Keeping ‘business as usual’ key to success

PANDEMIC infectious diseases challenge a whole society, not just its health services.

How do you keep a country running if 25-30 per cent of the population are unable to work on any given day for a period of 2-3 months? Caring for the sick is important – but so is trying to maintain “business as usual”.

This demands a high level of political leadership to explain plans and reassure people that all sorts of unthinkable things have been thought about.

It also demands a crossgovernment approach so the actions of one department are not undermined by another. Pandemic response cannot be left to the health department alone.

School closures are a good example of not thinking about the wider context.

The idea sounds very attractive. In practice, it would undermine other institutions’ efforts to work as normally as possible.

There is no current evidence that small children are superspreaders of the Covid-19 virus, unlike influenza viruses. If we close nurseries and primary schools, we immediately reduce an already depleted workforce.

Parents will have to stay at home. Most of these will be mothers – and the NHS is one of the biggest employers of women.

Schools should only close if they cannot safely care for their pupils.

Retired staff or community volunteers might have to be brought in, but they would be visible and under professional supervision and leadership.

While schools like to think they are purely concerned with education, they are also the nation’s childminding service.

In a pandemic emergency, this is a critically important role.

Staying open is the biggest contribution they can make to helping us all get through the crisis.