Opening classroom windows a little at a time could halt spread of the virus

OPENING some windows a little at a time or opening them between classes could be a good way of reducing the risk of spreading coronavirus in schools, an expert has said.

Professor Tim Sharpe, a member of the Environmental Modelling Group – a sub-group of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) which advises the Government – said good ventilation was a way of helping to get fresh air in to get rid of the virus where it might occur.

Prof Sharpe, from the University of Strathclyde, told BBC Breakfast: “It’s now well established that there is some risk of airborne transmission. It is difficult to quantify, but there is some risk so using ventilation is a really good way of mitigating that.

“It is one of a number of measures which you need to use in parallel, but making sure that spaces are well ventilated is a good way of reducing that risk, of helping to get fresh air in to get rid of the virus where it may occur.”

Professor Andrew Hayward, of University College London’s Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care and the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, said the effort to vaccinate the world was “massively too small” and would have a huge drain on the global economy.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Earlier in the year, the G7 met and came up with a pledge of one billion vaccine donations towards the global vaccination scheme.

“Now that sounds a lot of vaccines, but actually, we need more like 11 billion, so it’s only a small percentage of what is needed to protect the rest of the world.”

He said at the moment 75% of the vaccines that had been distributed around the world had gone to about 10% of the countries, adding that

Africa had only around 2% of their population vaccinated and remained extremely vulnerable.

Prof Hayward said: “This lack of global vaccination coverage will continue to have a huge drain on the global economy.

“It’s estimated that it could cost the global economy somewhere like nine trillion dollars.”

Professor Tim Sharpe said there was a balance to be struck between good ventilation and making sure people were not “freezing cold”.

He told BBC Breakfast: “It doesn’t mean opening all the windows all the time. It’s a managed process and obviously we’re balancing things. We want to get reasonable levels of ventilation, but we don’t want people to be freezing cold, so trying to get that middle ground is something to aim for.

“As I say, it might be things like opening windows a little bit. It might be things like opening the windows a lot in between classes just to kind of flush things through a little bit.

“That could be a useful technique so that people aren’t cold or uncomfortable.”

He said air cleaners could work, but should be an option of last resort in rooms which cannot be ventilated in any other way.