The Briefing Room

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David Aaronovitch presents in-depth explainers on big issues in the news.

David Aaronovitch and a panel of experts and insiders present in-depth explainers on big issues in the news.

David Aaronovitch and a panel of experts and insiders present in-depth explainers on big issues in the news

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The Briefing Room: Covid-19: the return to school

13/08/2020

Covid-19: the return to school

BBC Radio 4 - The Briefing Room, Covid-19: the return to school

How should we balance the risks when reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic?

As children start to return to school in Scotland, David Aaronovitch asks how we should balance the risks when reopening schools during a pandemic.

This week children start to return to school in Scotland, with the rest of the UK due to reopen schools in September. 

For most students this is the first time they'll be setting foot inside a school since March - the longest interruption to schooling in living memory. 

But with the number of coronavirus cases back on the rise, how should we balance the risks of reopening schools, against the risks of keeping them shut? 

Contributors:

Professor Bobby Duffy, Director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London. 

Professor Jonas Ludviggson, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden

Russell Viner, President of the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health and is a scientific adviser to the government as a member of SAGE

Professor Anna Vignoles, University of Cambridge

Inès Hassan, researcher at the Global Health Governance Programme at the University of Edinburgh

Producers: Kirsteen Knight, Beth Sagar-Fenton and Rosamund Jones
Studio manager: Neva Missirian
Editor: Hugh Levinson

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