The government decided this week, after consulting with its chief medics, that the schools would reopen, despite the massive hike in Covid cases since Christmas.
The mantra that schools are no more dangerous than anywhere else in society has been trotted out many times in the past few months.
Yet, there has hardly been a family in Ireland that wasn’t impacted by Covid to a lesser or greater degree over the holidays.
And allowing our children to mix once more in massive numbers has worried many staff, and parents with vulnerable people at home, or whose children themselves are immune-compromised. The government is very determined not to return to the days of home-schooling, at any cost, it seems.
Let us hope the cost is not too high.