Shelagh Fogarty picks up Ofsted chief for dismissing outbreak as "just a couple of cases"
29 June 2020, 15:08
Shelagh picks up Ofsted chief over dismissing "a couple of cases"
Shelagh Fogarty picked up the head of Ofsted after she appeared to dismiss coronavirus outbreaks as "just a couple of cases".
Eaerlier today, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson insisted that returning to school in September would be mandatory and that fines would be in place for parents holding their children back.
Shelagh was asking Amanda Spielman whether she thought it was safe for kids to return to school in September with the risk of a second wave of coronavirus that that could bring.
The Ofsted chief said: "I think there are a number of cases where the outbreak may be defined as just a couple of cases and it has led to temporary closure."
But Shelagh told her: "I'm a little concerned at your phrase 'just a couple of cases'. I get that two is better than 200. But we've seen how quickly two can lead to 200 if we don't take an extremely cautious approach."
Ms Spielman stated that meant it would be right to close schools in that situation, but insisted that the risk to children is very low.
She concluded: "The risks from coronavirus to children and younger, healthy adults are very very tiny. For children and younger adults, we're talking about risks on a similar level to being knocked down by a bus on your way to school.
"The kind of risks we take every day as a matter of course."
Hear her interview at the top of the page.
