The government has been accused of giving “inconsistent” and conflicting advice as growing numbers of schools closed over coronavirus fears and thousands of pupils were sent home.
With at least 13 schools being closed across the country and another 24 sending children home into quarantine by Wednesday evening, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, sought to reassure headteachers that there was no need to close schools unless there was a confirmed case of coronavirus.
Despite Hancock’s advice at the Commons dispatch box and advice sent to schools reiterating that only confirmed cases required a closure, the final decision on whether to close rests with individual headteachers.
Amid confusion on the best course of action, Public Health England (PHE) advised schools not to close and instead ask pupils and staff exhibiting symptoms to “self-isolate”. However, England’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, admitted closures were a possibility in order to contain the virus.
This led to some headteachers deciding to take evasive action and shut down their schools for the rest of the week, deep-cleaning buildings to minimise any risk, with others telling pupils they must come in unless they had clear symptoms of the virus.
Attempts to maintain hygiene in schools have been prioritised as a way to slow the spread of the virus, with official advice telling teachers to wash their hands at least nine times through the day at key points including before eating any food and after breaks.
The World Health Organization is recommending that people take simple precautions to reduce exposure to and transmission of the Wuhan coronavirus, for which there is no specific cure or vaccine.
The UN agency advises people to:
- Frequently wash their hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or warm water and soap
- Cover their mouth and nose with a flexed elbow or tissue when sneezing or coughing
- Avoid close contact with anyone who has a fever or cough
- Seek early medical help if they have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, and share their travel history with healthcare providers
- Avoid direct, unprotected contact with live animals and surfaces in contact with animals when visiting live markets in affected areas
- Avoid eating raw or undercooked animal products and exercise care when handling raw meat, milk or animal organs to avoid cross-contamination with uncooked foods.
Despite a surge in sales of face masks in the aftermath of the outbreak of the coronavirus outbreak, experts are divided over whether they can prevent transmission and infection. There is some evidence to suggest that masks can help prevent hand-to-mouth transmissions, given the large number of times people touch their faces. The consensus appears to be that wearing a mask can limit – but not eliminate – the risks, provided they are used correctly.
The 13 schools closed across the country ranged in location from Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire to Old Windsor in Berkshire. The 24 schools where pupils and staff had been sent home to quarantine themselves for a fortnight were also located across the country, from Cornwall to Northern Ireland.
But Hancock told MPs: “The message that we do not have a policy of blanket school closures is important. Unless there is specific professional advice, or until there is a positive test, schools should stay open. Overreaction has its costs too, economic and social, and so we have to keep the public safe but we also need to act in a way that’s proportionate.”
Headteachers described late-night calls from NHS clinical services advising them to tell those who went on school trips to Italy to self-isolate, regardless of whether they were showing symptoms of being unwell.
Richard Pollock, the headteacher at Cransley school in Northwich, said 29 pupils and five members of staff went on a trip to Bormio in Lombardy over half-term, and a small number of pupils and staff began showing mild flu-like symptoms on Tuesday.
Pollock said that regardless of government advice stating the school should remain open to all other pupils, he decided, in discussion with senior managers and governors, to shut it down for the remainder of the week.
“I understand that there will be a variety of reactions to this decision amongst parents, and I hope that all families will understand the developing situation and the changing and inconsistent advice given to the school,” he said.
He added: “There are a number of pupils and staff who have vulnerable family members and it is the school’s duty of care to put in place the most secure of measures to minimise any possible infection, despite public policy.
“The staff, pupils and families of Cransley are our highest concern, and whilst we understand the impact this may have on the education of the pupils and disruption to working practice of parents, we believe this decision is justified.”
Some parents said they had been left in the dark and felt the government’s response had been “too complacent”.
Kate’s two daughters were sent home from their school in Middlesbrough after two students returned from a school skiing trip in northern Italy – the European region worst affected so far by the outbreak – with symptoms of coronavirus.
As the school bus returned to the UK, parents were texted to say that Trinity Catholic college would be closing and undergoing a deep clean. It was due to reopen next Monday, but this has now been pushed back to Tuesday.
“There’s a lack of information across the country as a whole. It’s made me paranoid. This feels like just a drop in the ocean of what we are going to see. How are the government planning to deal with it? They have been too complacent so far; this is a super-virus – how many more people have to die before they take it seriously? ” Kate said.
Another parent, Andy Byles, raised concerns about pupils being allowed back into school on Monday despite having visited an affected area in Italy.
Byles said: “Thirty or so kids went to school on Monday morning when they should not have done. They should not have been at school in my opinion. I don’t think teachers had the correct information at that time of what they should have done.”
PHE maintained its advice that schools should not close unless students or staff had been to one of the specific towns identified by the Italian government.
PHE’s medical director, Paul Cosford, said: “Schools have to take difficult decisions given the complexity of issues that they are facing. What I would say is that our general advice is not to close schools.”
