Susie O’Brien: Let’s keep schools open … for now

There are arguments for and against closing schools in the face of COVID-19, but we should be trying to keep them open as long as we can, writes Susie O’Brien.

Parents want to know why the Prime Minister has banned gatherings of more than 500 people, but allowed schools to remain open.

It’s because the benefits of closing schools are not clear-cut and many health experts argue they should be kept open as long as possible.

At present schools in Australia are continuing to operate unless there’s a reason for them to close.

That puts us out of step with many countries, including Italy, Spain, China and Japan. UNESCO figures show schools have been closed in 56 countries and another 17 have local closures.

However, many of those countries have infection rates much higher than Australia.

As a parent of three children attending both private and public schools, I’m torn.

Emotionally, I want all schools closed immediately. I want my kids at home where they are safe and I want hardworking teachers protected from being exposed to snotty, sneezy children.

I know that although kids aren’t generally affected by the virus, they can carry it and can be infected without showing symptoms. And yet wise heads must prevail.

The benefits of closing schools are not clear-cut. Picture: AAP

There are good reasons for schools to be kept open unless the situation changes markedly.

Australian governments appear to be following the lead of Dr Chris Whitty, the UK chief medical officer. Dr Whitty says the social impact of closing schools on children’s education will be substantial, but the benefit to public health would not be.

One major obstacle to schools closing is that many essential health and emergency workers would have to stay home to look after their children.

It’s estimated one-third or more health workers are primary carers for children younger than 18. Many don’t have other adults or family members who can look after their children.

Grandparents, who are called on at times of sickness or crisis, are being advised to self-isolate, which makes them less able to help.

Health experts are also questioning how useful school closures will be if students congregate in the community and spread the illness more widely.

It’s unlikely parents will keep kids indoors unless they are forced to do so. Four months with no outside social interaction? No way.

Dr Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Centre for Health Security, says there is no clear evidence that closing schools will slow the outbreak of the virus.

She cites research from the Centre for Disease Detection and Control from the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, which closed a number of US schools.

There was little or no impact, mainly because parents allowed children to get together outside of school. Dr Nuzzo says that if children aren’t sick, school closures will have little impact on the spread of the virus. And, given that children are not believed to be major carriers of COVID-19, there’s little benefit from them being isolated at home.

Schools should be kept open for as long as possible.

Further modelling from the Centre for Disease Detection and Control shows Hong Kong, which closed schools in the SARS crisis, was no better off than Singapore, which didn’t. Much more important was rigorous detection and tight quarantine.

Some scientists argue that closing schools can slow the spread of the disease and save lives. Dr Nicholas Christakis, a social scientist and physician at Yale University, says closing schools is “one of the most powerful nonpharmaceutical interventions that we can deploy”’. But his analysis is based primarily on the spread of the Spanish flu in 1918. Coronavirus is different because children are less vulnerable to it than previous mass flu outbreaks.

Leaving schools open has a big impact on teachers and that should be a consideration. Teachers are not in the same frontline league as health professionals, but their role should be acknowledged. At this stage, by continuing to teach, they’re enabling other vital workers to do their jobs.

Cancelling school would have a major impact on parents, particularly health care workers.

As I write, the number of schools closing — even for short periods of time — is mounting. Many schools are closing for 24 hours if a member of their community tests positive, such as at Carey Grammar in Kew.

We need to remember that the decision to close schools is a major one. Experts say schools need to close before 1 per cent of the population is affected and should stay closed for months. Children would need to stay isolated and not socialise outside of the home.

If that step is taken, other costly measures must be put in place. It’s likely there will be a massive increase in parents who may be unable to work, so they will need additional income support to get them through.

While schools are open, heightened disease control measures should be brought in. Already, many schools have cancelled all non-essential assemblies, camps, activities, outings and events.

Students could be checked daily for fever, given regular breaks to wash their hands and encouraged not to get too close to one another. Other options include closing playgrounds, staggering lunch breaks, reducing the timetable and rotating teachers.

Many parents are expecting schools to shut their doors soon. Most institutions are trialling distance education and getting kids to take laptops and books home each night in case of a snap closure.

It does feel inevitable that schools will close, but there are good reasons to keep them open as long as possible.

Susie O’Brien is a Herald Sun columnist.

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