Too much at risk to botch reopening of schools

A resurgent in Covid-19 cases and two weeks to go before schools reopen, students and teachers face challenges society has never seen before 

There are few impressions that defy reality more quirkily than the idea that summer breaks pass more quickly almost every year that passes. This year’s school break, and all its extraordinary events and abnormal length, will end this day fortnight when scores of thousands of school children begin to return to the classrooms they fled almost six months ago. They face circumstances no one in this society has faced before. Resurgent Covid-19 figures — our highest single-day total of new cases since May was reported over the weekend — intensifies a huge challenge for school communities.

Our escalating figures reflect trends right around the world, even in countries that had seemed to have suppressed the virus in recent months. France is one such country where new measures are expected to stem the pandemic in workplaces. Paris and Marseille were declared “red zones” as the country recorded another new high in post-lockdown infections. Once best-in-class New Zealand yesterday reported 13 new cases in 24 hours as their first outbreak in months grows. South Korea reported 279, the highest since March. Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was direct when defending her state’s border closures: “Until there is a vaccine, life will not return to normal,” she said yesterday. These country-by-country figures led to a WHO assessment that almost 300,000 people worldwide tested positive in 24 hours, reportedly the highest daily increase so far.

That reality has been ignored by too many people. One was former Fáilte Ireland chairman Michael Cawley who had to resign because he went on a family holiday in Italy. Tourism Minister Catherine Martin told him his position was “untenable” and acted quickly. It is not necessary to agree with Mr Cawley’s decision to wonder why the Government is not as firm with those who visit Ireland at this time — or with Covid-19 hotspot meat plants. After all, consistency is just one expression of the discipline needed to win this war. Mr
Cawley was wrong but he is not by any means alone.

Chairman Michael Cawley resigned after holidaying in Italy. 

Those who have argued that pubs be allowed to reopen must be dismayed, as most people are, by weekend footage from a Dublin bar showing precisely the kind of behaviour that makes an early return to normal for bars unlikely. Though Vintners’ Association CEO Donal O’Keefe admitted the footage was very damaging, he can, even with the best will in the world, do absolutely nothing to guarantee it will not recur. That can only be achieved by the kind of discipline and restraint that still seems beyond a significant minority.

The reopening of schools will test that responsibility in a new way. Guarantees will be sought where there can be none, answers will be demanded even if they remain elusive. As Annastacia Palaszczuk pointed out, and as most people understand, normal is a place beyond the vaccine horizon. In that context, we should all do all we can to ensure that the schools reopen and stay open. We have two weeks to examine how we, as individuals or families or businesses, can make that happen. Let’s use that time wisely and selflessly, there is far, far too much at stake. The ever-changing figures may be bamboozling but the consequences of failure are all too clear.