Public Health Director in North East Lincolnshire warns of Covid-19 increasing in schools from September
From today, people who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will no longer be required to self-isolate if they come into contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus.
The move – which has been hailed “another step back towards normality” – also applies to those under 18 years of age.
People who are double-jabbed and under 18s will be advised to take a PCR test, but this will not be compulsory and they will not have to self-isolate while they wait for the result.
But the Public Health Director in North East Lincolnshire, Geoff Barnes, is warning that rates of the virus could go up in schools from September onwards.
Speaking on Viking FM, he said: “It’s going to be challenging especially when schools and colleges go back. It will hopefully persuade people of the value of the double vaccination and the positive impact it can have on their lives. They think we might see schools impacted.
“We’re seeing an extremely high uptake in 70 plus – greater than 95 percent for both doses in terms of younger people. There is quite a bit to be done to get the second dose – that’s partly due to time scales – but I think we also need to persuade people that the second dose is really needed to deal with the Delta variant.
“It’s certainly a good idea for the employment perspective. A lot of areas have been struggling in terms of having their staff off work over the summer. Where we’ve had very high rates across the region what impact it will have on the spread of the virus I think remains to be seen.
“We’re still getting a lot of people in hospital, even quite young people who haven’t been vaccinated, and pregnant women in particular being impacted. I just say it’s not over it in terms of encouraging people to act safely. I think those messages are important now as they’ve ever been.”
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