Public Health England report shows that very few students caught coronavirus after the schools reopened in June proving that school safety could be guaranteed.
The PHE report indicated that, in the entire country, there were only 67 cases recorded, of which 37 cases were for staff members and 30 were for students infected. A deeper break down into this number showed that there were only 30 school outbreaks during the entire duration of classes and four “co-primary” cases, which were defined as two or more confirmed cases that had a link with each other and detected at the same time.
School safety concerns addressed
The PHE numbers in comparison with the country’s new coronavirus cases during that period also highlighted school safety after reopening.
In June, there were 25,470 cases that were recorded in England. Of these cases, only 30 were school-going children and 91 school staff bringing the total number of cases that can be linked to schools at 121 cases.
Of these cases that were recorded in school, only one staff member was hospitalized in the ICU for respiratory care. However, none of the children, who had caught the coronavirus were hospitalized, meaning that there was a small chance of getting adversely affected by the virus.
September reopening
The PHE report was a piece of welcome news in the country, as it looks to reopen for a second time in September. Based on the report data, school safety is almost guarantee, especially for students, which studies have shown that they are less likely to be symptomatic with the virus, and even smaller chance of transmitting the virus.
However, the PHE report also noted that only a few schools opened in June, and only approximately one million students returned for in-person classes. They said that this might not hold when the schools are finally reopened fully.
Dr Shamez Ladhani, one of the report’s authors said that the study had shown that there were minimal chances of transmission of the virus by children and staff at the time the study was carried out. However, he also noted that the number of schools that reopened were much smaller, and the situation may be different for a full reopening.
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