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Back to school: Trepidation ahead of 'highly likely exponential increases' in Covid infections

Legislation and guidance Government policy Coronavirus Health & Safety
There is a sense of trepidation, inevitability, and anger about the “highly likely exponential increases” in Covid infection rates as schools return this week and next.

Just as Department for Education guidance has ended the requirement for schools to operate bubbles and for the use of face masks (DfE, 2021a), government scientists have concluded that: “It is highly likely that high prevalence will be seen within schools by the end of September 2021.”

A consensus statement from Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M), a sub-committee of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), published on August 27, concludes: “Schools will represent a high proportion of remaining susceptible individuals and it is highly likely that exponential increases will be seen in school-attending age groups after schools open.

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