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UK PRIME MINISTER Boris Johnson said he has “no doubt” that schools are safe and parents should send primary-age children back to classrooms this week where schools remain open.
Johnson said he understood people’s concerns about children returning for the new term but said education is “a priority”.
Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One, the Johnson said: “Schools are safe. It is very, very important to stress that.
“The risk to kids, to young people is really very, very small indeed.
“The risk to staff is very small.
“I would advise all parents thinking about want to do, look at where your area is, overwhelmingly you’ll be in a part of the country where primary schools tomorrow will be open.”
He added: “I understand people’s frustrations, I understand people’s anxieties but there is no doubt in my mind that schools are safe and that education is a priority.”
Gavin Williamson confirmed on Friday that all London primary schools will remain shut to most pupils next week – rather than just those in certain boroughs as set out earlier in the week – but teaching unions say all schools should close for the next two weeks.
#Marr: Will students' GCSE and A-level exams have to be cancelled this year?
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) January 3, 2021
PM Boris Johnson: "In principle it's a good thing to keep schools open… we've got to be realistic about the pace in which this new variant has spread"#Coronavirus https://t.co/2Q2DldF3ji pic.twitter.com/ym2vOb7H3G
On Saturday evening, the Department for Education said remote learning was “a last resort” and classrooms should reopen “wherever possible” with appropriate safety measures to help mitigate the risk of transmission.
“As we’ve said, we will move to remote education as a last resort, with involvement of public health officials, in areas where infection and pressures on the NHS are highest,” the spokesperson said.
Hundreds of new vaccination sites are due to be up and running this week as the NHS ramps up its immunisation programme with the newly approved Oxford University and AstraZeneca jab.
Some 530,000 doses of the vaccine will be available for rollout across the UK from Monday and more than a million patients have already had their first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine which was the first to be approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
But Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, said: “It is clear that children’s lives cannot just be put on hold while we wait for vaccination programmes to take effect, and for waves of infection to subside.
“We cannot furlough young people’s learning or their wider development. The longer the pandemic continues, the more true this is.”
Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield told the newspaper that schools should be the last to close and first to open, when safe to do so, adding: “I hope, for children and parents’ sake, that is measured in days not weeks and I would be particularly keen for primaries to stay open if at all possible.”
Under the UK government’s initial plan, secondary schools and colleges were set to be closed to most pupils for the first two weeks of January, while primary schools within 50 local authorities in the south of England, including 23 London boroughs, were also told to keep their doors shut until January 18.
Confirmed cases were higher than 50,000 for the fifth day in a row when UK figures were released on Saturday with a record-high of 57,725 lab-confirmed cases and another 445 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.
In Ireland, the Labour Party has called on the National Public Health Emergency Team to carry out a public health risk assessment on reopening schools.
Labour’s education spokesperson, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has said that his preference is that schools open as long as it can be done safely.
Ó Ríordáin welcomed the decision to delay the reopening of schools, but said as the virus is rampant in the community there needed to be an assessment of health risks to staff, students and the wider community.
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What is it with governments saying schools are safe but every other place with gatherings are not, crazy,
@Mick Hannigan: This ☝☝☝ 100% agreed.
@Mick Hannigan: apparently it doesn’t affect kids as much. That’s why
@thomas patrick: except it does affect them and they carry it.
@thomas patrick: Lots of children get picked up or minded by their grandparents. Also, while children might not get affected badly, there are lots of teaching staff who might.
@Mick Hannigan: Plain and simple, this is about childcare for frontline workers.
@thomas patrick: Tell me how can Tony Houlahan can say elderly and vulnerable people who stay at home and not leave house unless essential but in same breath tell me schools are safe? I am vulnerable and have limited contacts as much as possible but have children so I am terrified of them bringing it home from school, what do you genuinely do in these situations? I asked about remote learning and the school ignored me.
@Niamh Brady: To be honest there’s not much the schools could have done on remote learning when teachers were also teaching in the classroom. Schools are already stretched, there are staff shortages and it’s impossible to get subs at the moment. You need to forward these sort of inquiries and concerns to Norma Foley and her department, as does everybody else.
@Bríd: I have contacted her and Stephen Donnelly. Anyway what I mean about remote learning is that the classes in the school go on an normal but online also so students can still be there but without having to attend in person.
@Niamh Brady: At a guess, I think they are trying to do a double approach – self-isolation of our vulnerable and herb immunization for our young. If this is the case, then I wish they would just come out and tell us the truth.
