“Unavoidable” covid cases with school restart – CSA
Professor Ian Young said there will “inevitably” be further cases when schools go back
There is no way to remove all coronavirus risk in educational settings, Northern Ireland’s Chief Scientific Advisor has said.
Covid-19 cases soared at the end of 2021, with the Department of Health reporting 30,423 cases between midnight on December 30 and midnight on January 3.
Professor Ian Young said there will “inevitably” be further cases when schools go back this week, despite any mitigations put in place due to the very high community transmission across Northern Ireland.
"There are parts of Northern Ireland where close to one person in 20 had a positive PCR test in the last week, and whenever you factor in the fact that not everybody gets tested then it is very likely that there were parts in Northern Ireland where at least one person in 10 had the virus last week,” he said.
“Once schools start it’s unavoidable, despite the best measures and precautions that there will be an increase in transmission among school children and we will undoubtedly see that.
“There has been quite good direction; suggestions as to how the risks can be reduced. Really good ventilation, use of face coverings and use of lateral flow tests. But whenever you mix large numbers of people then with the best will in the world you will still inevitably see some transmission.
“I do think it is important to be clear that there is no way of making school safe, just as there’s no way of making other parts of society where large numbers of people gather safe in terms of virus transmission.”
The Stormont Executive is due to meet on Thursday to discuss the covid-19 pandemic.
It had been thought that schools would dominate talks, but the Education Minister has said that is not the case.
Michelle McIlveen told Downtown/ Cool FM: “I don’t anticipate it being necessarily focused on schools, obviously transmission is very high across the community and it’s having a severe impact across all aspects of society.
“It’s going to be very much about getting an update on the data as it currently is because certainly last week, we didn’t have a lot of information.”
There were no changes to covid rules at the last meeting on December 30, however the self isolation period for positive cases was reduced from 10 days to 7 days subject to negative lateral flow tests on day 6 & 7.
After that meeting, the Permanent Secretary for Education, a top civil servant, wrote to all school leaders to give them an update.
Dr Mark Brown said: “Yesterday’s Executive meeting did not make any changes to the additional restrictions announced before Christmas and there is no change to the operation of schools and education settings from the autumn term.
“As you will be aware levels of community transmission are very high and I recognise the ongoing pressures many of you are experiencing due to staff shortages.
“The Department has provided guidance on the use of remote learning should individual school circumstances mean it is necessary for short periods.
“Should you need to utilise remote learning it is important to make provision for supervised learning for vulnerable pupils if at all possible.”
The letter went on to emphasise the important of lateral flow tests before school – new and less invasive tests are available for school children.
“Ahead of the new term beginning next week, the Department has strongly urged all staff and post-primary pupils to take a lateral flow test before returning to school and I know that you have emphasised this to your school communities.
“The Department will continue to reiterate this important message on social media. The Education Authority also wrote to all schools in December setting out how lateral flow devices can be ordered by schools.
“I also want to take this opportunity to reiterate key aspects of our response to the pandemic ahead of the new term.”
He concluded by saying it remains important to employ good hand hygiene, ventilation, and face-coverings, and where possible keep groups consistent and reduce social contacts.
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