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Today we were warned that if the current rate of infection is not halted, the UK could be facing around 50,000 new #Covid cases a day by mid-October, leading to 200 deaths a day a month later.
https://news.sky.com/video/coronavirus-chris-whitty-and-patrick-vallance-issue-stark-warning-on-virus-spread-12077949 1/
https://news.sky.com/video/coronavirus-chris-whitty-and-patrick-vallance-issue-stark-warning-on-virus-spread-12077949 1/
Last month, UCU called upon government politicians and university leaders to abandon plans to precipitously re-open university campuses and resume in person teaching.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/29/uk-university-reopenings-risk-covid-public-health-crisis-teaching-union-warns 2/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/29/uk-university-reopenings-risk-covid-public-health-crisis-teaching-union-warns 2/
Since then we have seen the infection rate in 17-21-year olds soar. Despite this there has been no U-turn from either university leaders, or guidance from any of the UK governments to urgently shift education online.
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-spike-in-cases-among-youths-will-put-more-elderly-people-in-hospital-experts-warn-12066653 3/
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-spike-in-cases-among-youths-will-put-more-elderly-people-in-hospital-experts-warn-12066653 3/
The warnings from Whitty & Vallance support UCU’s position that, if we are to stem the spread of the virus, we must not only reduce in-person activities on campus, but that students who have not moved back to campus should be encouraged to stay at home if it is safe to do so. 4/
If we do not prevent more needless movement around the country, students risk not only being scapegoated in university towns and cities for any increase in infections, but may also be at risk of taking the virus back to their home communities and families when term ends. 5/
The government and universities must address this public health crisis immediately. It is not enough to plan to manage a Covid outbreak when we could plan to prevent it. 6/
Last week, UCU launched a tool to ask our branches to tell us what is happening on campus. 8 universities have already been in touch to let us know of cases. We will continue to monitor this and to assist members wherever they require assistance. https://ucu.org.uk/article/10995/UCU-puts-government-and-employers-on-notice-as-it-launches-Covid-monitoring-in-colleges-and-universities… 7/
A better solution would be for the government to issue clear and immediate instruction for all universities and colleges to move teaching online, except in circumstances where it is impossible to do so. 8/8
