Which in turn will fuel the epidemic
There is really no evidence to suggest that's the case. There was a report about this on Irish news over the last couple of days and the facts are that schools are not fuelling the epidemic.
I understand the reasoning that children will get infected and then spread it by taking it home to adults and older people. But the stats show that children are not at increased risk of infection when at school. Therefore there is no reason to keep them at home in order to slow or stop the spread of the virus.
In Ireland the proportion of cases found among the four- to 18-year-old age group has remained steady since August, at between 14.1% and 14.3% of all Covid cases.
The Department of Education said testing at the 236 schools has led to the detection of an additional 90 cases of the virus. This equates to a rate of 1.5%. The comparable rate when similar mass testing has taken place in the community stands at 6%.
Similarly, where testing of close contacts (of confirmed cases linked to the school) identifies additional cases of Covid-19, many of these are found to have had exposure to the disease outside of the school.
It said there have been relatively few instances where transmission of Covid-19 within a school is strongly suspected by HSE Public Health.
So schools are not hotbeds of viral infection, neither in Ireland or Poland. The virus behaves the same way everywhere.
It may do society good if we have a generation that goes down the skills path and not the academic.
I'm in complete agreement with that. I think we have far too many degrees and third level studies and not enough vocational training. But even in the old days in the UK, kids got a decent, all round grounding up till the age of fifteen or so and they still need that. Basic solid literacy and maths skills are still desirable. The idea that children don't need an education because they're going to be a chippy or a bricky is a bit much.
