@SirSamuelVimes. Here it is. I have also included a link to the Warwick Uni press release below too, because this contains some more detail.
Sarah Knapton, Science Editor:
There is no data to show that schools are driving the spread of coronavirus but mounting evidence that keeping them closed is damaging children, two reports by government advisers have found.
Next week, the Government is expected to announce that schools will reopen on March 8, but Boris Johnson suggested on Monday that the return could be staggered, with year groups coming back at different times.
Pressure to get children back into classrooms as quickly as possible is growing amid increasing realisation of the damage that being away is doing to education, health and wellbeing.
A new study by Dr Mike Tildesley and Dr Edward Hill, from the University of Warwick – who sit on the Children's Task and Finish Working Group (TFC) advising the Government on transmission in schools – said they had found no evidence that schools were responsible for spreading Covid.
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After looking at school absences due to the virus between September and December, they found that schools actually lagged cases in the community, suggesting infections were linked to growth in the wider environment.
Dr Tildesley said it was necessary to balance the importance of school with the risk of rising infections, adding: "Any epidemiologist will advise you that everyone stays in lockdown until we have herd immunity. Of course in reality we can't do that – we need to weigh up risk with the benefits of gradually reopening society.
"Children have been out of education for a really long time, which is damaging for well-being and damaging for their long-term educational needs, and it's really really hard for parents who are having to engage in home schooling.
"We're in a situation where cases are now coming down and have been for a number of weeks, the pressure is slowly easing up in hospitals and the number of deaths are going down. Hopefully by the March 8 we'll be in a position to cautiously start to relax things."
The study showed that the number of absences caused by Covid in primary schools was low, and that although there were more secondary school infections they fell in the second half of the November lockdown despite schools staying open, suggesting the case rates were linked to community transmission.
The proportion of teachers absent in primary schools was very similar to that in secondary schools despite fewer pupil infections, again suggesting that children were not driving the spread.
A separate review, authored by Professor Russell Viner, of University College London (UCL), who also sits on the TFC, found school closures to be "associated with considerable harms to children and young people's health and well-being".
The review looked at 72 studies from 20 countries that had experienced lockdowns and school closures and found that between 18 and 60 per cent of youngsters scored above risk thresholds for distress, particularly anxiety and depressive symptoms.
There were also marked rises in screen time and social media use and reductions in physical activity. Child protection referrals fell between 27 and 39 per cent, with a halving of the expected number of referrals originating in schools.
The authors said policy-makers must seek to balance the risk of transmission against the damage from missing school, concluding: "Education is one of the strongest determinants of health, and disruption to it influences health and wellbeing in various ways.
"There is clear evidence that education loss leads to long-term reductions in health and life expectancy. School closures as part of broader social distancing measures are associated with considerable harms to children and young people's health and well-being."
Warwick Uni press release:
warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/new_research_finds_no_evidence_that_schools_are_playing_a_significant_role_in_driving_spread_of_the_covid-19_virus_in_the_community1