Why Sheffield Council has decided to reopen schools in the city from next week

Last month, when Sheffield’s director of public health Greg Fell decided against reopening schools more fully, his concerns were based on the high number of cases and a system of tracking them that was not yet up and running.

However, Mr Fell says he is now in a position to recommend schools open more widely, in a ‘planned and measured’ way, from Monday, June 15.

Explaining his decisions in a statement released on Wednesday, he said that data indicated the number of daily new cases and the number of people who needed hospital treatment for COVID-19 both continued to fall.

He also said the number of people who were sadly dying from the disease was ‘stable and decreasing’ and that the general picture was now ‘moving in the right direction’.

Mr Fell added that he was confident testing capacity had increased to allow people to access a test when they needed it and that the new NHS test and trace system was ‘in place and working’.

And he said that the daily reports of new cases he was now getting and a new local outbreak management plan designed in collaboration with Public Health England would allow him to respond to flare-ups.

He said: “Of course, starting to slowly make changes to ease lockdown is a balance. Settings will be operating differently with small protective social bubbles to help reduce risk.

“This means that settings will carefully and slowly increase numbers, where they have capacity to do so, and when they feel that they have the right plans in place.”

Mr Fell added that the Council had supported schools in creating detailed risk assessments to plan how they will implement national guidance and minimise risk.

However, despite these plans, Mr Fell said that completely eliminating risk was impossible and that hand-washing, social-distancing and self-isolation for those with symptoms were still key to hampering the spread of the virus.