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BBC Inside Science

Back to School and Covid-19 and Ordnance Survey and the pandemic

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.51.3K Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2020

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As the lockdown eases and some children, in preschool and primary years, start heading back to school, what impact will this have on the pandemic, how will we know and is there anything we can do about it? Marnie Chesterton talks to Professor of Mathematical Biology at Cambridge University, Julia Gog, who co-chaired the group that advised the government on the impact of easing school closures. She explains why the limited opening of schools provides a golden opportunity to learn about its impact on the pandemic, and inform what happens in September when the new school year begins. Marnie also talks to Tim Spector, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College London, to find out what parents can do to help control the spread of the virus in their communities. He runs the COVID Symptom Study, a huge citizen science project that’s pinpointing the symptoms most closely associated with Covid-19. Millions of British adults have downloaded the app, to take part in the study, logging how they feel each day and adding symptoms when they feel unwell. The breakthrough that losing your sense of smell, or anosmia, is a common symptom in Covid-19, arose from this app. While children with Covid-19 tend to have mild or no symptoms, Tim Spector believes that some cases are being missed because many of the symptoms we’re told to look out for in adults, such as fever, are transient or absent in children. Tim explains which symptoms parents should look out for in children, including anosmia and a range of rashes such as ‘covid toe’. If parents log their children’s symptoms each day, the hope is he’ll have enough data to further refine the symptoms most closely associated with Covid-19 in children. Parents will then be better placed to spot them, if they occur, and keep their children at home. You might be forgiven for thinking that Ordnance Survey (OS), the national mapping agency for Great Britain, would be having a quiet time during the lockdown. But its online OS Map apps have seen a 300% increase in use, with users not only checking out new places and walks in their local area, but using the virtual maps to plan and imagine themselves on walks in more remote and far flung parts of Great Britain. But Ordnance Survey is so much more than just leisure maps. It runs the Master Map of Great Britain, a massive, interactive, geospatial database which can be interrogated by anyone in the public sector with questions on geography, planning, logistics, addresses and more. The list is long. And during the coronavirus pandemic, the Mapping for Emergencies service has been busy helping the NHS find places for blood testing facilities and PPE storage; working out which walkways are wide enough to allow social distancing, working out where the nearest pharmacies to vulnerable people are and much more. Presenter - Marnie Chesterton Producers - Beth Eastwood and Fiona Roberts

Transcript

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0:00.0

You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and trust me you'll get there in a moment but if you're a comedy fan

0:05.2

I'd really like to tell you a bit about what we do. I'm Julie Mackenzie and I commission comedy

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subjective and everyone has different tastes so we've got a huge range of comedy on offer

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0:36.2

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0:41.0

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0:45.0

This is the podcast of Inside Science with me, Marnie Chesterton.

0:49.0

It originally aired on the 4th of June 2020. This week some children in preschool and

0:56.0

primary years started heading back to school. However the COVID alert level

1:00.4

remains high and parents have mixed views.

1:03.4

She has been looking forward to being around her peers and able to access education and

1:08.3

routine as well but we are also in such uncertain times that I would understand if children also would prefer to be at home with their

1:15.0

We have three different ages all the way up to the age of nine from five so it's really challenging

1:21.2

but it's something that we feel it's safer for our family as family that has

1:26.2

somebody who is shielding just overall to keep them at home.

1:30.0

So what impact will a return to school have on the pandemic?

1:33.8

How all we know and is there anything we can do about it?

1:37.8

All questions for today's episode of Inside Science.

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