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Give Councils power to close schools and nurseries when clusters of Covid-19 cases emerge

Local Government Association

The Local Government Association (@LGAcomms) for councils have called to be given the power to close schools and nurseries when clusters of Covid-19 cases emerge 

Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:

”We agree with the LGA that publication of the scientific advice is vital to help provide reassurance to the public. The Government keeps citing Denmark and the Netherlands but those countries have experienced far fewer deaths per capita than the UK and therefore aren’t suitable comparisons. The UK has experienced 432 deaths per million of the population compared to 85 deaths per million in Denmark.

“Spain and Italy are the countries that have experienced a higher death rate per capita than the UK and both have closed their schools until September. We share the LGA’s concern to see the science and are not at all surprised parents are seeking more reassurance. A pediatric specialist group, formed to offer advice in Spain, concluded it would not be safe to open schools until September, as social distancing would be impossible.

“It’s very likely that schools are going to open and close at different rates in different parts of the country over the next year, because we may have several cycles of lockdown and ultimately the health and safety obligation sits with an individual head. Heads cannot operate their sites where it isn’t safe to do so, including if too many staff are absent because of health or they’re shielding others. The NEU thinks the Government hasn’t got the right national arrangements in place yet to make this safe, as they haven’t even met their own tests. It simply isn’t fair to pass the risk and pressure onto individual head teachers.

“We agree with the LGA that we need to give local authorities a leading role. We have concerns that a wider opening of schools, too early, poses a lot of unanswered questions about the risks in poor communities. The DFE has not done nearly enough thinking about the emerging evidence about the racial disparities of the epidemic and what it means for schools with diverse pupil populations.”

Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of the NASUWT The Teachers’ Union, said:

“The NASUWT supports the call by the LGA for an enforcement mechanism to enable schools to be closed where clusters of COVID-19 cases emerge. Taking the step to close a school where testing indicates a cluster will be a vital part of controlling the spread of the virus.

“However, such a mechanism relies on an effective and widespread testing and tracing programme to be in place, something which to date is still woefully lacking and which the Government has failed to get a grip on.

“We have challenged the government to publish the scientific advice which underpins its decision to try to start to reopen schools from 1 June and to explain how it can demonstrate to school staff and parents that the decisions it is making are the right ones to protect public health.

“The NASUWT remains clear that no school should reopen until it can demonstrate that it is safe to do so.”


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