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Covid: Ventilation just as important as hand-washing, schools told

Government policy Whole-school issues Staff wellbeing Pupil wellbeing In the classroom Coronavirus Health & Safety
Improving air quality and ventilation in classroom spaces should be as important as social distancing, mask-wearing and hand-washing, doctors have told schools.

In this regard, schools could learn some lessons from how the aviation industry have been working to make planes Covid-safe.

The argument is put forward in a commentary published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine by doctors from Imperial College London and Louise Voden, headteacher of Nower Hill High School in Middlesex (Asanati, Voden & Majeed, 2021).

The authors call for specific guidelines to support schools in better using effective ventilation to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission in the classroom.

The commentary also calls for teachers to be added to the priority list for vaccinations and suggests the introduction of temperature “kiosks” at the school gate to ensure any students with a fever are sent home directly.

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