Mr. Michael Gillespie:

Keeping Covid-19 out of schools is what will keep schools open. That means emphasising maintaining physical distancing, wearing masks and hand hygiene in schools. The resources to do that need to be supplied to the schools. If schools are having difficulty they need to talk to the Department and get the resources. If we are contacted by our members, we will be very quick to point out schools that are not doing those things. Keeping Covid-19 out will include maintaining teachers in the school. It comes back to the rapid testing Mr. Pike just mentioned.

Because of the requirement to track and trace people with symptoms, the lack of qualified substitute teachers will be an increasing problem as we move into the winter season. People who in the past might have gone to school with sniffles or whatever will not be able to go because they would create anxiety among the high-risk people in schools as we mentioned earlier.