Thread by @LeftistsUk

@allthecitizens "The lack of robust mitigation measures in schools puts children at greater risk of covid-19 infection and its consequences

To: • The Rt Hon Gavin Williamson MP 
...
We write as researchers, parents, and educators concerned about the impact of the pandemic on (1/39)

@allthecitizens children’s education. Like you, and in agreement with the

World Health Organization

(WHO), we recognise the importance of schools staying open over the autumn and in the longer term. However, as the WHO also notes, schools must be made safe by adopting measures to (2/39)

@allthecitizens minimise transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We are therefore writing to express our concerns about the lack of mitigations for children and educational staff, and the subsequent risk to children from covid-19 as schools reopen in England this September. We offer nine (3/39)

@allthecitizens evidence based recommendations to reduce new infections in children. 

Children have suffered significant harms from covid-19. In just the past two months there have been

over 2300 hospitalisations

of under 18s in England. There are an estimated 34 000 children living (4/39)

@allthecitizens with long covid in the UK already, with 22 000 reporting significant impacts on their day to day activities, 7000 of whom have had symptoms for more than a year (

Office for National Statistics

). Up to

one in seven

of those infected are expected to have persisting (5/39)

@allthecitizens symptoms at

12-15 weeks

. Long covid can be associated with multisystem disease in some children, including persistent cognitive symptoms. SARS-CoV-2 is a neurotrophic and pro-inflammatory virus with neuroinvasive potential that can infect the brain, with

structural (6/39)

@allthecitizens brain changes

having been observed in adults, including those with mild infection. Allowing mass infection of children is therefore reckless. 

The evidence from

Scotland

and the

USA

, where schools reopened a few weeks ago, suggests that the lack of adequate (7/39)

@allthecitizens mitigations will likely lead to infections spreading among children and significant absences due to student and staff illness, further disrupting learning.

Children are now returning to school against a background of community infection levels

26 times higher

than at (8/39)

@allthecitizens the same time last year, and with the much more transmissible Delta variant accounting for almost all infections. Currently, one in 50 primary school children and one in 40 secondary school children have prevalent infection (

ONS

) and we are experiencing 40-50 (9/39)

@allthecitizens hospitalisations in under 18s every day. The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE)  has warned that schools returning will likely lead to significant

increases

in cases in school age groups. This will coincide with increased pressure on the NHS over winter (10/39)

@allthecitizens due to other respiratory viruses, and potentially alongside waning SARS-CoV-2 immunity among the most vulnerable. This puts everyone at risk, ​​and exacerbates the additional burden on people from disadvantaged areas, as well as those predisposed to more severe disease (11/39)

@allthecitizens from Black and Asian communities. 

Both the

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control

(ECDC) and the

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

 (CDC) have recommended vaccination of teenagers, together with a combination of measures such as masking, (12/39)

@allthecitizens small bubbles, testing, and improved ventilation in schools this autumn to keep children safer and in education. England has not followed this advice.

There has been no plan for robust mitigation measures in schools to reduce the risk to children from infection and the (13/39)

@allthecitizens consequences thereof, including long covid, hospitalisations, staff safety, and educational disruption. In England there is no requirement for masks, bubbles, physical distancing, or contact tracing within schools.

Despite MHRA approval, the UK Joint Committee on (14/39)

@allthecitizens Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has

not yet recommended

vaccination of all 12-15 year olds, and their recommendation to vaccinate 16-17 year olds has come

too late

to complete vaccination of adolescents before they return to schools, despite

clear (15/39)

@allthecitizens evidence

that

benefits far outweigh

risk at current levels of infection. Meanwhile,

over 12 million

under 18s have been vaccinated

across the world

.

England’s policies mean that we will soon have a large susceptible population with a high prevalence of (16/39)

@allthecitizens infection mixing in crowded environments with hardly any mitigations. 

The government has a duty to protect children, our wider communities, and the NHS and healthcare workers from the impact of a fourth wave following schools re-opening. We suggest a nine point plan to (17/39)

@allthecitizens achieve this:

Offer vaccines to all 12-15 year olds, with roll-out in schools to maximise access and uptake.

Immediately reinstate face coverings for secondary school students and staff in classrooms and communal areas as long as community transmission remains high, (18/39)

@allthecitizens with provision by your department of high grade masks to schools.

Urgently invest in both building ventilation and supplemental ventilation in schools by provision of air filtration devices as needed, with CO2 monitoring of indoor spaces to ensure that targets are (19/39)

@allthecitizens met.

Reinstate bubbles, this time with appropriate maximum sizes to minimise educational disruption, while properly containing transmission.

Reinstate contact tracing by schools with a strict policy on mandatory isolation and PCR testing of all contacts of cases (in (20/39)

@allthecitizens bubbles or households) to prevent onward spread.

Improve financial and practical support for self-isolation as this will improve uptake of rapid tests in schools.

Provide remote learning options and support, including wifi, tablets, and/or laptops for clinically (21/39)

@allthecitizens vulnerable children, children living in households with clinically vulnerable members, and those required to self-isolate.

Remove mandatory attendance policies and prosecutions and fines for parents, so that a parent can make a choice of learning modality that is in the (22/39)

@allthecitizens best interests of their child.

