Gavin Williamson says plans for school reopening guided by evidence of little transmission
8.00am BST
On the Today programme, Professor Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and a member of Sage, said “reopening schools is one of the least risky things we can do”.
He told the BBC: “It’s very clear for them the benefits and risks, the balance is for them to be back at school. For broader society, look, I think it’s also clear that reopening schools is one of the least risky things we can do.
7.53am BST
Covid-19 isn’t the only virus that can be combated by social distancing, and one byproduct of the lockdown has been to reduce the incidence of a variety of other conditions, my colleague Haroon Siddique reports.
Flu, colds, bronchitis and a number of other viruses all appear to be in lower circulation than usual this summer, according to the research by the Royal College of GPs.
Even if we reduce social distancing by only 10% and we have done a lot more than that, then you would expect 10% less transmission of coughs and colds. It’s impossible to say exactly what is going to happen. If people don’t mix as much you will expect less of these coughs and cold type of minor illnesses. We’re already seeing in Australia, which is in their winter, that they are having very little flu compared to previous years.”
Related: Lockdown reduces cases of flu, colds and bronchitis in England
Continue reading…Gavin Williamson says plans for school reopening guided by evidence of little transmission Global coronavirus live: latest updates 8.00am BSTOn the Today programme, Professor Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and a member of Sage, said “reopening schools is one of the least risky things we can do”.He told the BBC: “It’s very clear for them the benefits and risks, the balance is for them to be back at school. For broader society, look, I think it’s also clear that reopening schools is one of the least risky things we can do. 7.53am BSTCovid-19 isn’t the only virus that can be combated by social distancing, and one byproduct of the lockdown has been to reduce the incidence of a variety of other conditions, my colleague Haroon Siddique reports.Flu, colds, bronchitis and a number of other viruses all appear to be in lower circulation than usual this summer, according to the research by the Royal College of GPs.Even if we reduce social distancing by only 10% and we have done a lot more than that, then you would expect 10% less transmission of coughs and colds. It’s impossible to say exactly what is going to happen. If people don’t mix as much you will expect less of these coughs and cold type of minor illnesses. We’re already seeing in Australia, which is in their winter, that they are having very little flu compared to previous years.” Related: Lockdown reduces cases of flu, colds and bronchitis in England Continue reading…