Secondary school and college pupils must wear facemasks from today

admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 04:40:00 +0000

Pupils and teachers in all of England’s secondary schools and colleges will be required to wear face masks in communal areas and corridors from Thursday.

New government guidance also says that “clinically extremely vulnerable” staff members should not come in to school.

Head teachers said schools would need help to pay for supply teachers.

They also expressed anger that the guidance had “landed on school leaders’ desks less than 24 hours before the start of the national lockdown”.

The new guidance, issued by the Department for Education on Wednesday afternoon, says “face coverings should be worn by adults and children aged 11 and above when moving around the premises, outside of classrooms or activity rooms, such as in corridors and communal areas where social distancing cannot easily be maintained”, and the same applies to further education colleges.

Schools should work to implement the guidance as soon as possible, the department said, but can have until Monday 9 November if they require additional time.

Until now, this requirement was only for schools and colleges where the local Covid-19 alert level was “high” or “very high”.

The DfE also says teachers with serious underlying health issues should keep away from the premises.

“Those individuals who are clinically extremely vulnerable are advised to work from home and not to go into work,” the guidance says.

“Staff should talk to their employers about how they will be supported, including to work from home where possible, during the period of national restrictions.

“All other staff should continue to attend work, including those living in a household with someone who is clinically extremely vulnerable.”

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said the lockdown was announced four days ago and that it “beggars belief that schools have had to wait until now to find out how it affects them”.

“Frankly, it is ridiculous that this new guidance has landed on school leaders’ desks less than 24 hours before the start of the national lockdown.

“There is very little in the guidance that could not have been communicated with schools 72 hours ago.”

The post Secondary school and college pupils must wear facemasks from today appeared first on COVID Safe UK.

Trimite offers up Covid-19 beating sanitising tunnel

admin — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 10:45:57 +0000

A sanitising tunnel which can kill 99.999% of viruses, bacteria, mould, fungi and spores, including coronaviruses, is now available through UK-based Trimite Protective Systems.

It uses the anti-bacterial sanitiser SHIELDme, which is entirely safe for human use, to spray the person passing through the tunnel with a very fine, odourless mist, activated by a pressure pad on the floor. This ensures that all skin, hair, clothing and belongings of tunnel users are infection free before entering a building or communal area.

The tunnel can also have a temperature reading facility fitted. It is recommended that individuals pass back through the tunnel every time they re-enter a communal space. The tunnels are modular based so dual way tunnels can be produced.

It has already been installed in a number of locations including multi-temperature supply chain specialists Oakland International in Northants and Rimstock alloy wheel manufacturers in West Bromwich.

Trimite Managing Director David Roberts said: “This product was originally developed and trialled in the Middle East where it is widely deployed. When COVID-19 arrived in the UK, we quickly saw how significant it would be if we could get these tunnels over here in a mass market way to help get people out again into communal areas with some reassurance post lockdown, whether for work or leisure.

“The beauty of the SHIELDme product is that, unlike other anti-bacterial sanitisers which need to be left in place for several minutes, this requires only a few seconds contact time to kill bacteria. It’s also completely safe for humans as it is based on something that occurs naturally in the human body.”

SHIELDme is based on super oxidised water Hypochlorous (Acid HOCI) which is manufactured using 100% natural resources and contains just four ingredients Sodium Chloride, Hypochlorous Acid, Sodium Chlorate and Water. It is known to be effective against all known pathogens including influenzas, E-coli, C-Difficile, MRSA and Norovirus and SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) and works in less than a minute. It was originally formulated for use in use in care homes, hospitals, hospitality, leisure, catering and educational environments. It can also be used to increase the shelf life of foods such as fresh fruit and meat.

SHIELDme is also available as a fogger which can be used to deep clean a building on a regular basis.

Roberts added: “We are now in discussions with a whole range of business and organisations across the UK including education, health, government, retail, leisure and commercial sectors to look at how the SHIELDme tunnel can help them get back to normal, giving employees and visitors the confidence to go out under current Government guidelines and know they are at significantly reduced risk of spreading the virus.”

The post Trimite offers up Covid-19 beating sanitising tunnel appeared first on COVID Safe UK.

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Secondary school and college pupils must wear facemasks from today

Trimite offers up Covid-19 beating sanitising tunnel