Provide mental health support in schools for students and staff.

The above measures should be implemented alongside multi-layered public health measures to reduce community transmission, which will also reduce the potential for outbreaks (23/39)

@allthecitizens in educational settings, allowing children to remain in schools safely.

Deepti Gurdasani, Queen Mary University of London, UK

•

Yaneer Bar-Yam, New England Complex Systems Institute, USA, Founder World Health Network

•

Spiros Denaxas, University College London, (24/39)

@allthecitizens UK

•

Trisha Greenhalgh, University of Oxford, UK

•

Stephen Griffin, University of Leeds, UK

•

Zubaida Haque, Independent SAGE, UK

•

Zoë Hyde, University of Western Australia, Australia

•

Aris Katzourakis, University of Oxford, UK

•

Martin McKee, (25/39)

@allthecitizens London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK

•

Susan Michie, University College London, UK

•

Christina Pagel, University College London, UK

•

Stephen Reicher, University of St. Andrews, UK

•

Alice Roberts, University of Birmingham, UK

• (26/39)

@allthecitizens Christopher Tomlinson, University College London, UK

•

Kit Yates, University of Bath, UK

•

Hisham Ziauddeen, University of Cambridge, UK

Competing interests: Zubaida Haque, Martin McKee, Susan Michie, Christina Pagel, Stephen Reicher, and Kit Yates are members (27/39)

@allthecitizens of Independent SAGE. Nothing further declared.

On behalf of the full list of co-signatories listed below.

Dr. Deepti Gurdasani, Queen Mary University of London, UK • Dr. Hisham Ziauddeen, University of Cambridge, UK Prof. Susan Michie, University College London, UK (28/39)

@allthecitizens Prof. Christina Pagel, University College London, UK Dr. Zubaida Haque, Independent SAGE, UK Prof. Trisha Greenhalgh, University of Oxford, UK Dr. Stephen Griffin, University of Leeds, UK Prof. Martin McKee, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK Dr Eric (29/39)

@allthecitizens Feigl-Ding, Federation of American Scientists, US Dr. Zoë Hyde, University of Western Australia, Australia Prof. Aris Katzourakis, University of Oxford, UK Dr Kit Yates, University of Bath, UK Prof. Stephen Reicher, University of St. Andrews, UK Dr Joe Pajak, FRSC, CSci, (30/39)

@allthecitizens NHS Foundation Trust Governor, UK Prof. Yaneer Bar-Yam, New England Complex Systems Institute, USA, Founder World Health Network. Dr. Christopher Tomlinson, University College London, UK Prof. Alice Roberts, University of Birmingham, UK Dr Eilir Hughes GP, Fresh Air (31/39)

@allthecitizens Wales Dr. Alison George, GP, UK Prof. KK Cheng, University of Birmingham, UK Prof. Carlos Gershenson, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Greta Fox, FNP-BC, COVID Action Group, World Health Network Prof. Spiros Denaxas, University College London, UK Prof. Matthias F (32/39)

@allthecitizens Schneider, Technical University of Dortmund, Germany Dr S A Aftab, Chair BMA Yorkshire Consultant Committee, NHS Foundation Trust Governor, UK Prof. Sunil Raina, Head, Community Medicine, Dr. RP Govt. Medical College, India, World Health Network Cécile Philippe, (33/39)

@allthecitizens economist, Institut économique Molinari, World Health Network, France Dr. Gunhild Alvik Nyborg, researcher, Covid Action Group, Norway Joshua P Cohen, health economist, independent healthcare analyst, Boston, Massachusetts Margo Watroba, strategist, Business Economist, (34/39)

@allthecitizens New England Complex Systems Institute, World Health Network, USA Elisa Zeno, research engineer, France Dr. Michaël Rochoy, University of Lille, France Prof Andrew Ewing, University of Gothenburg, Sweden Dr. Asit Kumar Mishra, NUI Galway, Ireland Dr. Jonathan Howard, (35/39)

@allthecitizens associate professor of neurology and psychiatry at NYU and chief of Neurology service at Bellevue hospital

One Voice Support Group for CV & CEV Families UK • Parents United UK Contamination Concerns During Covid-19 UK SafeEdForAll Shields CIC Hazards Campaign World (36/39)

@allthecitizens Health Network Covid Action Group Ecole et Familles Oubliées, France

Bernice Figa, Founder of One Voice Group UK • Stacey McCann, Co-Founder of One Voice Group UK Tony Dadd, Founder of Parents United UK Gemma Sewell, Co-Founder of Parents United UK David Lawrence, (37/39)

@allthecitizens Founder of Contamination Concerns UK Sarah LH Saul, parent and a founder of SafeEdForAll Lisa Diaz, Parent & co founder of SafeEdForAll Leah Brady, Parent, SafeEdForAll Claire Cozler, Parent, SafeEdForAll Caroline Lea, Parent, SafeEdForAll Lili Stevens, Parent, (38/39)

@allthecitizens SafeEdForAll Dr PIetra Palazzolo, Parent, SafeEdForAll Dr Marc Redmile-Gordon, Parent, SafeEdForAll Dr Nicola Spiller, Parent, SafeEdForAll Sarah ..." (39/39)