YOUR PICTURE OF THE DAY
Serene morning scene, Hebden Bridge, by Anthony Greenwood
which has contributed to the local lockdown in the city of Leicester.
The scientific basis underpinning the Government’s decision to relax protective measures in schools also needs to be explained, including the decision to expand pupil bubbles to include entire year group cohorts.
It remains essential that teachers with underlying health conditions, including clinically vulnerable and clinically extremely vulnerable staff, are not put at risk as a result of the decisions taken by schools on full reopening.
Employers must also ensure they act responsibly in ensuring that their decisions on full reopening do not further widen racial disparities in Covid-19 transmission and deaths.
Ensuring that schools are kept clean as all pupils return is essential to preventing the spread of the coronavirus, and we will be looking to the Government to provide the additional resources needed to enable all schools to do that.
In every other workplace it is accepted that hand washing, social distancing and PPE are critical elements of Covidsafe working practices. It is essential that the same health and safety expectations are applied in schools as they are in other workplaces.
We welcome that the Government’s guidance for the first time reminds schools of their statutory duties for health and safety. However, the Government also needs to have in place a clear health and safety inspection and enforcement regime to give parents and teachers the reassurance they will need. pavements and parks, and being able to hear birdsong.
All too soon, everything is back to normal with roads full of aggressive drivers, rubbishstrewn pavements, overflowing bins and people flocking to the beaches and ignoring social distancing guidelines.
For some, it appears having a good time is more important than the danger of catching a deadly disease.
‘For some, it appears having a good time is more important that the danger of catching a deadly disease’
HARRY BROOKE