It is still far from clear whether schools will succeed in re-opening next week, as government ministers, education authorities and unions battle it out over safety – or supposed safety – concerns. Now, as back in May, when the government first proposed re-opening schools, the unions have demanded evidence that it will be safe for children to return to the classroom. The difference now is that we do have real-world evidence on the spread of Covid-19 in schools. Public Health England (PHE) has analysed what happened when over a million children finally returned to school in June.
In the subsequent weeks until the end of term, 70 children and 128 staff tested positive for Covid-19. However, 67 of these were isolated cases – where staff or pupils were presumably infected outside school. The remaining cases were linked to ‘outbreaks’ within school – an ‘outbreak’ involving two of more people.
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