Prime Minister has today made a
direct appeal to parents to return their children to the
classroom when schools reopen next week.
Prime Minister said:
“I have previously spoken about the moral duty
to reopen schools to all pupils safely, and I would like to thank
the school staff who have spent the summer months making
classrooms Covid-secure in preparation for a full return in
September.
“We have always been guided by our scientific
and medical experts, and we now know far more about coronavirus
than we did earlier this year.
“As the Chief Medical Officer has said, the
risk of contracting Covid-19 in school is very small and it is
far more damaging for a child’s development and their health and
well-being to be away from school any longer.
“This is why it’s vitally important that we
get our children back into the classroom to learn and to be with
their friends. Nothing will have a greater effect on the life
chances of our children than returning to school.”
Background
Chief Medical Officers and
Deputy Chief Medical Officers of England, Scotland, Northern
Ireland and Wales have made a statement on the evidence of risks
and benefits to health from schools and childcare settings
reopening, which says:
- We are confident in the extensive evidence that there is an
exceptionally small risk of children of primary or secondary
school age dying from COVID-19. The infection fatality rate
(proportion of those who are infected who die) for those aged 5
to 14 is estimated at 14 per million, lower than for most
seasonal flu infections.
- We are confident that there is clear evidence of a very low
rate of severe disease in children of primary and secondary
school ages compared to adults, even if they catch COVID-19. The
percentage of symptomatic cases requiring hospitalisation is
estimated to be 0.1% for children aged 0 to 9 and 0.3% among
those aged 10 to 19, compared to a hospitalisation rate of over
4% in the UK for the general population. Most of these children
make a rapid recovery.
- We are confident that there is clear evidence from many
studies that the great majority of children and teenagers who
catch COVID-19 have mild symptoms or no symptoms at all.
- Control measures such as hand and surface hygiene, cohorting
to reduce number of daily contacts, and directional controls to
reduce face-to-face contact remain key elements of maintaining
COVID-19 secure school environments and minimising risk.
