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Was just on @SkyNews talking about school reopening as part of my work with @IndependentSage . Here are my thoughts... THREAD 1/9
England is reopening schools earlier than other countries. UK still at ~ 2000 confirmed cases a day (the vast majority in England). Other countries either haven't opened or were at well below 1000 confirmed cases a day before opening. NB NI, Scotland and Wales are not opening.2/9
Everyone agrees any relax of social distancing needs to come with strong test, trace and isolate (TTI) system. England launched its system last week, won't be fully ready until end of June and the NHS app is not ready yet. https://www.itv.com/news/2020-05-28/coronavirus-test-and-trace-scheme-launch-government-covid-19/ 3/9
At @IndependentSage we developed a graphic to help people assess whether their child's school is ready. This looks at community factors, school factors and household and child factors and gives people questions they can ask to help them decide 4/9
At @IndependentSage we recommend local level decisions - and that needs local data. We know for instance that levels of infections are much lower in SW England than in NW or Midlands. It's not a one size fits all. https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/#category=regions&map=rate 5/9
If a child is infected with COVID, they are more likely than not to show no symptoms. So COVID will only be spotted once they infect someone who does then develop symptoms (~ a week later) - like an adult in their household...6/9
...Then another 3-4 days to get results of a test (*if* adult decides to get tested). Govt does not say school needs send home class of child with a sick parent. So that class might not self-isolate. But 1 or more other children might have been infected but not show symptoms. 7/9
... so you really need a very strong TTI system in place to spot all symptomatic people and find their contacts and that will hopefully be enough to stop community spread, even if asymptomatic people are not spotted. Without that TTI in place, a risk of flare up remains. 8/9
So, in summary, I do think it's too early for most schools in England to reopen. And regardless of that, the govt needs to urgently improve the education opportunities for all children who *aren't* back in school, focusing on deprived communities in particular. 9/9
