Decision on school bubbles in Wales ‘by end of term’

THE Welsh Government says it wants parents to know before the end of this school term whether contact bubbles will be retained or scrapped by September.

Health Minister Eluned Morgan said a lot of work was going on behind the scenes to assess what Covid measures should remain into the next school year, including whether face masks should be retained in communal areas.

Last week the UK Government’s Education Secretary Gavin Williamson stated that England was set to get rid of contact bubbles within weeks as part of their full easing of lockdown measures from Monday, July 19.

Mr Williamson added that it would help schools in England to put on activities such as summer camps over the holiday period.

Speaking last week, he told MPs: “We expect to be able to confirm plans to lift restrictions and bubbles as part of step four. Once that decision has been made we will issue guidance immediately to schools.”

Contact bubbles are in place to keep pupils and teachers in groups, to minimise mixing and help limit the spread of coronavirus. However, it has led to entire year groups being sent home due to being considered close contact with infected pupils. It has lead to the number of school pupils absent due to Covid in Wales to jump by almost half in a week.

Currently, students have to selfisolate for 10 days if someone in their school bubble tests positive for Covid.

When asked whether the Welsh Government would follow England in scrapping such measures, Baroness Morgan said yesterday: “What we will do in Wales will be appropriate for Wales and we won’t be following necessarily what they do in England.

“If they have a good idea then we will be more than happy to follow it, but it will be up to the Welsh Education Minister to determine how that works out.

“I know he’s working incredibly hard at the moment to try and get some thoughts in place around these issues ideally before the end of term so that people will know what they are coming back to in September.

“I know there’s a huge amount of work being done around that at the moment and to the extent that we use Test, Trace and Protect but also in terms of face masks.

“Those decisions will be made in the forthcoming weeks so that people will know what they are coming back to in September.”

Latest figures from Public Health Wales show that the seven-day Covid infection rate has risen to 95.6 cases per 100,000 population, with seven local authorities now reporting above 100 cases. But this is not translating to a huge increase in hospital admissions.