With coronavirus restrictions eased in Wales last month close contacts of a Covid case can now go to school or work.
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The new rules say anyone under-18 and those who have had both Covid vaccines no longer have to self isolate if a close contact tests positive for coronavirus.
That includes children coming into school, teenagers going to college and people going to work.
It is within the rules for parents/carers with Covid to send their child to school, provided the child doesn't have symptoms and don’t test positive themselves. Headteachers have reported this is happening already just one week into the new term.
Some headteachers have warned that parents with Covid who send their children in to classes are putting schools at unnecessary risk of more cases coming in and more disruption to learning.
They say children need to be in school and schools should be open. But they fear the re-opening guidance is not strong enough.
It is hoped the new rules will mean an end to mass isolation of large groups of children. Last year thousands of pupils and staff were sent home after Covid cases in their contact groups. Critics said this sometimes happened when the pupils had never been near the confirmed case in their school year group bubble of hundreds of pupils.
In his back to school message this week Education Minister Jeremy Miles warned “Covid hasn’t gone away” and hinted there could be more disruption to education if people don’t follow the rules.
“It’s important to remember that Covid has not gone away and we can only carry on learning together if we keep that in mind and continue to follow the rules to keep everyone safe,” he said.
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