Primaries told: Don’t send pupils home with sniff les
PRIMARY schools should stop sending children home and making them self-isolate when they have the sniffles, leading paediatricians argue.
Writing in the British Medical Journal, they said the ‘ riskaverse’ approach meant children will miss ‘significant quantities of schooling’ over winter.
They urged the Government to relax isolation rules for families with young children and classroom ‘bubbles’, because the damage of missing school outweighed the benefits.
Every winter, young children get between four and eight respiratory infections with flu-like symptoms that could be confused for Covid19, a University of Southamptonled study found. Currently any child with symptoms – as well as those they have been in contact with – has to self- isolate. But the experts warned this could lead to the mass closure of primary schools.
They said primary-age pupils should not be subject to the same rules as those in secondary school because of their lower infection risk. Cases of death or severe illness from Covid-19 among primary school children are almost non-existent.
The doctors said a ‘blanket policy’ for all ages limited parents’ ability to work and siblings’ freedom to attend school. They added: ‘The impact of missed schooling on children’s physical and mental health and educational development during the first wave of the pandemic far outweighed the benefits of shutting schools in a bid to curb the spread of the virus.’ The doctors said there should be no requirement for entire year groups to isolate after a single case at school.
UK Department of Education figures show that in the week of October 22, 600,000 secondary school pupils in England were forced to isolate at home for Covidrelated reasons – nearly a fifth of all students. Only about 10,000 tested positive for Covid.
Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield has spoken of the ‘chaos’ in some schools. She said: ‘Some are sending entire year groups home for a fortnight because a single pupil tests positive for Covid, something that is actually against government guidance.’