Mum keeps daughter off school for nearly two years saying they are ‘Covid petri dishes’
Lisa Diaz faces a fine of up to £2,500 and family court action after pulling her daughter, 9, out of school during the first wave.
A mum of two is adamant that she will only send her daughter back to primary school when she is double vaccinated despite the threat of legal action for poor attendance.
Lisa Diaz pulled nine-year-old Helena out of classes in March 2020 because she strongly believes government precautions for protecting children from Covid are inadequate.
Mrs Diaz said schools are ‘like petri dishes’ for the virus and she is continuing to home-school Helena, who is dyslexic, despite the threat of a fine and being taken to family court.
She also pulled her son, Alex, 12, out of his school during the first wave but sent him back around three weeks ago after he had both jabs.
Mrs Diaz, from Wigan, now faces being prosecuted by the local authority over Helena’s 20-month absence from Woodfield Primary School.
She said: ‘I am taking this stand to protect my family, including my clinically vulnerable mum, and to protect myself, as I have an underlying health issue.
‘There are no mitigations in schools whatsoever. Zero. In primary school there is hygiene theatre [unnecessary cleaning processes including scrubbing of surfaces], which is useless, because the virus is airborne.
‘There’s no masks and there’s no ventilation apart from opening the windows, weather permitting. In Belgium, they have introduced a rule about kids wearing masks aged six plus yet there are big issues about masks here, which I don’t understand.
‘There’s no vaccinations in primary schools and there’s no isolation of close contacts, so my daughter could be sat next to someone whose mum or dad or sibling has Covid at home.’
Mrs Diaz has followed comments from the government’s medical advisors and other official information, but believes this has not translated into a safe primary school environment.
‘Schools are like Covid petri dishes and that’s completely and utterly unacceptable,’ she said.
‘According to the Office for National Statistics, there are 80,000 children living with long Covid and we have got to get over the idea that Covid is a benign illness in children. The approach is criminal. You can’t have herd immunity without vaccines.’
Mrs Diaz, 40, has been sent a letter by Wigan Council saying Helena’s ‘poor attendance record’ could land her a fine of up to £2,500 and might also lead to family court proceedings.
The mum, who works from home in sales, has said Helena did take part in remote learning before face-to-face education resumed and she is happy for her daughter to take part in lessons outdoors.
She received a boost in her fight today when epidemiologist Deepti Gurdasani, of Queen Mary University of London, said on Twitter that ‘DFE policy has resulted in superspreading in schools’ and parents should not be prosecuted for removing children.
Mrs Diaz said: ‘I’m hoping my daughter can be vaccinated really soon and, when she is, I will return her to class with a really high-grade mask. Every day I have been sending a synopsis of Helena’s work to the school to ask for help, but I’m ignored every single day.
‘I really don’t want to go to court for protecting myself and my family in a pandemic but the risk assessment doesn’t mitigate the risk of transmission to the lowest practical level and nor has it been updated in light of Omicron, so I’m not sure if that will stand up in court.’
Mrs Diaz told Metro.co.uk she is not the only parent in England who has been threatened with court action because they have taken a child out of school over Covid arrangements.
‘My case is one of many and it’s an absolute farce,’ she said.
‘What’s particularly upsetting is the threat of the family court, because that’s implying there’s welfare issues. Ultimately, the worst thing that can happen when social services get involved is they can take your child off you.
‘It’s madness, it’s an utter waste of taxpayers’ money. If they put as much money into making schools safe as they did into bullying parents, we’d all be in a better place.’
Mrs Diaz told Metro.co.uk no one in her family has contracted Covid since the beginning of the pandemic, but the spread of Omicron is giving her fresh cause for concern. She is mindful of her own health condition, a blood clotting disorder named Factor V Leiden.
Mrs Diaz said: ‘We need multi-layered mitigations, high grade masks, ventilation, contact tracing, which has been scrapped in schools, supported isolation and we need at least the option of vaccinations.’
Cath Pealing, Wigan Council’s assistant director for education, said: ‘We are unable to comment on individual cases, however the council is committed to working with all schools and families, in line with current government guidance, to ensure that all children can return to school safely.’
The government has introduced a range of measures to arrest the spread of Covid in schools, with close contacts being handled by NHS Test and Trace.
In primaries, face coverings are recommended for staff and adults when moving around corridors and communal areas.
Other ‘control measures’ include ‘ensuring good hygiene for everyone’, maintaining ‘appropriate’ cleaning regimes, keeping ‘occupied spaces’ well ventilated and following public health advice in relation to confirmed cases.
According to figures released by Public Health England in August 2021, 0.27% of pupils in school on the day of testing had Covid, compared with 0.42% of students in secondary schools.
The study’s lead author, Dr Shamez Ladhani said at the time that ‘schools are not hubs of infection’ because positivity rates ‘did not exceed those of the community’.
In a statement, Woodfield school said: ‘Woodfield Primary School has worked tirelessly to ensure the school is fully compliant with the necessary COVID safety measures.
‘A rigorous and detailed risk assessment process remains ongoing in line with the UK Health Security Agency, Local Authority Public Health and all government advice and guidance in order to protect the physical, social, emotional and academic well-being of all children and members of our school community.’
A Department for Education spokesperson said: ‘Education remains a national priority and being in school is vital both for young people’s education and for their mental health.
‘We have strengthened our protective measures in a targeted and proportionate way while we find out more about the Omicron variant.
‘The Covid mitigation measures in place day-to-day in schools strike a balance between managing transmission risk – with the offer of the vaccine, regular testing for older students and enhanced ventilation – and reducing disruption to children’s education experiences.’
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