Nick Stuart, Chair, Isle of Wight Liberal Democrats, shares this open letter to Isle of Wight residents. Ed
I’m asking you to contact the Government and Isle of Wight Council directly, and through the MP and Isle of Wight council councillors, to request that schools should not open as planned.
In London Ed Davey MP and other Lib Dem MPs successfully led the charge to ensure all London primary schools remain closed. On the Island many people have raised this issue and now more than ever we need our elected officials to step up and listen to parents, teachers and public by telling the Government our views.
We need direction on the Island and the question is are the leadership confident that the Covid transmission rates are negligible in schools?
Variant 40-70 per cent more infectious, especially in young people
Covid responses must change in response to the new variant which is 40% to 70% more infectious especially in children and teenagers.
We have infections accelerating from their low levels faster than virtually anywhere in the UK and it’s time to think about a circuit break to stop numbers of seriously ill Covid patients overwhelming the limited hospital resources on the Island.
Government forcing schools to open
The Government insists on mass testing forcing schools to open when we know the current fast test is less than 50% accurate even with fully trained technical staff.
With only a few days notice over Christmas, Ministers seem to think that Senior school staff can plan and deliver a perfect rolling testing regime with untrained volunteers and army personnel. A mass testing system with minimal resources and a workforce stretched to breaking point is a guarantee of chaos.
Circuit break
The Teaching profession are desperate to teach while keeping staff pupils, parents and the general public safe, so let’s listen to their call for a ‘circuit break’ to include all schools including primaries, and for secondary schools to run on a rota basis, which can keep cases lower whilst keeping children learning.
We know that mass testing will lead to lots of isolated teachers, pupils and families so more Government support for online learning are essential.
For those of you with parental responsibilities you may wish to keep their children at home and I would expect the Council and Schools to be sympathetic given they have the powers to allow children to be absent for Covid related reasons.
Help them to help us
Finally let’s recognise the efforts of the NHS, Council staff and public services as they cope with the Covid pandemic along with a complex vaccine rollout.
Help them to help us as we face a desperately hard time with this new variant before vaccines reach much of the population. Please go with the vast majority of your fellow Islanders.
Keep your distance, sanitise and wear a mask, including children.
Image: Elena Mozhvilo under CC BY 2.0
