now though Boris Johnson spent most of
today's briefing defending his chief
adviser the Prime Minister did reaffirm
his determination for a phased reopening
of schools in England before the summer
holidays they were closed on the 20th of
March to all accept key workers children
and vulnerable students primary schools
will reopen on June the 1st two early
years pupils reception year one and year
six though that may not be possible in
all cases he added that from the 15th of
June secondary schools would provide
some contact to year 10 and 12 students
to allow them to begin preparations for
exams next year well our education
correspondent Dan Johnson is here with
me dan I reaffirm ation that some
schools are going to reopen but there's
still a lot to iron out there is indeed
and teaching unions have again expressed
safety concerns saying that parents and
teachers need further reassurance need
to see more of the scientific evidence
behind this decision the advice that was
published on Friday said that the risk
is low if the right measures are in
place and the Prime Minister did
recognize today that it won't be
possible for every school to reopen next
Monday even to the limited number of
children that they aim to get back in
and that's been welcomed because we know
a number of councils have said well they
aren't ready their schools
won't be opening the decision to delay
the return of some of those older pupils
the 15 and 17 year olds who will be
facing their GCSEs and a-levels next
summer that's been well received they
won't go back for at least another
fortnight now and on social distancing
the government issued some guidance
today to nurseries and play schools
recognizing that it will be essentially
impossible to keep those younger
preschool kids apart but what about
primary schools what can we expect well
they'll be smaller class sizes they'll
be staggered break times and different
times for kids being dropped off and
picked up all in an attempt to try and
spread people out stop the mixing try to
reduce the transmission of the virus but
there are still some big questions about
the practicalities and that is just
England remember we don't have a date
yet for more kids to go back to school
in Wales in Scotland it's not expected
until August Northern Ireland it look
more likely to be September and
ultimately this is going to be a
decision that faces each family really
when the time is right for them but at
least in a week's time some parents will
be facing the prospect of returning
their kids to school it's time to dig
out and dust down the school uniform and
see if the shoes still fit mmm okay that
main thanks dad Johnson now this week
the official number of deaths in care
homes in England and Wales from kovat 19
is expected to pass 10,000 and that
number won't include residents who died
in hospital care leaders say two months
into the pandemic government support
remains patchy and inconsistent in the
last week the BBC has spoken to more
than a hundred residential and nursing
homes and nearly a third still have no
staff tested for the virus ministers say
they threw a protective ring around care
homes from the start and that the
majority are coronavirus free our social
affairs correspondent Allison Holt has
returned to one home we've been
following throughout the crisis to get
their view out of mind for too long the
strain on care staff is so close to the
surface it's like an emotion you know
you're up and down you know then you're
caring for people under the hardest
conditions these people get so sick and
so curly and only be able to hold their
hand not be able to give them a cuddle
not be able to do my job it makes me
feel frustrated and Sade one home but
their experience here tells the story of
so many we followed care staff at st.
Ives lodge and Chingford as they've
struggled with kovat 19:6 residents have
died now eight weeks on they hope
they've got the better of the virus so
right from the start we've tried to
throw a protective ring around our care
homes this wasn't what the home manager
remembers struggling to get testing
protective equipment and health support
she felt ignored we've made sure that
care homes have the resources they need
to control the spread of infection well
that makes me really angry to watch that
because it's rubbish going back to that
and even now we still feel like we're on
our own
we had no one you know we were making
decisions we were using Google it was it
was it was a nightmare you know but we
did it
staff locked the home down in early
March
then official advice in England said it
was unlikely people in residential and
nursing homes would be infected by the
virus that advice changed on March the
13th when care homes were told they
should ask no one to visit who has
suspected kovat 19 or is generally
unwell
three days later sand hives Lodge had
its first case a resident who visited
hospital regularly the virus spread to
others he sat with at mealtimes on the
17th the NHS told hospitals they should
urgently discharge all Hospital
inpatients who are medically fit to
leave there's increasing evidence that
some patients took the virus into homes
on the 21st the government said the
medically vulnerable should shield
including those in care homes
three days later lockdown began for
everyone at this point the
representatives of key care
organisations believe that their voice
was not really being heard at the heart
of government the focus was on
preventing hospitals being overwhelmed I
think it says something about how we
value people in the care system Vic
Raynor who represents not-for-profit
care homes says in March some residents
were receiving blanket letters from GPS
saying they might not be taken to
hospital we will be signing forms to say
if your heart and breathing stopped the
carers will not try to resuscitate you
there will not be ambulances available
to come and continue any resuscitation
or take you to hospital the home that
received this letter refused to pass it
on to its residents it's not thinking
about people it's not thinking about
individuals it's thinking about a
process and a system and it's saying the
system can't help you three weeks into
lockdown with the pandemic as its peak
council directors of social care wrote
to the government describing protective
equipment distribution as shambolic
guidances contradictory and saying
social care appear
and afterthought four days later the
health and care secretary set out his
action plan the government insists it's
provided the care sector with protective
equipment testing and extra money and in
a system that was already underfunded
and under pressure there's talk of the
longer term reform that's needed I'm
hopeful that this crisis will mean that
the government realizes it can't afford
not to reform Social Care I think too
often in the past the focus has been on
the cost of reform without thinking
about the human and financial
consequences of not reforming for
residents and care staff getting this
right for the future couldn't be more
important Allison Holt's BBC news