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I had a look at schools in Gwent and how they have been affected by coronavirus in the first half term. Unsurprisingly @MonmouthshireCC has been the least affected, which correlates with the cases we've seen across the county borough. #LDReporter https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/18846305.monmouthshire-schools-hit-coronavirus-last-half-term/
This analysis will exclude @CaerphillyCBC as I am still waiting on figures for the coronavirus cases in schools - all the other Gwent councils have provided this information.
What pattern you can see, is that while it seems like a high percentage of schools are affected, there have been very few cases. This suggests that schools across #Gwent are doing something right. Cases are inevitable, but students tend not to be catching it in schools.
This can bee seen in @NewportCouncil schools where there have been 33 affected but more than half (17) have only had one case throughout the whole first half term. https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/18832959.coronavirus-affected-newport-schools-last-half-term/
I'm looking into reports that Newport council has seen an increase in parents wanting to home school their children because of the coronavirus pandemic, but the evidence suggests that transmission rates are exceedingly low in schools - this is what the scientists have been saying
But does it really matter how low the number of cases are and the chances of transmission is parents don't feel comfortable?
Although I don't know the staff numbers in school it does appear that students tend not to pass it onto each other (again what scientists have said).
Although I don't know the staff numbers in school it does appear that students tend not to pass it onto each other (again what scientists have said).
In @BlaenauGwentCBC schools for the first half term there were 15 cases among students and nine among staff members. I would expect this to be a significantly smaller proportion of students compared to staff members although these figures are not available https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/18835851.schools-blaenau-gwent-coronavirus-cases/
But then even if cases are low, as we see with @torfaencouncil school figures, it just takes one positive result to potentially see 150+ students self isolate. In Torfaen this figure was more than 2,000 across the whole first half of term. https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/18838658.schools-torfaen-positive-cases-coronavirus/
So what are schools doing to keep their students safe? This might give you an idea. https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/18839305.blaenau-gwent-schools-protecting-coronavirus/
