An expert says keeping nurseries and childcare open when schools are closed is not a 'scientific decision'.
The Professor of Child Health and Outbreak Medicine at the University of Liverpool says keeping nurseries open does not make sense - from the point of view of stopping the spread of the virus.
Asked about the science behind why schools have closed but nurseries remain open, virologist Professor Calum Semple told BBC Breakfast: “The reality is, under these circumstances, every opportunity to remove social mixing and work mixing of human beings is vitally important.
“So if a political decision has been made here to keep nurseries open in order to keep the essential staff at work, then that could be tempered by restricting the nursery capacity to those essential workers.
“But if we’ve gotten to the point of closing the universities, secondary schools and primary schools on the grounds of public health, then I would be looking to close all other non-essential activities.
“And it may be that a political decision has been made here that nurseries are essential. But it’s not a scientific one.”
