‘Schools must fully reopen – lockdown is harming our kids’
A GP has called for all schools in Wales to be fully reopened before the end of term, saying lockdown is now more of a risk to children’s health and future than Covid-19. GP Dr Rick O’Shea,
pictured below, who works at surgeries in Aberdare, Cardiff and Pembrokeshire, said the initial lockdown of three weeks was reasonable, but after that restrictions should have been lifted.
He said Wales should open schools fully now as well as following England and Scotland, which have announced plans to open schools full-time in September.
Schools in Wales began opening in phases to all pupils on June 29 but some will only return once before the end of term.
“I want schools back full-time now and in September,” said Dr O’Shea, who volunteered to work in Nightingale hospitals to help tackle the coronavirus outbreak.
“If people say it’s not safe I want to see the data and evidence they are using to make that decision.”
He was speaking as parents formed a Welsh branch of a campaign group pressing for full reopening of schools.
Us For Them Cymru, launched by Cardiff mother-of-one Kate Hughes, now has hundreds of followers on social media.
A petition calling on the Welsh Government to fully reopen schools in Wales has also had more than 3,600 signatures and will now be discussed by the petitions committee.
Dr O’Shea said: “We have done the best we can to protect the NHS and now we have to contend with the virus. We are at the point where the balance is wrong.
“I definitely believe that schools should be opened up for all full-time. As a parent I want to know why they are not.”
His comments follow an open letter from hundreds of doctors across the UK and Wales earlier this month to the Whitehall and devolved UK governments calling for “a cast-iron guarantee” that children will be able to return to school full-time in September. The father of eightyearold twin boys said he knows from personal and professional experience that children are being affected socially, emotionally and educationally from lockdown.
“I am not a Covid-19 sceptic or denier of the virus, but after three months we are looking at a very different scenario.
“My main criticism of lockdown, and some of the science, is that a lot of that science has now been challenged as questionable – but that’s the nature of science, everything is evolving.
“I don’t think there’s any science that needs settling on the utility of children going to school and socialising.
“When you say something as fundamental as education is being suspended indefinitely and schools are shut until some undetermined level of safety is achieved, can you share the science that shows we need that?”
He pointed to ONS data showing Covid-19 does not affect children as badly as adults and said there have been fewer than 10 deaths among under-10s from the virus in the UK.
“I believe this is a pathogen that needed to be contended with and still believe that. It exists and has moved through a section of the population.
!I believe healthy working-age people have little to fear from this virus if they don’t have compromised immunity.
“Those who are at risk, or feel at risk, can remain shielded.
“I think we need to restore normality. We know children benefit from nurture, structure and socialising in school.”
Dr O’Shea, a former BBC Scrum V presenter, also said he believed the role of herd immunity has been misunderstood.
“Herd immunity is the only way we can achieve resistance,” he said. “You achieve this by exposure to the virus or a vaccine. We can’t hide forever. A vaccine may be years away.
“I think this should now be a matter of personal choice. You make your own choice and assess risks. This is what we used to do before lockdown.
“The greatest risk to children and teachers is getting in a car and driving to school. You have to contend with this threat.”
And it is not just the closure of schools he is worried about.
Dr O’Shea said both the mental and physical health of adults and children were being affected by lockdown and many are not attending medical appointments for fear of the virus.
“The lockdown is damaging everyone’s health. There are a lot of people in medicine concerned that people are delaying getting treatment.
“As GPs with lockdown in place a lot of our workload seemed to dry up, we adapted to new ways of distanced practice, but it was oddly quiet and so I volunteered for the Nightingale Hospital. We were warned that it was not going to be fun. But, happily, that extra capacity wasn’t required in the end.
“With hindsight that now seems to be the point we should have released lockdown and reinstated individual choice so if people wanted or needed to shield they could have done while the rest of the working population needed, and need, to get moving.”
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “Being able to attend school is very important for children and young people’s well-being. Wales is the only UK nation where all pupils have been given the opportunity to attend school before the summer holidays to see their teachers and classmates and to ‘check in, catch up, and prepare’ for summer and September.
“As we have seen this week thousands of children across Wales have already returned to school.
“As the education minister has made clear she will announce how schools will operate in September once a decision has been made based on the latest health and scientific advice to help keep Wales safe.”