Teachers' unions have reacted with dismay after the government published new COVID-19 guidelines for secondary schools last night - just days before millions of pupils in England are due to return to the classroom next week.
One leader said there was a sense of "weary inevitability" about the plan, while Labour said the "incompetence is insulting".
If there is a local lockdown in an area with significant numbers of infections, schools could have to bring in a rota system for students who would spend two weeks in the classroom and then a fortnight studying online at home.
Although any suggestion that Labour would have done better is also insulting. There are external influences in play which Labour is no more capable of resisting than the Conservatives.
A more interesting possibility is that the insulting nature of the government coronavirus response is deliberate.
In an interview with The Times, Hancock said that a second wave of COVID-19 was “avoidable but it’s not easy” and that the return of children to schools next week presented challenges in stopping the spread.
“A second wave is clearly visible in other parts of the world,” he said.
“It is a very serious threat. But so far in the UK we are managing to keep the number of new cases flat through a combination of test and trace and local lockdowns.”
He added: “This is the reasonable worst-case scenario, that we have a bad flu and a growth in coronavirus as people spend more time indoors."
In an interview with The Times, Hancock said that a second wave of COVID-19 was “avoidable but it’s not easy” and that the return of children to schools next week presented challenges in stopping the spread.
“A second wave is clearly visible in other parts of the world,” he said.
“It is a very serious threat. But so far in the UK we are managing to keep the number of new cases flat through a combination of test and trace and local lockdowns.”
He added: “This is the reasonable worst-case scenario, that we have a bad flu and a growth in coronavirus as people spend more time indoors."
That last sentence doesn't even make sense. Lockdown is where people spend more time indoors and that is supposed to be a major factor in minimising the spread of the disease, not a contributory factor in spreading it. Hancock isn't even taking the trouble to be coherent here.
3 comments:
He probably means that as winter approaches, people will spend more time indoors as per usual and spread germs. I don't believe that one, either. Just like my Mum always told me, I get a cold after my feet get wet.
So now he's not only a failed teacher: he's a microbiologist.
Sam - I'm not convinced that he believes what he says. Not a startling conclusion of course.
Jannie - and an epidemiologist.
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