“Declaring freedom from, or victory over, this virus is in my view premature. The harm the virus can do, including through the impact of Long Covid, should not be underestimated. And its ability to mutate may yet pose us real challenges.”
Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland.
The Autumn term in Scotland officially begins on 17th August 2021, although some schools returned last week. With Scotland now “beyond Level 0,” there is an unsettled feeling of concern for the weeks ahead which was absent in August 2020.
Not only are child COVID-19 positive cases in Scotland much higher than they were last year, but we are also dealing with the far more transmissible Delta variant. High case numbers of Delta variant show that COVID-19 is still circulating freely in Scotland, and with public health measures being relaxed beyond Level 0 many parents, children, and teaching staff are feeling anxiety creep in.
Comparison of Aug 13th 2020 and Aug 13th 2021
Source: Public Health Scotland. Thank you to @TigressEllie and @TravellingTabby
for help sourcing the data.
Scientific evidence has been ignored for too long. It is widely known that COVID-19 is an airborne virus. In an article in The Conversation in May 2021 Trisha Greenhalgh, Professor of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford stated that "It is not too late" and that "effective ventilation of indoor spaces should be prioritised and resourced."
When Scottish schools broke up for summer holidays in June, the case numbers in children were soaring. Delta was clearing ripping through schools. Sure enough, a couple of weeks into holidays and the case numbers started to fall. It became increasingly clear that schools were not the safe space that we had been lead to believe.
In February 2021 the Scottish Government invested £90m distributed to Local Authorities specifically for COVID19 relief. This was to include ventilation improvements in Council buildings.
Where did that money go?
Was any of it spent in schools?
Was it ring-fenced?
Led by Helen Goss LCK decided to do some digging into risk mitigation and safety measures installed in schools to protect against an airborne virus & subsequently jumped down a rabbit hole or five, but there was very little to find. Schools appeared to be working with outdated guidance based on droplet infection rather than airborne viral particles; proactive action in the face of Delta variant was severely lacking. Scottish schools guidance was updated on the 30 October 2020 highlighting the importance of ventilation and using CO2 monitors as a proxy for measuring air quality.
Have schools been provided with the tools they needed to protect staff and pupils?
We decided to find out.
On July 16th 2021, Long Covid Kids wrote to every single Local Authority in Scotland.
All 32 of them.
We wanted to find out exactly what support and advice had been given to schools and to determine if Councils were following the guidance set out by the Scottish Government.
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 states that a public authority must comply promptly with a request for information and in any event not later than the 20th working day from receipt of the request. August 2nd was a bank holiday. That meant a deadline of 16th August 2021.
We have now received:
11 complete responses; Aberdeenshire, Angus, Western Isles, Dumfries & Galloway, East Ayrshire, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands, West Dunbartonshire, West Lothian.
11 councils have responded with incomplete information; North Ayrshire, Dundee, Midlothian, Fife, Argyll & Bute, East Lothian, Perth & Kinross, Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire, Edinburgh, Scottish Borders.
9 have yet to respond; Aberdeen, Clackmannanshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Falkirk, Glasgow, Highland, Moray, South Lanarkshire
1 has yet to confirm receipt of our FOI request; Stirling.
It is quite clear that there are wild disparities between Local Authorities.
Angus and Shetland Councils are proactive and have spent a significant budget on making schools safer for pupils and staff, whereas North Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire have done very little if anything at all.
The Long Covid Kids School Pack was launched to support schools back in February 2020. It is full of evidence-based information on how to reduce risk and why it is necessary.
Without a single CO2 monitor per class, how are staff able to measure the quality of the air in classrooms?
Open windows and doors are great, but colder weather is coming. Air purifiers, HEPA filters, CO2 monitors - all of these things should be in schools already. Why has this not been done?
Follow LCK's long-standing friend @grahamja5 for regular updates on ventilation.
Earlier this month the Scottish Government injected a further £10m (on top of the £90m investment distributed to Local Authorities in February 2021) to ensure that all schools have access to CO2 monitors to ensure appropriate air quality monitoring. Assessments to identify Ventilation improvements across schools will be completed by October half term.
Rinse and repeat in October?
In the meantime, it feels as though Scotland is currently sleepwalking into another wave, except this time it will be the children of Scotland who will suffer.
Scottish councils received funding four months after the schools guidance was updated on the 30 October 2020. Ten months on it appears that some are still dragging their heals.
One recent Norwegian paper Long COVID in a prospective cohort of home-isolated patients found that 50% more than half of 16-30yr old have long COVID-19 at 6 months.
We can't afford these delays?
How many #LongCovidKids is too many?
What is our threshold for harm?
Follow @LCKScotland on Twitter to keep up to date. Helen Goss lives in NE Scotland with her partner and 8-year-old daughter who is suffering from Long Covid since the first wave. The family recently contracted COVID-19 for a second time.
LongCovidKids.org is a patient-led advocacy and support organisation led by Sammie Mcfarland for families of children with Long Covid. Our story started with a short film on the long-lasting symptoms of Covid in children.
We are supporting research with The Long Covid Kids Study with PeopleWith
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If your child experiences any symptoms that indicate they are unwell, it COULD be COVID-19, and you should get them a test to help identify if it is a current Covid infection. Please see our Frequently Asked Questions page for more information.