Covid-19: Government to consider month-long school closures

It is understood that Eeducation Minister Norma Foley holds the view that children should not be allowed back into the classroom if such a recommendation is made by Nphet.

Keeping schools closed until the end of the month is now being considered as Government leaders and health officials meet today to discuss the rapidly deteriorating Covid-19 situation.

Non-urgent hospital procedures are now being cancelled as the number of Covid patients in intensive care has reached 70 and 6,110 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed.

As case numbers and hospitalisations spiral, the Government is coming under mounting pressure to keep schools shut beyond next week.

Issuing a stark warning, chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said he is concerned that the rate in the schoolgoing population has "changed and increased very substantially".

The Government's Covid sub-committee will meet with Nphet and the HSE today (Tues) to discuss the options around the reopening of schools before a final decision is made by Cabinet on Wednesday.

However, it is understood that many ministers, including education minister Norma Foley, are of the view that children should not be allowed back into the classroom if such a recommendation is made by Nphet.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan and chair of the Nphet Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group Prof Philip Nolan at the Department of Health press briefing in Dublin yesterday evening. Picture: RollingNews.ie

One proposal being considered is keeping schools closed until the end of January, as it is believed such a measure is now needed to control the virus.

Ms Foley, who will attend today's high-level meeting, stressed during a number of online meetings she held with Opposition spokespeople, union heads, and parent representatives that schools remain safe.

"The reason for the delay [of reopening] is because there is an acknowledgement that the new restrictions required a societal response to minimise contacts and slow the mobilisation of society," the minister told Opposition representatives.

Department of Education secretary-general Seán Ó Foghlú said they would be "guided by public health advice", and no decision on the reopening of schools had been made as of yet.

It is understood that both the department and stakeholders agreed that every effort should be made to reopen schools, but this should not happen if it goes against public health advice.

Labour spokesman for education Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said that "from the various noises I'm hearing, they won't [open] — they'll be lucky to open in January at all".

"We have to learn from the first lockdown, we need more than some printed guidelines, it has to remain possible to remain open for some pupils, the most at need or families most at need, such as frontline workers."

Social Democrats spokesperson Gary Gannon said he was "disappointed" by the meeting, as no new information was provided.

"I appreciate that from their point of view, Nphet is not meeting until Thursday, but what solace is that for a family trying or organise childcare?" he said. 

"It's politics of inaction and hoping everything is alright on the night, and it's appalling."

During the meeting, there were calls for schools to shut for the rest of the month from People Before Profit's Bríd Smith. 

Speaking at a briefing last night, Dr Holonon said that Nphet has always been of the view that everything should be done to provide education in as "normal or near to normal" a setting as possible.

But he warned: "The situation we find ourselves in now is that the transmission levels are very, very high for the infection in the population. 

Even though some of the rates are lower in the schoolgoing population than in the population overall, the reality is they have changed and increased very substantially, so we remain concerned now about our ability to assure the continuing provision of any of the core public services that we have talked about as being key things that we try to protect, and education is one of those.

It comes as England announced a strict national lockdown, which will see schools shut.

Announcing the measures, UK prime minister Boris Johnson said the spread of the new variant of the virus was "frustrating and alarming".