The COVID Diaries – 163 14th September
The government has been warned that schools in England will grind to a halt this autumn because of difficulties in obtaining coronavirus tests when staff and students are forced to stay home following a suspected case.
Thousands of headteachers have written to the education secretary warning of “partial rolling closures” of schools and disruption to pupils’ catch-up studies, because of serious staff shortages just days into the new term.
In some cases, staff have been unable to find any test slots available for days or have been offered tests at sites more than 100 miles away. When they do get a test, it can take days for results to come through.