Public Health chief reassures Dacorum families that nurseries, schools and colleges are continuing to work hard to keep children safe

Hertfordshire County Council’s director of Public Health, Jim McManus, has written to parents and carers in Hertfordshire to explain the support in place to help keep children and staff at nurseries, schools and colleges safe.

He has also given clarity on some of the guidance around symptoms, self-isolation, testing and the rule of six.

The letter follows an update to Hertfordshire Headteachers last week, outlining additional support and resource the county council have put in place to specifically respond to coronavirus (COVID-19) concerns at education and children’s residential settings.

In the letter, he states: “Since children returned to school and normal routines and activities have resumed for many residents more generally, we have been closely monitoring positive cases of COVID-19.

"We are putting in place the following further support:

1. We are developing further tools and guidance for our education providers to help them implement prevention measures and ensure they are clear on how and when to report cases.

2. Guidance for determining close contact has been created specifically to help schools plan and deliver teaching bubbles in a way that means they can deal with COVID-19 cases with the least disruption to your children’s education. This should help reduce the need and number of children asked to self-isolate unnecessarily.

3. All education providers have access to a dedicated local authority helpdesk for advice and guidance.

4. We have created a local support team made up of health professionals, environmental health, health and safety officers and teachers who are contacting and visiting schools to provide them with advice and support to deal with COVID-19 issues.

5. All schools have considered children who are vulnerable because of health conditions as part of their risk assessment and they will continue to do so.”

Terry Douris, executive member for education, libraries and localism at Hertfordshire County Council, said: “We appreciate that many parents and carers will feel anxious about the safety of children and young people while at school.

"We want to provide reassurances that we are working closely with Public Health England and that strict guidance and processes are in place at all education settings to help them deal with suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19.

"Our dedicated local support team of health and education professionals will now also provide additional support to help control the spread of COVID-19 when we are alerted to a positive case.”

Hertfordshire’s Executive Member for Public Health and Prevention, Tim Hutchings, said: “We understand these are challenging times, but with numbers of positive cases on the rise nationally, it’s important that we remember that we all have a part to play in protecting our communities and keeping our nurseries, schools and colleges open.

"This includes making sure we all understand how to spot the symptoms of COVID-19 and how these differ from the common cold and flu, that we do not send children to school with symptoms or if someone in our household has symptoms, and that we all follow the self-isolation and testing guidance correctly.

“By continuing to work together, we can help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Hertfordshire, thank you for all you have done and continue to do to play your part.”

It remains important that everyone continues to do everything they can to prevent the virus from spreading.

To protect ourselves and our family members, you need to:

- wash your hands regularly or use sanitiser

- keep your distance from people (2 metres remains the advised distance where possible)

- wear a face covering where required or advised

- self-isolate if you have symptoms.

If you are not sure if you or your child has symptoms of COVID-19, you can consult this online NHS symptom checker.

To read the letter in full and for more information visit: www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/returningtoschool.