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Covid in Scotland: Self-isolation of whole classes ‘no longer routine’
The blanket self-isolation of ทางเข้าเกม whole classes following a positive Covid test will no longer be “routine”, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said.
She told MSPs children identified as close contacts would not have to isolate if they tested negative.
However, teachers and secondary school pupils will still be asked to wear face coverings in classrooms for the first six weeks of the new term.
The policy on wearing masks in school buildings will be kept under review.
Ms Sturgeon said she was “acutely aware” that many young people found the mask policy difficult but she said experts considered it an “important protection” for people in schools.
The announcement was welcomed by unions but one parents’ group said it was “unacceptable” that children would have to wear face coverings “considerably longer than almost any adult doing any job”.
Most children returning to school later this month will not have been vaccinated, as only those who are aged 12 and over and at higher risk of falling ill from Covid are being offered the vaccine.
However, Ms Sturgeon said she was hoping updated advice from the UK’s vaccine advisory group over the “next day or so” would recommend “going further” on the vaccination of young people.
She said she was “particularly concerned” to get 16 and 17-year-olds vaccinated.
In her update to a virtual Scottish Parliament, the first minister said carbon dioxide monitors – which asses how well-ventilated a space is – will also be required in schools and childcare settings.
And all school staff and secondary school pupils will be asked to take a lateral flow test one or two days before they return to school for the new term. They should then take them twice a week.
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