Coronavirus: doctor keeps kids home to shield his patients

Hobart anaesthetist Daniel Jolley is ignoring government advice and taking his two daughters out of school.

Anaesthetist Daniel Jolley is keeping his daughters Anika, 13, and Isabel, 11, out of school to protect both his family and his and his specialist wife’s patients. Picture: Matthew Newtown

Hobart anaesthetist Daniel Jolley is ignoring government advice and taking his two daughters out of school from now until the threat of the coronavirus pandemic passes.

He’s not convinced the current position is best for Anika, 13, and Isabel, 11, or for the country.

“In part, it’s about protecting my girls. This is a really unpleasant disease to have,” he said. “But it’s also about the flow-on risk of infection to us (Dr Jolley’s wife is also a medical specialist), and from there, most crucially, to our ­patients. I can’t justify that risk.

“I feel there is a responsibility on each of us to do what we can to mitigate the impact of the virus on the country. The medical profession is going to be very much needed in the coming days and weeks.

“And I do think all schools should close nationwide, provided it is co-ordinated and children aren’t allowed to just socialise elsewhere. My call to parents is that if you can keep your kids home and safe, then do it.”

His decision raises questions for all parents. Should we listen to that nagging feeling in our stomach about sending our kids off to school each day at the moment?

Will the official advice change in coming days or weeks and, if so, have we put our kids in harm’s way in the meantime?

On Sunday, the national cabinet of the Prime Minister, key ministers, premiers and national and state health officers reiterated the current position that schools are to remain open, a decision Scott Morrison said was subject to review at the cabinet’s next meeting on Tuesday evening.

“The issue of wide-scale closure of schools, it may be anti-intuitive, but this could actually be a very negative thing,” the Prime Minister said following the phone hook-up.

“When you take children out of schools and put them back in the community, the ability for them to potentially engage with others ­increases that risk.

“(And) it can put at great risk the work of nurses, doctors and others that are essential in the community because they have to remain home and look after their children.

“Broadscale closures of schools … could make the situation worse, not better.”

Dr Jolley isn’t sure how long his daughters will be absent from school, and believes it may well be a moot point.

“In all truth, I think it’s a 50-50 chance that all schools will be closed in the next 48 to 72 hours anyway. Or at least the school holidays will be brought forward.

“I think our family is just going early with what is inevitable and needs to happen.”

While the government advice remains to go to school, there are significant indications this situation may not last, with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews saying he felt school closures were not far away.

“The advice of health experts is not to close schools at this stage,” he said on Sunday. “However, I want to be very clear that it’s ­almost certain that we’ll get to that point. When exactly, frustratingly, I can’t tell you.

“If and when it comes, and it’s much more likely to be when rather than if, we will act swiftly,” Mr Andrews said, adding he understood why parents might choose to keep their children out of school before a decision was made by authorities.

“An abundance of caution is never a bad thing,” he said.

Already some schools have made the call.

Melbourne’s Carey Grammar will be shut for at least a week after a Year 10 student tested positive for coronavirus.

And Loreto Mandeville Hall in Melbourne made the same decision after a parent tested positive for COVID-19 and a student was awaiting the results of her test.

And even though it is an infection-free site, Geelong Grammar will close from Wednesday until the end of the term, and use ­remote learning options instead.