I am a parent of two young children who attend local schools. The government’s announcement that the summer holiday will begin in early March has left me and many parents feeling helpless, disappointed and angry. It seems the only reason the government is doing this is due to a lack of planning on its part, not seeing the warning signs from other countries as Omicron spread uncontrollably, and believing Hong Kong would miraculously avoid an Omicron wave. With no extra facilities available, the government wants to use schools, punishing children, Hong Kong’s most innocent and valuable resource. Taking a long break now disrupts children’s learning. While online learning is far from ideal, Hong Kong is used to it. It takes time for schools to acclimatise after a long holiday, and this is especially true for those in the local curriculum where there are regular tests and exams. The internal assessment for Primary Five pupils is critical; schools will have to scramble to make new arrangements. Local school pupils had face-to-face lessons for only 40 per cent of the academic year in 2021. They had between 68 to 92 days of in-person class in 2020. They are missing out on the social and mental aspects of face-to-face lessons. Meanwhile, once again, international schools are being allowed flexibility . Travel restrictions make leaving Hong Kong hard for most of us, and now the summer break has been severely shortened. Summer is about swimming, playing outdoors, hanging out with friends and spending quality time with family. Children are better off doing online lessons now so that they have a regular summer. The lucky ones who had made plans to travel to visit family and friends – whom they haven’t seen in two years – will now find those plans disrupted. Given that help is being provided by mainland experts, why does our government still need nearly two months to resolve this? If universal testing is expected to run for three weeks, shouldn’t it be over by the end of March? Why can’t online learning continue at home even if school facilities are needed for mass testing? The government should prioritise opening schools, not businesses. My family got vaccinated early. We vaccinated our children when the age limit was recently lowered. We have used the Leave Home Safe app diligently and adhered to social distancing regulations, all in the hope that the government would handle any new outbreak in a professional and kind manner, in the hope of returning to normality, particularly normality in my children’s education. John Lee, Mid-Levels Treating Omicron like Delta creates a climate of fear Last week, I read an article in Chinese with the headline, “Living with the virus means perishing with the virus. Hong Kong must not do this” reporting the views of Dr Lo Chung-mau, chief executive of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital. The same day, I read that Norway would remove all Covid-19 restrictions, including entry and domestic restrictions. On February 1, Denmark ended all Covid-related restrictions for residents, although case numbers were high and still rising. Those who test positive only need to isolate for three days. Dr Lo cited Israel as an example, saying it has a high vaccination rate, but there are still outbreaks. He did not mention the death rate in Israel. No one disputes that even the fully vaccinated can still catch Covid-19. Britain’s Prince Charles first had Covid-19 in March 2020, had three vaccine shots, and tested positive for the second time recently. Many variants have emerged since the discovery of Covid-19 and the virus will continue to mutate. The possibility of a more lethal variant emerging in the future can never be dismissed. However, according to a preprint of a comparative analysis of the risks of hospitalisation and death associated with Omicron and Delta submitted to The Lancet , “the risk of severe outcomes following Sars-CoV-2 infection is substantially lower for Omicron compared with Delta cases, with higher reductions for more severe endpoints and significant variation with age”. The analysis further notes that “60-69 year-olds had an around 75 per cent reduced risk of hospital admission with Omicron compared with Delta”. Omicron has brought Hong Kong to its knees. How did it all go wrong? Given what we know today about the different risk profiles of these variants, should we not make any distinctions in our strategy? Hong Kong can continue its zero-Covid policy, but it must recognise that whatever policy it pursues, there is a corresponding price to pay. The underprivileged suffer disproportionately under harsh restrictions. How should a civilised society look after those its most vulnerable? The price that a society has to pay also includes, for example, mental health, and the inability to visit, care for, give comfort or say farewell to their loved ones. Some elderly fear leaving their homes lest they catch the virus. What about their well-being and quality of life? David Siu, London Zero-Covid efforts should have focused on the elderly Are there places in Hong Kong where mainland zero-Covid measures should be applied? Sure. They should have been applied to residential homes for the elderly as soon as the characteristics of Omicron were known. That is, back in December 2021. The spatial concentration of people and the immobility of residents make the homes most similar to the “small districts” of the mainland. A strict testing regime, perhaps special lodging arrangement for staff, and supplies from the outside should all have been installed to create a bubble for each home. Regrettably, none of this happened. So, over a million elderly Hongkongers are now at the mercy of the virus and the freezing weather. Those aged 65 and over comprise around 19 per cent of the population, but their infection and fatality rates and take-up of ambulance, hospital and quarantine resources probably all outweigh population averages. If their uptake proves too high, it may well drag down the entire medical system. Maybe one official should be appointed especially to take charge of the elderly in the interim. George Hui, Sha Tin