not the kind of flu you want to spread... Plus ...flu mutates. Ya probably don't want a mutation incident either.

sullivlo

Millem wrote: »

I totally agree with you! Bonkers....all group travel should be banned. I heard on Joe Duffy the reason why the trips were going ahead was because they couldn’t get their money back.

My cousins school are due to go to Italy over Easter. They have cancelled it, but have been told that they will only get about 40% of the money spent back. Whether that will change with the new travel advisories I’m not sure, but the trip will not be going ahead.

Millem

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Yes, and the numbers will rise because some of the people who travelled didn't self isolate etc, etc. But they will fall again. There are 200-500 deaths in Ireland each year from flu and no one bats an eyelid. Over 100 students were out sick for two weeks in my school (about a quarter of the school) with the horrible flu that was going around before Christmas and I'm sure other schools were similar and we got over it.

Germany has had 1040 cases identified up until today and so far no deaths. We are also a rural population which may actually help in this case in comparison to other European countries. Cases so far have been limited to three counties.

I hear you re the flu. I got my flu vaccine during mid term. I am more cautious of the coronavirus because I am pregnant. It is fear of the unknown for me....I know It won’t kill me but don’t know the effects it would have on the baby.

If I hear a sniff of anyone in my school having it I will not be going in.

daheff

JoeFritzl wrote: »

It's only a flu, why would we close the schools over this when they've always been open during flu season.

Because
A) it's more contagious than normal flu
there are more serious side effects than normal flu. Couple this with A above and you have too many people in hospital together needing scarce ICU beds/resources at the same time.
C) Mortality rate is higher than normal flu. Add this to A+B above and you have a serious potential problem
D) Normal flu has a vaccine which can be given to at risk groups, bringing down mortality rate. There isn't a vaccine for this flu.

Schools have potential to be a petri dish where students can bring in and spread the illness to a wide cross section of society....their family, grandparents who do school drop off/pick up/ teachers etc.

Computer Science Student

The problem with closing them is that there will not be a valid reason to reopen them anytime soon. So I believe they will wait until we reach a crisis level similar to Italy right now before they take those actions unfortunately.

r93kaey5p2izun

There are schools away on trips to Northern Italy as we speak. Totally irresponsible of them to have travelled, and absolutely reckless of parents to have sent their children. All school trips abroad should be stopped now by DES.

I think we may see widespread closures coming up to Easter. I'm very glad I'm not in a school every day anymore, where hygiene is appalling. And I have cancelled two weeks subbing I'm due to start on the 16th on the advice of my GP.

Millem

Joziah Few Butter wrote: »

There are schools away on trips to Northern Italy as we speak. Totally irresponsible of them to have travelled, and absolutely reckless of parents to have sent their children. All school trips abroad should be stopped now by DES.

I think we may see widespread closures coming up to Easter. I'm very glad I'm not in a school every day anymore, where hygiene is appalling. And I have cancelled two weeks subbing I'm due to start on the 16th on the advice of my GP.

Oh stop the hygiene in my place is beyond a joke at this stage. Lucky I am not in there every day.
I even bought washing up liquid for the staff room in the hope It might limit germs spreading.

STB.

sullivlo wrote: »

My cousins school are due to go to Italy over Easter. They have cancelled it, but have been told that they will only get about 40% of the money spent back. Whether that will change with the new travel advisories I’m not sure, but the trip will not be going ahead.

The question still has to be asked as to why some schools were up until the last few days ignoring all the information coming out of Italy.

Their cases shot up 50% in 24 hours a week or so ago, and its still going up and up.

They are now approaching the 8000 cases mark.

Their death toll rose from 133 to 366, in ONE day. Much like Ireland they were of the "sure it'll be grand" attitude. No chance of containment for them now.

Treppen

Millem wrote: »

I hear you re the flu. I got my flu vaccine during mid term. I am more cautious of the coronavirus because I am pregnant. It is fear of the unknown for me....I know It won’t kill me but don’t know the effects it would have on the baby.

If I hear a sniff of anyone in my school having it I will not be going in.

Missus caught swine flu from me a week before she went into labour. Worked out ok after 3 months subsequently, but baby had serious respiratory problems as soon as he came out! Twas touch and go at times.

I definitely caught it from a student who was forced to go to school by parents… student was fainting/delirious/sweating etc, each day the parents (both working in medicine!) refused to collect and insisted on dropping him off every morning.

rainbowtrout

STB. wrote: »

Are you for real.

The coronavirus is nothing like the flu. Read that again and keep reading it.

Experts are now saying its not going to disappear when the summer arrives. Its a pandemic and its endemic. Its not going away. There are no drug available to treat it.

Once it hits the breeding grounds that are schools, then it will get out of control. There are cases that cannot be traced to Italy/China meaning its already in communities.

Rural lol. I don't know what your local hospital is like, but mine is already creaking under everyday use. I doubt they are ready for a pandemic.



As of last week there were and are schools continuing with their skiing trips in Northern Italy. Because no one told them they couldn't. General cop on didn't seem to come into it, at parent or school level.

I never said it was like the flu. I was comparing them in terms of infection rates.

The vast majority of people who have died from coronavirus already had underlying health issues. There are probably going to be people in Ireland who die from coronavirus but for the vast majority it will effect them much like the flu does, they will be dosed for a week or two and then go back to normal. Many of those will remain at home for two weeks and not be admitted to hospital unless they have underlying health conditions or their symptoms worsen.

We didn't need experts to tell us that it won't disappear with the summer, the dogs on the street could have told you that. The fact that it had infected people in vastly different parts of the world, experiencing different climates and seasons would have told you that.

Cases that aren't traced to Italy/China are called community transmission, it means they have been in contact with someone who caught it from someone who was in one of those places, mainly Italy in this case.

Note: the first case of coronavirus was detected in China in December. There are direct flights to China from Ireland, yet we didn't get any until we had people travelling to Italy for the midterm break/school tour season.

Don't know why you are laughing at the rural comment, we have the lowest population density in Europe and are heavily reliant on cars for transport. We don't have the same mass transit set ups that other European/Asian countries have. Ever tried driving around Galway at 8:30 on a weekday morning?