Let’s not fail our children, it’s time to open schools
It’s January of 2021. Lockdown. The streets are not empty. Couples walk hand in hand gripping their skinny, half-sweet lattes; university students giggle as they selfie in the chilly air; cars honk wildly as if downtown was still a place to get to … fast.
This Toronto is a far cry from the apocalyptic scene we all witnessed last March. Save for the life on our dying restaurants’ now — abandoned patios, our city is no different from where it was three months ago.
Yes, people have been told to stay home. (But they don’t.)
Yes, people are not supposed to shop for items that aren’t essential. (But they can. And, they do.)
Yes, people are not supposed to gather outside in numbers greater than five. (But they skate on the public rinks with a limit of 25, toboggan and play in playgrounds where the numbers are not surveilled.)
Is this safe? Like most answers when it comes to COVID-19, no one really knows. And, like any decision the Ford government has made in this second wave, the choice to keep the outdoors open makes sense from an optics perspective.
At this point, we are used to having the moth-eaten wool pulled over our eyes. Outdoor play and exercise is encouraged by the province because schools are closed. This veiled gesture to let the children play is made under the false pretense that our children are cared for by the government and not in actuality taking a developmental hit for the sake of the faltering economy.
Toy-making factories are open while our children rot in front of their Zoom school, stripped of the pleasures of education, socialization and independence. Why did Premier Doug Ford all but encourage Christmas gathering by waiting until Boxing Day to enforce his joke of a lockdown? Did he know the plan all along? Were our children always on the chopping block so he could eat his turkey in company without guilt? Was Education Minister Stephen Lecce’s red herring return to school note all part of the ruse?
Again, we have no answers and, like most things, in the past year, we are compelled to accept the unknown with a grain of salt. At the foot of all this haze, however, stands one very clear message and it comes from Dr. Ronald Cohn, president and CEO of Sick Kids.
In the latest iteration of the School Operation Guidance Document, Cohn maintains “schools should be the last doors to close and the first to open in society.” Only 16 per cent of the 708,619 reported cases since mid-January have been in children 19 and under and the vast majority of those cases were either asymptomatic, or mild, while there has been “substantial rise in depression, anxiety and other mental health concerns, delayed diagnosis and care for non-COVID-19 related medical conditions and decreased routine childhood vaccination coverage.”
And, on Sunday, the New York Times reported that a community in Nevada is lobbying for a return to school after a surge of lockdown-related suicides. Ontario has yet to report such a statistic, but in a province that gives up on contact tracing because the numbers are just too high, how do we trust that this number hasn’t also slipped through the cracks?
I was walking with my six-year-old daughter aimlessly through the Toronto streets on Sunday, like we do every week. She turned to me cheerfully and said, “Mom, 2021 is just like 2020. Do you know why?” I said, “No, honey. Why?” She said, “Because of the bug, mom.”
COVID-19 is still very much here and we are relying on science to unfurl its solutions in the form of a vaccine in a diplomatic and ethical manner. We are waiting our turn, but our children have waited long enough.
There are practical measures already put in schools that are drastically curbing the spread within the institutions and outside and according to the aforementioned report “prioritizing enhanced IPAC measures and supports to the highest risk regions” will ensure that schools open safely and stay open with little risk to the community at large.
For once, Ford, put the government’s money where your mouth is. We are waiting patiently for science not to fail us. In the meantime, let’s not fail our children. Science is pointing to a return to school for the kids of Ontario. This is one mitigated risk we should be encouraged to take by the hand.