@Niamh Brady: all concerns should be addressed to the school management. The department of education won’t reply or if they do they will tell you to redirect concerns to the management of the school
@Niamh Brady: not addressing the issues why schools need to go back.
@thomas patrick: that’s great and all but there are adults in school also.
@thomas patrick: it doesn’t affect kids when there are 200 cases a day nationally. Are you as confident when there is 5k cases a day?
@Niamh Brady: The schools have been told NOT to provide online tuition, to children such as yours, who may not being sent to school because of living with a vulnerable pool person. A friend is in same position having had treatment since Feb last year (chemotherapy, radiotherapy and operation). Her daughter has to go to school as online will not be provided by order of Dept of Education. Online tuition is allowed for vulnerable children only. There are teachers and students out with covid and if my friend gets covid it is very highly likely she will die. I was thinking she shouldnt send her daughter back this term.
This man is dangerous and playing with public health. I work in a school and I’m terrified of returning given the way the numbers are going.
How can it be that all our communities are in grave danger except in a classroom with 30 children? How can the virus stop at the school door and provide a safe haven for all?
I can put my hand on my heart and tell you that the number of cases in schools is NOT being reported accurately.
@2thFairy: read this and educate yourself
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19/facts/questions-answers-school-transmission
@larry duff: It’s not just about the children though Larry is it. What about the adults dropping and picking the children up from school? What about the teachers and all other adults in schools? What about their parents? There is a much bigger, wider picture than just the children are safe!
@larry duff: I’ve read numerous reports such as this and all of them say that children are low risk for contracting the virus but high risk spreaders. What makes children more dangerous is that they are asymptomatic.
I know from my own family experience and from working in a school how contagious and how devastating this virus is.
I’m educated enough to know that opening schools will be a public health catastrophe for many communities.
@Steve: Same concerns could be raised by shop workers, nurses, doctors etc. Finding a balance is key and this is what they are trying to do.
@2thFairy: how do you know that cases are not been reported accurately? What are you implying?
@larry duff: Telling a person who works in a school to educate themselves Larry? Starting a sentence with no capital! ALSO your name, dear lord the irony.
It’s as contagious in kids as adults, symptoms are not as bad in kids that’s all.
I would like to know how are they safe 20/30 children in one room for hours….
@Derek Moean: Here you go… https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19/facts/questions-answers-school-transmission
Nowhere is 100% safe, it’s about balancing the risks/impact to both sides and it appears there’s far less consequences to sending kids to school that not
They don’t appear to contribute much to community transmission, majority are asymptomatic and in cases where they have been symptoms, when they followed up with teachers and arents , most of the time they hadn’t spread it.
All of the above less so for 16- 18 yr olds.
@RogerRamjet: can I ask a genuine question…. If the majority are asymptomatic how does anyone know the actual numbers in schoolchildren and what affect that has on the community transmission?
@RogerRamjet: Anecdotal but mate of mine in UK decided to test his daughter recently as some staff had tested positive. His daughter ( no symptoms) tested positive and they isolated for two weeks. He takes immunosuppressive drugs. No-one else in the household tested positive or got symptoms over the few weeks.
@Sarah Cullen: Maybe have a read of the ECDC site which might answer your question or at least explain where the reasoning is coming from
Latest technical report (Dec 23rd) from ECDC https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/children-and-school-settings-covid-19-transmission
@Sarah Cullen: ah yeah.. The Journal comment section.. A great place to come looking for scientific facts. .
@RogerRamjet: here lads, the schools are alright. RodgerRamJet on the journal.ie comment section said his mate in England was fine after his daughter tested positive. Fire away!
@Sarah Cullen: Exactly.
@Bob Rock: Interesting how you ignore the actual latest reports I linked to and cherry picked one comment which I even said was anecdotal…
@RogerRamjet: you claim that kids don’t contribute much to community transmission and then present a link to support. In the article you link it states in the summary “Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 can occur within school settings and clusters have been reported in preschools, primary and secondary schools”. Schools may not be more dangerous than any other gathering but can still promote transmission. Saying that kids don’t get sick from this is a non sequitur. The fact that they can pass it on is the key point and your article confirms that.
@Bob Rock: Cherrypicking again I see. The overriding point is the report says that closing schools should be last resort and there are considerable proven detrimental effects to keeping them closed.
The only thing that changes they summary recommendation is that the new strain effects haven’t been studied enough yet.
