Schools to close again.. Covid

What leave am I entitled to if I have covid? Do they require a positive PCR cert? I have a few positive antigens today but getting a PCR result before Thursday is unlikely.

Also, my kids are required to do 14 days (10 if negative PCR on day 10 - again, will be difficult to get these tests), I’m out after 10, is there leave available for minding my kids for the remaining 4 days?

What is the best course of action here?

All help appreciated.

You'd better get in quick so and book the Computer room if the once a week email from home option is ruled out for you this January.

So you think there should be a level 5 lockdown if schools are short-staffed?

Ah but it’s people getting out and then going back after the break because they’d be bored at home didn’t you know?

It doesn’t matter anyway as the ICU number is the only game in town and even that doesn’t matter because they were all going to kick it eventually anyway.

Let it rip. But those godforsaken unions will scream blue murder and deny the childer an education for who knows how long.

Where did you pull those figures out of? They are completely innacurate.

There was 682 in hospital on Nov 28.

By mid December it was still over 400.

The lowest number on xmas eve occured as the hospitals thmeselves had reduced overall occupancy for the festive period by finishing up electives. With fewer patients on site there is a lower chance of in house infection. In the last 24 bours discharges of covid patients were twice that of new arrivals, however hosipatal detected (ie patients in for something else) meant that a potential fall of over 60 in total was reduced to 10.

What is telling though is that ICU case numbers are down about 20% from about a month ago despite the tsunami of Omicron cases.

Between boosters/vaccines and natural immunity along with Omicron as opposed to Alpha & Delta we are nowhere near where we were 12 months ago. We need to go back to school and get on with teaching.

I’m baffled that anyone can find certainty in these times. I think there is doubt about everything at the minute in relation to schools. As someone above said, I’ll believe I’m back when I’m standing in my classroom on Thursday morning.

Yeah. The best teaching is not firing off one email a week you'd surely agree?

Regardless of the effects of covid on children and anyone they come in contact with, if the basic premise that you are to isolate if you test postive from PCR/antigen test, there will be a proportion of those 20K+ cases a day who are teachers. If there are enough teachers absent in a school next week where the school cannot stay open due to sub shortages, schools will send year groups home or close. It will be largely irrelevant how many children attend, if there aren't enough teachers present to teach/supervise, then the school will shut regardless of what NPHET/Dept of Health/Dept of Education say.

My school was spread very thin in December for cover with teachers out. All extra curricular activities were cancelled as we couldn't provide cover for those teachers and those that were absent due to covid. We have a number of student teachers and they are flat to the mat covering classes.