Tue 09 March 2021:
Most of England’s pupils will return to the classroom this week after schools were forced to close their doors to all but the children of key workers in early January as coronavirus infections spiraled out of control.
Fully reopening schools is the first stage in the U.K. prime minister’s four-step “roadmap” back to normality. It will see the gradual unlocking of society no earlier than June 21, when the government hopes to lift all restrictions on social contact.
Speaking after millions of pupils returned to schools across England on Monday, the prime minister said the number of people being admitted to hospital with Covid-19 each day was eight times higher than “the lows of last summer”, and reiterated that people must still follow the “stay at home” message.
“Of course, there will be a risk of increased transmission, that’s inevitable if you open up schools for millions of kids across the country. That is going to happen,” he told a Downing Street press conference.
“We must remember that today’s return to schools will, of course, have an impact on the spread of the virus, and so, at all times and as we decide on the next steps forward and when we take them it’s more vital than ever to follow the rules,” Johnson said.
“We all know that the education of our children is so important that the greater risk now is keeping them out of school for a day longer. We all know that the burden has disproportionately fallen on women often holding down jobs and providing childcare at the same time,” he added.
Despite these concerns, the government made it clear on Sunday it is determined home schooling will be a thing of the past for parents. “The reason we are taking this cautious approach is so that the steps that we take are steps that will never be reversed,” Education Secretary Gavin Williamson told Times Radio.
Even if the reproduction rate of the virus climbs above one, the point at which the number of COVID cases keeps increasing, there should be no pause in the return to school, Public Health England’s Susan Hopkins told the BBC.
She said she expected the relationship between rising case numbers and hospitalizations to diverge as more and more of the population are vaccinated, especially those who would be likely to need hospitalization. Some cases in the community without needing further restrictions would be accepted, she said.
Last month the government unveiled a four stage plan that will see England gradually eased out of its third national lockdown starting with the reopening of schools, allowing people from different households to meet outside and the reopening of businesses.
At the end of each stage the government will assess the data and statistics relating to the number of cases, deaths and hospitalizations caused by the virus and will decide whether or not to go ahead with each stage depending on whether there is a rise or fall in the three factors.
On Monday, 4,712 people had a confirmed positive test of the virus adding this week’s total to 41,225. This represents a 26.2% decrease in comparison to the last seven days.
Sixty-five deaths were reported within 28 days of testing positive for the virus on Monday. Between March 2 and March 8, there were 1,441 deaths within 28 days of testing. This shows a 34.4% decrease in comparison to the previous week.
More than 22.3 million people had been administered their first dose of the vaccine as of late Sunday, with 1.14 million others receiving the second. Vaccines are currently administered in two doses, three weeks apart.
The latest R range for the UK has increased slightly and is now at 0.7-0.9, with the current growth rate also increasing to -5% to -3% per day. The R number is a mechanism used to rate the virus’s ability to spread, with R being the number of people that one infected person will pass the virus on to.
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