Parents set to Covid test their children to help schools reopen
PLAN WILL SEE SECONDARY PUPILS TESTED AT HOME
PARENTS will be told to test their children twice a week for coronavirus so schools can fully reopen, reports say.
The plan will see all secondary school students tested at home, as part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to for a phased return to school, according to the Telegraph.
It means school staff will only be expected to administer a single test of all pupils when they return at the start of term, and the responsibility will then be given to parents to continue at home.
All schools in England are expected to reopen to all pupils on March 8, followed by non-essential shops and then the hospitality sector, however, so far, the conditions for reopening schools have not been made public.
Boris Johnson is now expected to make the announcement about home testing during his proposal for easing lockdown on Monday.
He is also expected to say secondary schools will be allowed to stagger the return of year groups to allow staff to test pupils on arrival at the start of term.
It could take some larger schools up to two weeks to get all pupils back to lessons, education sources told the Telegraph.
It is also expected Boris Johnson will make it compulsory for secondary school students to wear masks whenever they’re not within their classroom bubble – for example in corridors. Previously, it was up to individual schools to decide on mask use.
Care Minister Helen Whately said plans for school testing were a “work in progress”.
“There is work being done to look at how testing will help schools come back,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme yesterday.
“But there will be more details set out about that next week.”
Covid infections have fallen by two-thirds in a month in England but the virus is still spreading at the fastest pace among primaryage children and young people according to new research.
Boris Johnson is awaiting new data on the effects of vaccines on coronavirus after stressing he will take a “cautious and prudent approach” to easing England’s restrictions.
He is understood to be expecting updated evidence of jabs’ effect on hospital admissions and deaths to be with him by the today, ahead of setting out his “road map” next week.