FINALLY, BACK TO SCHOOL HOPE FOR PARENTS
NPHET expert Nolan says education return is looking more likely as infection spread falls
PARENTS will be relieved to learn that the country is on a more stable path towards the reopening of schools.
Professor Philip Nolan, one of NPHET’s leading advisers, gave the green light yesterday, saying we are ‘moving rapidly towards the point’ at which the return of classroom education can occur in a safe manner that won’t lead to a surge in infections.
However, Taoiseach Micheál Martin is continuing to take a more cautious approach.
Mr Martin conceded at the weekend that he does not have a fixed date for even the partial reopening of schools after the current Level 5 lockdown is scheduled to begin easing on the March 5.
However, his intention is to reopen special schools first, followed by Leaving Certs and primary schools.
Students and parents have been left in limbo by the absence of any definitive timeline for schools’ reopening. The parents of specialneeds pupils are particularly weary
at the frustratingly drawn-out wait to learn when their children can return to school, as many are having ‘meltdowns’ and regressing with the lack of routine.
The Irish Daily Mail today speaks to three parents in this cohort who are suffering while the Government and unions continue to dither on a return date.
In addition, Leaving Cert students have yet to learn for definite what options they will have.
The state of Ireland’s schools is likely to dominate politics this week as the Taoiseach, speaking at the weekend to RTÉ’s This Week, admitted he does not have a fixed date the reopening of schools.
Mr Martin said that despite declining virus numbers, he did not see Ireland as ready for ‘a major reopening on March 5 just yet.’ He said his strategy post-March 5 was: ‘I am looking at a prolonged suppression of the virus. We need to be cautious and we need to be conservative on what we do on March 5.’
Last night 15 more deaths of people infected with Covid-19 were announced, while a further 1,247 Covid cases were confirmed.
Meanwhile, in a development that proves we’re far from being out of the woods yet, it emerged yesterday that a major outbreak of Covid-19 in Nenagh Hospital in Co. Tipperary has meant all outpatients and non-emergency procedures have had to be cancelled.
The decision results from a high number of staff currently being off sick either with Covid-19 or as a result of being a close contact of someone who has been infected.
Pressed on schools, Mr Martin said when it comes to reopenings,
‘We do need to bring clarity’
‘we haven’t specific timelines yet’.
He said: ‘If we get down below the thousand [cases] mark, we can look at special needs.
‘We can right now… look at special education in my view. We can make sure it is in a controlled safe environment within special schools and providing for special needs and likewise for small numbers coming back over time.’
Mr Martin said subsequent to that: ‘I think the plan is to have a phased return to schools commencing at primary level.’
And as for the growing unease about the Leaving Certificate and how it wile be held, he said ‘we may have news this week’.
Mr Martin conceded: ‘We do need to bring clarity, to reduce anxiety and reduce stress for students and their families.’
He noted that a Cabinet subcommittee meeting would be held this week on the matter.
The Taoiseach also warned that the ongoing arrival of the vaccine means it ‘makes sense we take a conservative view; my line in the Dáil last week, a prolonged suppression of the virus’.
Mr Martin’s cautious approach contrasted strongly with the positive scientific positioning of Professor Philip Nolan, chairman of NPHET’s epidemiological modelling advisory group. Prof. Nolan said Ireland was now moving ‘rapidly towards the point at which the cautious and phased reopening of education would be feasible’. He predicted that the country could reach between 200 and 400 new cases of Covid-19 per day by the end of this month. With such a scenario, he said, a certain ‘highpriority and low-risk’ reopening could occur without a significant increase in transmission of the virus resulting from that, including in education.
Prof. Nolan told RTÉ’s This Week that by March 5, Ireland will be in a ‘much better place, but a place in which we need to be cautious’. He added he is optimistic about avoiding another surge of infections in the spring and early summer, as people will have learned from what happened in December.
Prof. Nolan confirmed NPHET is ‘pleased’ Ireland’s Covid-19 case numbers are halving every seven to ten days, and that the national reproduction rate (R-number) of the virus has slid below 1.
He said: ‘The people of Ireland, collectively, we need to congratulate ourselves for the work that we’ve done, because with the new variant on a path to dominance, we were really concerned at the beginning of January that it might be very difficult to get reproduction numbers in the region of 0.5.
‘But, nonetheless, people have treated this really seriously and have done it, and our incidence now is a third to a fifth of what it was at the beginning of the month. But there’s still a long way to go. The level of disease we’re seeing now is about the same as we were seeing at the peak in October, so it’s some distance from where we started in December.’
The sharply contrasting attitudes between the Taoiseach and the senior NPHET expert has led to some tension within Government ranks.
One Fianna Fáil rebel noted of the party leader that he is ‘in danger of becoming the Fianna Fáil George Lee. He looks as though what happened over the New Year has turned him gun-shy’.
‘The last thing that is needed is Micheál the Commentator. Parents are spooked by all the uncertainty. He has gone into bystander mode at the very point where he needs to lead,’ the source added.
‘He has gone into bystander mode’