[ad_1]
The government has been told that there should be scope to open up both childcare services and schools gradually, as long as the Covid-19 situation continues to improve.
While the youngest elementary school students are expected to return to class in early March, deliberations continue about when tens of thousands of children can return to daycare and other childcare providers.
The senior ministers will meet on Monday to finalize a review of the Living with Covid-19 Plan before a full Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) has reported that the current Level 5 restrictions must be extended beyond the current deadline of March 5. Nphet is understood to have warned that the opening of schools and childcare can occur in a “cautious and staggered” manner as long as Covid-19 numbers continue to improve through the end of February.
On Monday, Nphet reported one more death from Covid-19 and 679 new cases.
There is an expectation in government circles that the return of children of non-essential workers to daycare will begin next month. However, there is no final decision on whether this will be at the same time that classes for some elementary students will reopen at the beginning of the month or if it will be later.
Many students may have to wait until April 12 before returning to the classroom based on the school’s reopening plans under discussion. The unions are expected to finalize a back-to-school plan with Department of Education officials on Monday. According to preliminary plans, elementary schools would reopen from March 1 at the earliest for freshmen, seniors, first classes and second classes.
At the second level, Leaving Cert students would have priority to return on the same date. The rest of the elementary school classes are expected to return a few weeks later.
Sources said the reopening of child care would be considered at a Covid-19 Child Care Advisory Group meeting that Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman will attend on Monday. Their discussions will feed into the subsequent cabinet subcommittee meeting that will include Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan, and senior ministers.
Nphet’s advice to the Government is that the reopening of the economy and society should be undertaken cautiously and step by step, taking into account the impact on the number of cases of the initial movements in relation to education.
Vaccine prioritization
Separately, people with serious underlying medical conditions are slated to move up the priority list for vaccines. A group of people between the ages of 18 and 64, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, ranked seventh among the groups listed in the launch sequence.
Not everyone in this category will move up the list, but priority will be given to those with certain underlying conditions at higher risk of serious illness if they contract Covid-19.
There was consternation in the hotel industry after the Taoiseach said on Saturday that it did not expect pubs and restaurants to reopen before mid-summer. The next day, the chair of the Epidemiological Modeling Advisory Group of Ireland, Prof. Philip Nolan, said there would be “a summer outdoors” with people taking vacations and recreation at home and socializing outdoors as much as possible.
Irish Hotels Federation president Elaina Fitzgerald Kane said the tourism industry was “devastated” that it could be the middle of summer before it reopened and called for a review of state support for the sector.
[ad_2]