Dear @susannareid100 & @piersmorgan
In advance of your program tomorrow I wonder if I could ask for your help?
If any celebrity duo can make this happen, it is you two!
The ROAD MAP is here & there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
There are many positives in the #PrimeMinister’s cautious approach but the BIG BANG opening of English schools on 8th March with very few added mitigations is reckless & irresponsible, risking everything we have collectively achieved so far.
We all know that schools & early years settings are risky places to work in. Whatever the stats tell us about teachers en masse, I feel that for individual staff, being forced to work in crowded, poorly ventilated rooms w/ many others protected by little #PPE , is a VERY BIG ASK!
With the new highly transmissible #COVIDVariants can we genuinely expect others to care for & teach our children for hours each day without even one dose of a #COVIDVaccine?
I really don’t think so!
@nadhimzahawi & the #JCVI have rejected this request so far but I’m sure that with the support of people like yourselves & the general public they could be persuaded otherwise.
My #NHS colleagues & I genuinely know what the fear of catching #COVID19 feels like.
I’m certain that many would volunteer their free time over the next couple of weeks to vaccinate all teaching & early years staff, if we could gain access to vaccine supplies.
We could visit schools in teams (as we have done for Care Homes) during evenings or weekends OR we could keep vaccination hubs open for much longer. The National #VaccineRollout would barely be effected.
WE COULD DO THIS...!
Would you consider asking the public on tomorrow’s programme whether they would support this option?
Could you suggest to THE MINISTER OF THE DAY that whatever the #Conservative party line may be this is
THE RIGHT THING TO DO!
As we have seen very clearly with the #VaccineRollout, the #NHS is incredible & capable of achieving amazing things!
If the political will is there WE CAN GET THIS DONE.
Thank you for your ongoing support in holding the government to account 🙏🏻💙!
Whichever way you spin it, a BIG BANG return to FULL opening of ALL English schools on a single day is INSANE!
Mixing 10M children w/ all the staff that it will entail, with current disease prevalence & more transmissible variants is a sure fire way to INCREASE TRANSMISSION!1/8
As cases rise, WHICH THEY WILL, it’ll be impossible to know which age ranges are responsible quickly & change course without causing absolute havoc to the education of the children & to the lives of their working & non-working parents. 2/
And of course, that’s not even considering the effect on the individuals who may needlessly become seriously ill w/ #COVID19, get #LongCovid or sadly die.
On so many levels, a phased return is needed...NO....
IS ESSENTIAL to allow careful monitoring & a chance to change tack. 3/
I’m particularly upset today that teaching & nursery staff haven’t been prioritised for vaccination.
I really don’t care what stats have been thrown at us claiming they’re not at ⬆️ risk of serious #COVID19 outcomes as a group.
They’ve been treated with utter contempt! 1/7
We expect them to teach & care for our children, our most precious family members.
And we expect them to do it WITHOUT #PPE in conditions most of us would run away from - crowded, poorly ventilated rooms, mixing w/ MULTIPLE households every day.
2/
Imagine expecting high rise window cleaners to work without safety ropes.
Imagine builders being told “sorry chaps, no hard hats or steel capped boots today”.
I’ll say again.... think #Chernobyl, the men sent on to the roof to kick the radioactive rubble off the reactor.
3/
One of the most bizarre & troubling bits of the #ReopeningSchools saga is that @educationgovuk & @BorisJohnson have ignored every single plea from teachers, early years staff, pupils & their families to #MakeSchoolsSafe & wasted all the months they have had to do so. 1/14 🧵
2)They’ve turned their backs on plentiful advice from #SAGE, @IndependentSage & @NEU.
Even @CMO_England has made his reservations as clear as he can from a rather difficult position.
But they’ve put their collective fingers in their ears & metaphorically said “La La La La”!
3) @GavinWilliamson & @halfon4harlowMP CLAIM the motivation for a speedy full opening of all school & early years facilities is the WELFARE OF CHILDREN!
They repeatedly cite educational, emotional, social & psychological needs.
You are right....
History will not look kindly on this time at all.
No one actually thinks #Lockdowns are a good thing & certainly none of us want #schools to remain partially open for any longer than necessary @n_plowman .
Lockdowns act purely as an emergency break.....
.....to ⬇️transmission/cases & prevent healthcare systems collapsing.
We all saw what followed the Nov MOCK-DOWN during which schools remained open.
The dogged refusal of some to contemplate MITIGATION WITHIN schools has been part of the problem.
If there is a continued push for full opening WITHOUT effective MITIGATION for an #airborne virus, community transmission will ⬆️ again & another surge will follow.
Every single one of us wants to see schools to fully open again, but the plans must be SAFE & SUSTAINABLE.
This is plea to all Headteachers regarding the imminent full opening of UK schools.
If we remove from the debate HOW MUCH children transmit/spread #coronavirus WITHIN schools, we all accept that they do spread it to a greater or lesser degree.
Fact!
1/8🧵
Children do not exist in isolation!
Every day they mix with their families & friends & during the school day they mix with many teachers & staff.
Fact!
So the word BUBBLE in the school context is UTTER NONSENSE! 2/
The government & #DfE have rejected virtually every mitigation proposed by #SAGE, @IndependentSage & @neu & we’re told the @CMO_England is v uneasy about a BIG BANG reopening.
You don’t have to be a scientist or medic to understand this re risk in various settings👇🏼. 3/
The idea that children of all ages wouldn’t want to be part of the solution is ludicrous. Give them credit for understanding the seriousness of the situation whilst having the common sense to know that if they #WearAMask IN ALL AREAS of school, their schools will be safer. 1/3
When we look back at this crisis, the fact that children were PREVENTED FROM WEARING 😷s IN UK SCHOOLS in 2021 to protect themselves & those around them from an #airborne 🦠 will be viewed as INCREDIBLE & UNBELIEVABLE!