PARENTS have been reassured over the safety of schools in Swindon after a Covid-19 outbreak this week.

The council reported seven positive coronavirus tests among pupils and staff at Abbey Meads Primary School on Wednesday. The school made the decision to send three bubbles home to isolate instead of closing the premises. 

Students across England returned to classrooms at the start of March, and the council's director of public health Steve Maddern insists measures are in place to protect them. 

He said: “It’s always anxiety-producing when you end up having this within a school setting.

“I think the insurance we can provide is that the school has been incredibly compliant with the guidelines and the regulations they need to be doing within the school to protect staff and children.

“We have worked really closely with the school to make sure that all appropriate risk assessments have been done. 

“Positive cases are isolating and contacts of cases are also isolating, which helps reduce the risk, so I think that should provide some reassurance to parents as the school continues to manage that situation.”

Mr Maddern said the school has not seen any additional cases since Covid-19 was first reported. 

“It’s another justification that the work has been done in an appropriate manner,” he said.

“Parents should be encouraging their children to comply with the hand, face, space messaging as well, and we will continue to support the school.” 
The case rate in Swindon rose from 27 per 100,000 last week to 32.9 yesterday. 

“It is starting to stagnate a little bit," said Mr Maddern. "We have seen that flux from Swindon across the last week. I think the school cases have contributed to the increase of case rate for Swindon, but I wouldn’t say it was the sole reason why we’ve gone up.

“The majority of our cases still reside in the younger adults aged between 25 to 39 years old, which would suggest that it’s the opening up of the restrictions.

“Luckily for us, the case rate in the over 60s still remains low and across the last seven days, we’ve reported no cases in the over 70s, which is really good.”
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Mr Maddern urged people to remain careful over the bank holiday weekend. 

He said: “I really want people to enjoy the weekend, use these new freedoms to be able to socialise, but again, remember it’s rule of six, or two households only, and you can only socialise outside.”