Guardian claim that Whitty opposes return to classroom is ‘total fantasy’

MEDIA reports that England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty objected to the Prime Minister’s plans to reopen classrooms were last night dismissed by Downing Street as ‘total fantasy’.

The Guardian newspaper had reported that Professor Whitty had been reluctant to put his name to a public show of support this week for Boris Johnson’s ‘big bang’ plan for schools – a claim flatly rejected by a No 10 insider.

Education sources were reported to have told the newspaper that Prof Whitty was ‘very unhappy’ with proposals for all ten million children and staff to return to schools in England on March 8. But the

Department of Health insisted the Chief Medical Officer had no reservations about the plan, while sources close to the Prime Minister also dismissed rumours of tension over the move.

A Downing Street source said advice given by members of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies – on which Prof Whitty sits – over the Prime Minister’s plans for lifting lockdown conditions would be published ‘after the event’.

The source added: ‘The Prime Minister is determined to get schools back. He wants pupils to be back, and the Department for Education are working on a plan for how we do that safely.’

THE risk of becoming infected with Covid while socialising outdoors is ‘much, much lower’ than doing the same indoors, say leading scientists.

Even the slightest breeze will radically cut the chance of receiving an infectious dose from a nearby diner, as the air movement will prevent build- up of Sars-Cov-2 particles.

What’s more, the paucity of infections believed to have taken place outside adds to the fact the infection risk in open air is likely to be very low indeed, they say.

But transmission could still occur if people are sitting at the same outside table, they caution.

Explaining why infection risks are far lower outdoors than in, ventilation expert Dr Shaun Fitzgerald, director of the Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge University, said: ‘The biggest factor is the much, much lower level of concentration of virus particles that you would be subjected to in an outdoor setting.

‘Fresh air effectively carries the virus away.’

This dilution makes ‘a huge difference as evidence shows people are able to fend off infection if they are exposed to a low dose’.

But Dr Fitzgerald stressed the importance of keeping a distance in face-to-face outdoor settings to avoid larger droplets.