SCHOOLS could have their summer holidays extended in a bid to beat Swine Flu, the government has admitted.
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“We will be monitoring the situation closely over the school holidays and will review the evidence in late August,” said Schools Secretary Ed Balls.
Many London schools have been fully or partly closed in recent weeks as cases of Swine Flu have multiplied and today a report in The Lancet – the magazine for the medical profession – pushes the case for a wider closure programme to halt the new bug in its tracks.
“The pandemic could become more severe, and so the current cautious approach of not necessarily recommending school closure in Europe and North America might need reappraisal in the autumn.” said Professor Neil Ferguson, lead researcher for the Imperial College London team behind The Lancet’s article.
Ferguson and co. reckon locking the school gates for a month or more could slash infection rates by as much as 45%. On the other hand, any closure scheme would have huge effects on the wider economy by pulling millions of parents out of their jobs to provide child care.
“It would be extremely disruptive to society, given that flu might be around for several months,” said the government’s Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson.
“I think it would take a lot for us to move in that direction.”
But, like Balls, Donaldson agreed that the mass-closure option would be kept in reserve.
