OpinionHong Kong children pay the price for the government’s fumbling over Covid-19

Name: Hong Kong kindergartens to shut over respiratory infection outbreaks
Uploaded: 2020-11-22T20:45:10.000Z
Duration: 2 min 21 s
Description: Hong Kong kindergartens to shut over respiratory infection outbreaks

A study of the first two waves of infection found that entertainment venues, not schools, accounted for a wider spread of disease, with the latest spike also linked to dance clubs

The government’s decision to close kindergartens over the common cold reflects its misplaced priorities

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A cleaning worker wipes down the doors and windows at a kindergarten in Tung Chung on November 17, after the government announced the suspension of face-to-face teaching at all kindergartens and daycare centres amid an outbreak of upper respiratory tract infections. Photo: May Tse

Alice Wu

Published: 4:45am, 23 Nov 2020Updated: 4:50am, 23 Nov 2020

Plenty of people just shrugged their shoulders earlier in the month, when some parents of young children spoke out against the Hong Kong government’s abrupt blanket closure of kindergartens and childcare centres over what is essentially the common cold.

But the last two months of real school had been vital to the socio-emotional development of preschool and kindergarten-aged children, following months of school and playground closures, as well as drastically reduced social interaction with extended families and friends. School goes a long way in developing children’s cognitive ability, creativity, empathy, communication skills and confidence.

And let’s not get me going on the microbial exposure that kids need to develop their immune systems.

Now the government has given a similar order to primary schools, that is making a much wider impact.

But, really, closing schools because of upper respiratory tract infections when there is no influenza pandemic – like in 2009 and 2010 – is excessive.

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Hong Kong kindergartens to shut over respiratory infection outbreaks

Experts have studied the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, including social contacts and infections, and found that close contact among children in schools drove that pandemic. But the same experts would also tell us no two outbreaks are alike. Not only are pathogens different, but we also gain more understanding and develop countermeasures over different outbreaks.