Parents and teachers call for clarity on mid-term
As infections rise every measure is being looked at, writes Eilish O’Regan
PARENTS, teachers and business leaders have demanded clarity over the suggestion the October mid-term break could be extended to curb the spread of Covid-19.
The impacts on working parents and child welfare were among the chief concerns cited. Schools are due to close from Monday, October 26 to Friday, October 30, but senior sources say a proposal to add an extra week has been discussed. No decision has been made.
National Parents Council Primary chief executive Áine Lynch said the body is opposed to any extension of the break, unless there is an evidence-based reason to do so, while teachers’ unions have said education stakeholders must be fully consulted if such a move is being considered further.
CLOSING schools for an extra week at mid-term may seem a radical idea given the priority given to education in recent weeks.
But it is true that if there are no children or teachers in the classroom, and less parenttraffic ferrying them to and fro, then there will be a drop in people mixing. There will be less chance for Covid-19 to mingle among them.
It may be a price we should be willing to pay for two weeks to allow businesses to continue trading while the virus threatens to circulate at higher levels.
It’s probably one piece of the rationale behind the suggestion for a two-week break – an idea which has yet to get the go-ahead.
The return to the school classroom has been a rare Government success and there is no evidence it is significantly contributing to the current surge.
But now the unexpected proposal is that children would be off school from Monday, October 26 to
Friday, November 6. The forecast from the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) is that by early November – unless there is slowing down in the rate of rise in cases – new daily cases will have jumped to 1,100 to 1,500 with 450 people in hospital.
The mid-term break clashes with a crucial and potentially treacherous time if the pace at which the virus is bolting is not brought under control.
The aim of the school shutdown would be to help slow the rising spread of Covid-19. But if this does go ahead, it could also contradict the message which has been given that schools are not contributing to the surge.
The fear is, could it indirectly end up adding to the risk in some areas if teenagers spend two off-duty weeks mingling in groups and driving the virus when so much of it is circulating?
The most recent figures provided by the HSE show 287 schools have been at the centre of Covid-19 testing since the start of the new term with 6,741 swabbed.
Of these 122 children and teachers tested positive.
Dr Colm Henry, HSE clinical director, said it does not seem to be escalating but flattening out.
That is out of more than one million students and approximately 100,000 staff in 4,000 schools.
We are also told there have been very little instances where the virus was passed on in the school.
It is mostly the case that a child or teacher picks it up at home or in the community.
One of the instances where it was caught internally involved two children who swapped the same desk during one lesson to allow one of them to better see the whiteboard.
The experience to date seems to bear out the scientific studies which were relied on when deciding whether to reopen.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has said outbreaks have not been a prominent feature in the Covid-19 pandemic.
This is mostly due to the fact that the majority of children do not develop symptoms when infected with the virus, or develop a very mild form of the disease.
No evidence has been found to suggest children are the primary drivers of the virus transmission.
The centre said research has shown children can become infected and spread the virus to adults while they are symptomatic.
However, teenagers may be able to spread the virus at least as well as adults do.
If the extra week’s break is given the go-ahead then the specific rationale for the decision must be given.
Is it linked to some other evidence available such as parents meeting up while bringing their children to and from school? Are there instances where people caught the infection at the school gates?
A two-week closure would mean less movement of people in towns and cities.
It could have its advantages in allowing GPs time to complete the flu vaccination among children.
This a huge task and is the first time children aged two to 12 years will be given the flu vaccine via a nasal spray.
Some GPs and pharmacists are making plans for carpark clinics to cope with the demand at a time when infection control slows so much down.
If headway was made in flu jabs among children during the break, it could be time well spent.
Children are important vectors in the spread of the flu.
But a two-week break would of course present another childcare headache for parents.
Thought would also have to be given to another week without school for children
who were in educational limbo from March to June.
It may have merit given the dire warnings about the escalation of the virus in the coming weeks if the brakes are not applied.
If public health experts believe it will slow the spread – sparing the need to impose some other restrictions on business – then the reasons must be clearly spelt out.
Otherwise people will be left wondering have they been given the full truth about the impact of school reopenings.