More effort required to reopen schools safely – Scally

Dr Gabriel Scally has claimed it is 'disturbing' that more was not done to make schools safer. File picture: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie

More effort is required to reopen schools safely by addressing ventilation issues, securing more space, and providing free masks, public health expert Dr Gabriel Scally has said.

Dr Scally was speaking at a webinar hosted by the Independent Scientific Advocacy Group (Isag), which heard that several European countries were now considering closing schools to contain the current wave of Covid-19 infections.

In England, schools had yet to see a major rise in infections since reopening fully in recent weeks, Dr Scally said.

The public health expert, however, said it was “disturbing” that works were not being carried out to make schools safer as the pandemic was being brought under control.

We have not seen a programme of works to ensure that ventilation is improved, or to take over extra space, or to provide free masks across the school system. 

Neither have we seen teachers being given any priority yet in the vaccination programme,” Prof Scally said.

“Schools are open across the UK but not under circumstances that anyone from a public health perspective would think was satisfactory,” he added.

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His comments come as Isag member and UCC scientist Dr Gerry Killeen this week raised concerns over plans to fully reopen schools on April 12 given current infection rates and the more infectious nature of the B117 variant.

This week, the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) said the number of cases and positivity rates in schools remained “low” but confirmed that Covid-19 rates had risen in the 0-12 age group over the past month although they may have “stabilised” in the past week. 

Nphet said a “concerted effort” is required across all sectors and society to ensure that schools reopen on April 12.

The seminar also heard that France, Germany and Switzerland are now looking at closing schools to contain the current Covid-19 wave.

Switzerland-based professor of public health Antoine Flahault agreed that more needed to be done to make schools safer, as they were "very dangerous" in terms of spreading the virus.

“Securing schools with ventilation, testing, and outdoor activities have been neglected and should be reinforced because schools will open anyway everywhere in September at least and it may not be completely safe. In addition to that we don’t have vaccines for school-age children,” Professor Flahault said.

Professor Henrique Barros said a strong public health system that followed up every case meant that “almost no cases” had been detected in schools and universities in Portugal. He also pointed out that 80,000 teachers were vaccinated last week.