Health expert says Sheffield schools should stay open despite grim Covid warning

Dr Andrew Lee, a reader of public health at the University of Sheffield, claimed coronavirus infections are at risk of ‘spiralling out of control’ and warned it’s a matter of when, not if, more cases of the new variant will reach the city.

Still, education settings should not close, he said.

Dr Lee told The Star: "There’s been a lot of hysteria. For primary schools, the risk is low, not just to pupils but also to staff.

"Secondary schools and sixth forms are slightly different because they are more likely to get infected, but that said if we look at last term we had a lot of infections in Yorkshire but the schools coped.”

Coronavirus LIVE: Number of Sheffield primary schools to stay closed today over Covid fears

He added: “It showed that the measures the schools put in actually worked because otherwise we would be faced with lots of outbreaks in schools, which we weren’t seeing.

"We have got evidence that the measures worked. Schools can operate safely. I wouldn’t say one-hundred per cent because nothing is ever risk-free.”

Dr Lee’s comments come after the National Education Union (NEU), which represents the majority of teachers and education professionals in the UK, told its 450,000 members it is “unsafe for you to attend your workplace at present.”

The NEU position is based on advice apparently given to the Government from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) – which has not been published – that said schools should move to remote learning to help reduce the spread of coronavirus.

On support for another lockdown, Dr Lee said: “When we look at the trends for infections, it’s just skyrocketing. It doesn’t show any signs of turning a corner.

"If we don’t slow the rise it will just spiral out of control. It will get to the stage where the NHS capacity will be breached.”

Sheffield remains in Tier 3 with considerably fewer Covid cases than the national average. Tougher restrictions are still needed, however, Dr Lee said, with a rise in cases likely due to Christmas mixing.

He added: “In Sheffield we are not an island [...] unless we do what the Chinese did which was very draconian and implement complete movement restrictions there’s always a risk of infections being brought into Sheffield.”