UK has closed all schools

John Jennings, Numinbah

To slow the spread of the virus, the UK has closed all schools. Our government wants to leave them open.

One reason given is that few cases have appeared in Australian schools. But the virus is commonly sub-clinical in children; meaning not yet detectable. When it emerges, the kids are at school with hundreds of other kids.

The same ‘authority’ said that with schools closed, parents cannot keep their kids at home; they will be out playing with other kids. What happened to parental authority? And why is it better to have the kids in school with hundreds of others, rather than in the street with only half a dozen others?

Another reason, from the PM, is that if schools close then health-care workers will need to stay home with their kids. But most children do not have health-care working parents. That both parents are health-care workers is uncommon. There are other ways of looking after kids.

All told, it seems that our current government has an underlying political agenda, which, brutally put, is that it’s better to sacrifice a few kids to save a few jobs.