UK’s Johnson says face masks in schools possible

LONDON (AP) — The British government came under renewed pressure Tuesday to recommend high school students in England wear face masks, at least in communal areas such as hallways, after the advice in Scotland was changed.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his government is ready to follow suit and advise a change in certain situations if the medical evidence deems face masks to be necessary in containing the spread of the coronavirus.

“On the issue of whether or not to wear masks in some contexts, you know, we’ll look at the changing medical evidence as we go on,” he told reporters while on a visit to a shipyard in Devon in southwest England. “If we need to change the advice, then of course we will.”

For now, the advice of the British government, which oversees schools in England, is that face masks aren’t necessary. It points to a recent report from Public Health England that showed very few virus infections during the partial reopening of schools for younger students in June.

The evidence from around the world is that children face less severe virus symptoms than do adults, with the elderly the most vulnerable to severe infection and death.

However, they can clearly be sources of transmission and governments around the world are grappling about how school reopenings will impact on the virus’ spread within families and in the wider community.

England’s nearly 25,000 schools are due to reopen over the coming couple of weeks, and Johnson’s Conservative government is focused on making sure the return goes smoothly following the recent exam results fiasco.

“I think that the schools, the teachers, they’ve all done a fantastic job of getting ready and the risk to children’s health, the risk to children’s well-being from not being in school, is far greater than the risk from COVID,” Johnson said.

Within the UK, which has the highest virus-related death toll at nearly 42,000, Scottish schools reopened first, followed by those in Northern Ireland.

Schools in England are Wales are due to reopen in September.

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