Covid: Stricter procedures for new semester as schools advised to combine classes in case of staff illness

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ITV News’ Helen Keenan points out that going back to school means going back to additional Covid rules

The education minister said that classrooms could be integrated if the number of staff infected with the disease rose too dramatically.

Nadim Al-Zahawi outlined a set of measures to ensure schools remain open, as Covid cases continue to rise, including re-covering the face in classrooms for students in grades seven and above and on-site testing for high school students before they return to class.

“The priority is to keep schools open,” the education minister said, and to keep children in classrooms as much as possible, due to the mental health implications.

He told ITV News, “The best place for students is in the classroom with their teachers. If you have widespread absenteeism, and we got to 8% at the end of last year, it’s probably a little bit higher, because schools reopen, but then You can merge chapters.

“It is much better for the students to be in class, and in school, than out of school, which is quite clear, and really well proven, which is why I am determined, like the Prime Minister, to protect education and make education our true priority, and we are transforming this The virus is from pandemic to endemic.”

Nadim Zahawi: Education is our priority

In an open letter posted to Twitter on Sunday, he urged education leaders to “do everything they can to protect face-to-face learning,” using all faculty and non-teachers available to meet the needs of students on site.

But he noted that some distance learning might need to be done.

An additional 7,000 air purification units will be provided to schools, colleges and early years venues to improve ventilation in teaching spaces.

Children aged 12 to 15 years are encouraged to have the full two-dose vaccination, and children aged 16 to 17 are now eligible for a booster dose.

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Al-Zahawi said he hopes the guidance that high school children should wear masks in class again will not be in place “for a day longer than we need to.”

He said, “What we’re saying is…With Omicron, because it’s so contagious, we want to make sure that we give you as many tools as possible to be able to make sure that education is open.”

But he admitted that “it was, of course, difficult to deliver education while wearing masks in the classroom.”

Al-Zahawi added: “This is a virus transmitted through an aerosol, and if you wear a mask, and if you do not have symptoms, it is unlikely that you will infect others.”

While the Prime Minister said that while he did not like the idea of ​​face masks in class, there was scientific evidence that they could lower transmission rates.

“We don’t want to keep them,” Boris Johnson said on a visit to a vaccination center in Buckinghamshire. “I don’t like the idea of ​​having face masks in the classroom more than anyone else, but we wouldn’t keep them in one day more than is necessary.”

“Any substance between your mouth and nose and the virus helps.”

Dr Julian Tang, associate professor emeritus and clinical virologist in respiratory sciences at the University of Leicester, emphasized that face coverings “work very well”.

He told ITV News: “Any substance between your mouth and nose and the virus helps. Anything from reducing exposure to the virus in half, if you’re wearing a cloth mask, if someone else is wearing a cloth mask, reduce it to an equal quarter..”

Dr Tang added: “Children will adapt to this and some feel safer when they wear a mask. There is a lot of hype about people being unhappy about wearing a mask, thinking it doesn’t work or being annoying, but not so much about those people who actually feel more comfortable wearing a mask. Mask and feel more secure when wearing a mask in class.”

As the data stream continues from the festive period, it is not yet clear how much the high-speed Omicron variant will intensify the pressure on the NHS in the coming weeks.

The government said a further 137,583 laboratory-confirmed cases of Covid-19 had been recorded in England and Wales as of 9am on Sunday.

This was down from 162,572 cases recorded in England alone on Saturday.

Concerns about Omicron’s impact on the country’s workforce have grown, with Boris Johnson tasking ministers with creating “robust contingency plans” for staff absenteeism.

137,583

Covid cases in England and Wales as of 9am on Sunday

Health Minister Ed Argar said the government was “doing the responsible and reasonable” by asking the public sector to prepare for a worst-case scenario of up to a quarter of employees out of work.

It was reported on Sunday that the NHS Trust for United Hospitals Lincolnshire has announced a “serious incident” linked to the “severe and unprecedented” shortage of staff.

In Wales, Morriston Hospital in Swansea said it could only provide a “limited service” in the emergency department over the weekend due to staffing pressures “exacerbated by Covid”.

Meanwhile, in Yorkshire, the District Ambulance Service said that “the additional challenge of Covid-19-related absences among staff… is having a significant impact on our front-line operations”.

But Zahawi said the NHS “has been very good at being able to move staff from one place to another”.

The education minister said the NHS was accustomed to dealing with staff leaving during the winter and during “big flu viruses”.

High school students will be tested before they return to the classroom. credit: PA

“There is nothing in the data” to indicate that further coronavirus measures will be needed later this week, Al-Zahawi said.

He told ITV News: “London is the center of Omicron, and we’re seeing some positive signs from London where infection rates appear to be plateauing, if not declining yet. The worrying is that there is leakage to the over 50s, but 90% of those over the age have been boosted,” he told ITV News. It’s 50 years old and we know boosters work really well.

Members of Parliament are due to return to the House of Commons on Wednesday after the Christmas holiday. The government is scheduled to review Plan B procedures on the same date.

The regulations will not expire until January 26, but Downing Street said at the time it was announced in December that the review would take place three weeks after implementation.

Asked if he could rule out announcements of broader restrictions on people in England next week, Cabinet Office Minister Steve Barclay told Sky News: “We don’t think the data supports that at this point. Of course, we are keeping the data under review, But we saw a marked change in behavior as a result of Plan B.”

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