Covid cases have started to rise again among schoolchildren in Cheshire East but the numbers are significantly lower than a few weeks ago, writes Belinda Ryan.
And some schools are continuing to urge pupils to wear face coverings in classrooms, corridors and other communal areas.
Director of public health Matt Tyrer told Cheshire East’s health and wellbeing board: “With Omicron we saw the highest rates in Cheshire East that we had seen for the entirety of the pandemic.
“I think we peaked just before 2,000 per 100,000 and we have fallen quite sharply in the last couple of weeks of January but that has now stalled.
“So we fell from near 2,000 per 100,000 to just into the high 990s just before this weekend and we are now around 1,013 per 100,000.
“The older age groups are continuing to fall but we are once again starting to see a rise in both primary and younger secondary aged children, so that’s the five to nine age groups and the 10 to 14 age groups.”
David Cole, headteacher of Brine Leas in Nantwich, told parents: “After a consultation with the local Director of Public Health… we will continue with face coverings in corridors and other indoor communal areas until the number of active cases in our community reduces.
“This will be reviewed every 2-3 days. The risk assessment will be updated accordingly.
“While face coverings in classrooms are no longer required, we strongly encourage as many students as possible to do so to ensure that there we minimise the impact on staff and students during this time.”
Dr Tyrer encouraged people who weren’t yet fully vaccinated to get the jabs.
“Getting that booster is absolutely the best thing to do especially as we move towards a reduction in some of those restrictions that have been in place for such a long time,” he said.
“That being said people can continue to protect themselves, particularly if we are in the position of seeing rising cases again, by continuing to wear masks should they choose to in public settings, maintaining really good hand hygiene and keeping a distance from people where it is possible and safe to do so.”
He said as the situation alters over the next few weeks in terms of changes in national policy 2we will look at how we work in order to continue to keep people as safe as possible”.
“That may mean that, as the testing landscape changes, our focus shifts towards protecting those who are most vulnerable in our communities, rather than a more universal approach that we have been taking.”
Recent Comments