DANGERS OF MISSING SCHOOL
CHILDREN are more at risk of long-term harm if they do not attend school than if they return to the classroom despite coronavirus, the UK’s chief medical officers (CMOs) have warned.
In a joint statement issued ahead of the reopening of schools in Wales, England and Northern Ireland next month – following Scotland, which reopened its schools earlier this month – the advisers, including Wales’ CMO Frank Atherton and deputy CMO Chris Jones, said children have an “exceptionally low risk of dying” from Covid-19.
They said “very few, if any” children and teenagers would come to longterm harm from the virus solely by attending school, while there was a “certainty” of harm from not returning.
The chief and deputy chief medical officers said schools were not a “common route of transmission”, and that teachers were not at any increased risk of dying compared to the general working-age population.
However, they noted that data from UK and international studies suggested transmission in schools may be largely staff to staff rather than pupils to staff.
“This reinforces the need to maintain social distancing and good infection control inside and outside classroom settings, particularly between staff members and between older children and adults,” they said.
The advisers noted that reopening schools has not been usually followed by a surge in Covid-19 transmission but it could push the reproduction rate – the so-called R rate – above one.
If this happened it would require “local action and could mean societal choices” of imposing limitations on different parts of the community, they added.
Signatories to the consensus statement included Dr Atherton as well as England’s Professor Chris Whitty, Scotland’s Dr Gregor Smith and Northern Ireland’s Dr Michael McBride.
In July, Education Minister Kirsty Williams announced schools in Wales will be open for all pupils in September.
All schools sould reopen “if possible” from September 1, the first day of the new term, but they have been given an additional two-week window to fully reopen – up until September 14 – to give headteachers time to prepare or to prioritise key exam year groups for the first fortnight.
She said that children would be grouped together in “contact groups” of around 30 pupils – the size of a primary school class.
Ms Williams said that only limited social distancing would be possible within the contact groups but that adults would be asked to continue to follow social distancing rules.
She said that the mixing of contact groups would be unavoidable on transport, where specialist teaching was involved or where staffing constraints came into play.
Every school in Wales will be provided with a supply of home testing kits in case people at the school develop symptoms.
In their letter, the chief medical officers say: “We are confident that there is clear evidence from many studies that the great majority of children and teenagers who catch Covid-19 have mild symptoms or no symptoms at all.
“There is reasonable, but not yet conclusive, evidence that primary school age children have a significantly lower rate of infection than adults (they are less likely to catch it).
“Evidence that older children and teenagers are at lower risk of catching Covid-19 is mixed. They are either less likely to catch Covid-19 than adults or have the same risk as adults.”
They add: “Our overall consensus is that, compared to adults, children may have a lower risk of catching Covid-19 (lowest in younger children), definitely have a much lower rate of hospitalisation and severe disease, and an exceptionally low risk of dying from Covid-19.
“Very few, if any, children or teenagers will come to long-term harm from Covid-19 due solely to attending school. This has to be set against a certainty of long-term harm to many children and young people from not attending school.”
On Friday, First Minister Mark Drakeford said reopening schools next month will be given “top priority” over easing any further coronavirus regulations in Wales.
He warned that while there are “things we would like to be able to do”, including allowing more groups of people to meet indoors, making sure pupils can return to class is the Welsh Government’s main focus.