FEARS that young people could kill granny by spreading coronavirus are wrong, researchers say.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock had told school-leavers heading for university in September “don’t kill your gran” by giving them the bug.
But Oxford University researchers found school closures had no significant impact on halting Covid-19 and pupils did not pose an increased risk to pensioners or other vulnerable adults.
The findings come from a study of nine million adults who live with children.
Separately, Public Health Scotland found just 1,600 positive cases out of 700,000 pupils in the first nine weeks of term after schools went back in August.
The Covid-19 advisory sub-group also found “teachers are not at an increased risk of testing positive for Covid-19”.
Its findings are consistent with World Health Organisation guidance that teachers are more likely to get it from other teachers.
Opposition parties dismissed the government’s assurance that schools were safe and united around a Scottish Green motion condemning the SNP’s “disappointing efforts to adequately prepare resource levels for Covid-19-related staff absences” and refusal to test teachers.
