A former health secretary agrees with the plan of conducting COVID-19 testing for secondary teachers scheduled at twice a week.
COVID-19 testing twice a week
In an interview in a radio program, Jeremy Hunt, a former health secretary voices out his support to the suggestion of epidemiologist Professor Neil Ferguson that constant COVID-19 testing should be mandated in every school which is reopening for physical classes. According to Hunt, teachers should be tested at least twice a week to ensure peace of mind among parents sending their children back to school.
It is the least that we can do to assure the parents that their children are safe within school premises.
Hunt is known to be an open advocate of COVID-19 testing as being the chairman of the Health and Social Care Committee. the COVID-19 testing on teachers will boost public confidence that schools are free from the virus and it is safe to allow students to go back to school.
For Hunt, the reason behind the frequent COVID-19 testing is that because research showed that the virus may lie dormant and asymptomatic in some carriers. But with frequent testing, the virus can be detected despite a carrier being asymptomatic or not.
Lack of resources
However, the Minister of State for School Standards, Nick Gibb doesn’t agree with the proposal of testing teachers at least twice a week. One of the considerations he has is the lack of resources to purchase the huge number of kits needed for the frequent testing, also, the school administrators are already shedding out an additional budget on making sure that sanitation inside school premises are well observed.
Gibb pointed out that the government should come up with a final decision soon on how to deal with the return of classes in the country. Are they willing to delay it or compromise by providing the additional budget for securing students returning to schools?