@RogerRamjet: @RogerRamjet: There’s a big difference between saying “closing schools should be a last resort” which is what the report says and “kids don’t appear to contribute much to community transmission” which is what you said in your first post above. The first statement I agree with, the second is nonsense. You didn’t even cherry pick that second point, just good old disinformation (unfortunately not a rare sight on these comment sections)
I would have said schools were safe until Boris said so . Schools are definitely unsafe now
@john s: always one who makes it personal
@larry duff: and there’s always one with his head stuck in the sand
@larry duff: look at his track record with covid and then tell me I am wrong
@larry duff: Are you seriously suggesting that Boris is telling the truth now or in the past? He deserves to get called out on everything.
Pure lies. What they and other countries discovered during the first lockdown was the closure of schools was the single biggest disruption to the workforce and keeping them open to keep their parents working is the priority. It’s an economic decision and nothing to do with health.
Children are absolutely not safe as recent studies on the new variant will show and teachers continue to be at massive risk without even close contact protection should someone in their class test positive.
It’s not just about the kids getting it in the school- it’s about them passing it on at home to family and others. It’s about them ripping the masks off the second they are outside and hugging and running around town together. It’s about the yummy mummy’s congregating outside the school gates with no masks. It’s about the people around the school that are exposed to it by the kids. *That’s* why people are angry about schools staying open.
Ah ye kids packed into classrooms and buses is fine, but golf courses are riddled
Pubs…unsafe.
Churches…unsafe.
Homes…unsafe.
Gyms…unsafe.
Retail…unsafe.
Schools…magical places of safety with unicorns and rainbows.
@Adam Conroy: the rationale for keeping schools open by the government is not that schools are safe, it’s that out of all the things you listed, the schools are the highest priority. So if only one thing can stay open it has to be the schools, not the pubs and not the churches.
@Bob Rock: actually they’ve been saying all along that they’re safe and even that “students are safer in school”. I don’t necessarily think they should close I just think the government should stop lying about it.
@Adam Conroy: indeed I agree on that point. Giving incorrect information is not a good policy when managing a pandemic. If that’s the message the government was giving then that is an error.
England is hurtling towards an absolute catastrophe with this so called PM in charge.
Does the virus get to the school doors and says “nope not going in there??” Ridiculous!!
That advice makes no sense.
Either there is a surge – and all need to isolate, or
there isn’t – other than seasonal flu.
Make up.your minds.
And this is why they are having devastating numbers and deaths. Can no one talk sense into this man
Children have to sit in classes with their coats on because doors and windows have to be left open for ventilation. Not ideal for children or staff.
Guess that means they’ll be closed for months then. Incompetent Buffon.
@David Welsh: I won’t have that. He was a wonderful goalkeeper for years.
Keep schools closed For Gods Sake have the Government learned anything!!
Schools are safe insists clown! This pandemic will hopefully engage electorates worldwide to consider the type of people they want as leaders and the systems that allow patently unfit individuals such as Johnson in positions of power.
@Nick: I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one. Populations can be easily manipulated. This has been observed time and time again. More education and greater income equality are the only antidotes for avoiding the bojo’s of this world.
It won’t let me post the link , but there’s a good article in national geographic, available through google, about a big study Iceland did on this .
Worth looking up.
@John Pog: any chance of a one line synopsis?
@John Pog: very interesting, thanks for sharing John. Reassuring for my kids age group.
@David Clements: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/12/we-now-know-how-much-children-spread-coronavirus/
@David Clements: It says kids do not transmit the virus the same way adults do. Secondly adults are a far bigger threat to passing on the virus to children than vice versa.
@Sos: in the article you link literally in the first paragraph relating to the effect of keeping schools open “cases will seep in and contribute to the disease’s spread whenever a country loses control of containing the pandemic.”
The article claims that children are about half as likely as adults to transmit. The tone of the article is a little hyperbolic but even if this claim is true, schools remaining open can still contribute to the spread. So the article does not support the claim that keeping schools open will not add to the spread of covid.
Hey heres a great idea why don’t we put the elderly and vunerable in schools!! They are safe. Magic covid bubbles!
First time I’ve ever agreed with boris!
Lol , just type Iceland study kids covid , in to google
He’s lying. According to an article schools are one of the highest places to get it according to Public Health England. Look at the stats in this article (not the first graph) during level 3 lockdown in Manchester (admittedly from November, but not much has changed there). https://www-manchestereveningnews-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/places-you-most-likely-contract-19310501.amp?amp_js_v=a6&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQHKAFQArABIA%3D%3D#aoh=16096765311719&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.manchestereveningnews.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fuk-news%2Fplaces-you-most-likely-contract-19310501
He’s just trying to save face …won’t be long then he’s Gone
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