Coronavirus: Disease Control

(asked on 1st February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what evidence his Department has on the closure of schools reducing the transmission of covid-19.


Answered by
Nadine Dorries Portrait
Nadine Dorries
This question was answered on 2nd March 2021

Multiple data sources including the Office for National Statistics COVID-19 Infection Survey (CIS) and pillar 2 test data showed a reduction in transmission in children following schools closing for October half term and transmission rates increasing again after half term. CIS data also showed a substantial decline in positivity in children aged 11 to 16 years old, which was steeper than in older age groups, following schools closing in December 2020. This is supported by the CoMix Social Contact Survey that shows the closing of schools is associated with reduced contact rates and the consensus view across models that estimate schools reopening will increase transmission and ‘R’ by a factor of 1.1 to 1.5 or 10% to 50%.

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