PARENTS of children suffering from Long Covid have hit out over a demand by the Scottish Tories to end the requirement for face masks to be worn in schools.
All secondary school pupils have had to wear masks at all times since March, while teachers have to do so if less than two metres from pupils. The rule has been abolished in England.
Minutes of a meeting of the Scottish Government Advisory Sub-Group on Education from late June indicate that the group discussed that face mask use in classrooms should be ended once teachers are double-jagged. But any review of face mask wearing is now being resisted.
Helen Goss (below), spokeswoman of Long Covid Kids Scotland, whose daughter Anna, eight, suffers from the condition after falling ill with Covid last year, said she would be very concerned at lifting the requirement.
“Under-18s are as yet unvaccinated and therefore unprotected from infection. It is currently unclear what improvements are being made over the summer holidays to enhance ventilation in Scottish schools,” she said.
“We must mitigate the risk of Covid-19 infection to the unvaccinated younger population – mask wearing, CO2 monitoring as a proxy for air quality and improved ventilation in indoor spaces, such as school buildings, are currently the only protection that children have to avoid being infected.”
“Recent evidence proves that children transmit Covid-19 just as successfully as adults and sadly, children are still at risk of poor outcomes from Covid infection.
“ONS data suggests that 7-8% of under 18s infected will go on to suffer Long Covid for more than 12 weeks. We now have over 3500 children in our support group who are suffering from horrible symptoms every day. Many are from the first wave of infections and have now been ill for over 15 months. ONS data also shows that increasing numbers of children are being admitted to hospital with the Delta variant than previous variants which makes mask wearing and ventilation even more vital.”
She added: “Long Covid is a multisystem condition that can leave a child struggling with chronic and debilitating symptoms such as severe fatigue, muscle weakness/pain, cognitive difficulties, organ damage, seizures and neuropsychiatric problems.
READ MORE: Scottish Tories demand end to compulsory use of face masks in schools
“It is not a trivial outcome by any means. It has been scientifically proven that wearing a mask does not cause harm to adults or children and if wearing a mask indoors means that a child can protect themselves, their classmates and their teachers, then they should have the right to do so.”
Goss went on: “The Scottish Conservatives say ‘Protecting young people’s education should be a top priority for the SNP government’. We say protecting children’s health should be of equal priority.”
The Scottish Greens education spokesman Ross Greer also hit out at the Tories's demand and urged Scotland not to follow "the dangerous precedent" set by the UK Government in England.
“Covid infection rates were climbing fast amongst teenagers in the weeks before schools broke up for the summer. Even if every teacher were double vaccinated by mid-August, which they will not be, it doesn’t change the risk to pupils. Young people can suffer the terrible effects of long Covid," he said.
“The Tories have removed safety measures for England in their dangerous gamble with herd immunity but Scotland certainly shouldn’t follow suit.
"We are still experiencing the third wave of a global pandemic, so for the Tories to suggest learning can ‘return to normal’ is both disingenuous and dangerous for those pupils and staff who are vulnerable. I’m sure this suggestion has terrified many who were anxious enough about returning in August.”
Earlier, Scottish Conservative shadow cabinet secretary for education, Oliver Mundell (below), said the face mask requirement should be lifted in Scottish schools.
“Young people have already faced a year of upheaval and disrupted education. They deserve a return to normality as soon as possible.
“The success of Scotland and the UK’s vaccine scheme means that face masks in schools are no longer a necessity, as the Government’s advisers have suggested.
He added: “Scotland’s schools must be at the front of the queue for the relaxation of restrictions. Protecting young people’s education should be a top priority for the SNP government.”
“We firmly believe the public health data now supports a return to normality in schools by removing the requirement for face masks and ending the need for children to self-isolate for 10 days.
“Parents, pupils and teachers are waiting for answers on what rules will be in place. We should put restoring Scotland’s schools first and give children back a normal learning experience again.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Tuesday she is to ask the UK’s vaccine committee whether it has weighed up the danger posed by new Covid-19 mutations against the risk of giving the vaccine to children.
Her move comes after a Scottish health expert said she was “baffled” by the decision of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to withhold vaccines from 12 to 17-year-olds.
Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at Edinburgh University and a member of the First Minister’s Covid-19 advisory group, warned of a “surge of infections ... when the school year starts again”.
She said such a surge may bring with it the risk of dangerous mutations that could evade vaccine protection in teachers and parents.
The JCVI withheld vaccines from children after rare cases of heart inflammation emerged in America, although the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called the link between vaccination and inflammation inconclusive. Adolescents continue to receive jabs in the US.
Dr Gregor Smith, Scotland’s chief medical officer, is to write to the JCVI this week to urge the committee to review its guidance for adolescents.
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