Ministers warned to plan for ‘exponential’ Covid infections in schools
Government experts have said the reopening of schools next month will likely trigger an exponential rise in Covid infections among children. According to members of SPI-M-O, the governments committee on on pandemic modelling, the removal of certain measures such as face masks, and the lack of vaccinations, may mean children will be susceptible to the virus.
“Vaccines have amazingly weakened the link between infections and illness and hospitalisations, but not broken it. No one wants to reimpose restrictions but we face a challenging winter. I do believe we need an informed public debate on the options through 2021 and 2022. The infection is not going away, we have incredible tools (tests, treatment, vaccines). No one wants restrictions reimposed but we will have to accept some illness, hospitalisations and deaths.” Said Sage member and director of the Wellcome Trust, Sir Jeremy Farrar
Source: The Independent, 28 August 2021