Primary schools should be considered an “essential industry” and could reopen safely even before community transmission of COVID-19 returns to zero, health experts say, as students across Sydney head into their third week of remote learning with no end in sight.
Professor Peter Collignon, an infectious disease expert at the Australian National University, said it should be a priority for the NSW government to reopen schools, especially primary schools. In the 2016 census, children aged under 10 were 12.6 per cent of the NSW population, while 10-19 year-olds were 11.9 per cent of the population.David Gamble and Jennifer Crawford with their two children, Imogen, 10, and Rory, 14, working and learning at home in Balmain.Kids Helpline has reported 1642 contacts from children and young people in distress, mainly with mental health concerns, in the first six months of 2021, a 14 per cent increase from last year.
Professor Raina MacIntyre, an epidemiologist at the University of NSW, said it was a matter for government whether to open schools before community transmission reached zero but if they did so, there was a lot that could be done to make it safer. However, the Department of Education and other school systems do not have any data on the vaccination status of teachers because it is considered personal health information and teachers are not required to divulge it.
The children were missing their friends, having not seen them in the holidays as well as the past two weeks at school, and were asking when lockdown would end.
niltiac Safely? We are being used as guinea pigs👎
niltiac Is that advice based on science or pressure from parents who don’t want their kids at home?
niltiac And once again, teachers become expendable! Not essential enough to be vaccinated, but essential enough to be thrust into the completely undistanced and unsafe environment of a classroom, full of unvaccinated kids. 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
niltiac Of course they should re-open rapidly. Children are suffering and miserable and it’s wrong. They are at close to zero risk from the virus but at high risk of psychological disturbance from school closures. Schools do not become hotbeds of transmission.
niltiac Frightening
niltiac Could or should? Of course they can, but should they.
niltiac how about we worry about getting the numbers down first jfc
niltiac My colleagues with kids, all sent their kids to school. Management won’t be happy if deadlines not met or they can’t see you working.
niltiac So teachers are allowed to go to work and bring it home to their families? The long COVID consequences for children are dire.
niltiac Will teachers be vaccinated first?