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The first four classes in primary schools are likely return on March 1st, the Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman said on Friday, although the majority of secondary school students will stay home until after Easter.
There will be no official confirmation of plans issued until next week but primary school students in classes third to sixth are also expected to home-school for a further two weeks.
At second level the focus is firmly on the return of sixth year students as a priority.
In an interview on RTÉ radio this morning, Mr O’Gorman appeared to confirm details of the highly anticipated phased reopening of schools , ahead of Cabinet approval on Tuesday.
“It is my understanding that the focus is on primary school children and Leaving Cert classes and we will see how those four weeks across March have impacted,” he said.
“That will take us up until the Easter break and at that stage a decision will be taken in relation to secondary school classes outside of Leaving Cert classes.
“As things currently stand, I think the majority of secondary school children will probably be returning to education following the Easter holidays.”
He said the Government will engage with the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) to set out clear “phasings” for the reopening.
Mr O’Gorman’s remarks offer a glimmer of hope to families heading into the weekend with news that any broader return to normality continues to be a distant prospect.
Following a meeting of the Cabinet Covid-19 sub-committee on Thursday, sources indicated that Level 5 restrictions would likely continue until April with strict measures until early May.
A reflection of plateauing case numbers, the judicious approach is only likely to exclude schools whose closure has been one of the more testing measures introduced by Government to get a handle on the post-Christmas surge.
‘Very cautious’
In its presentation to the sub-committee, Nphet was said to be “very, very cautious” about what might be achievable in terms of restrictions easing; the phased reopening of schools “about the limit of what they can support”, a source said.
On Friday, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe confirmed that outlook, saying the country’s exit from Level 5 would be gradual and that the country needed to be on its guard; “we saw what happened in January”.
At a briefing on Thursday, deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn also cautioned people not to see the return of schools as any signal mobility or inter-household mingling would be acceptable.
However, in somewhat mixed signals ahead of the updated strategy, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly denied that “everything is off the table” with regard to the reopening of the economy over the coming weeks.
“But I think it is important to look at what has happened when we have come out of more severe restrictions in the past,” he told Newstalk Radio on Friday.
“We know that the UK variant is much more contagious and unfortunately, what we are also finding out now, based on research from the UK, which is relatively new information, is that it looks like the UK variant is also more severe both in terms of hospitalisation and fatality.”
With regard to staycations, the reality was that nobody knew if they would be possible this summer, he said.
With Government officials continuing to sketch out the details of a refreshed Living with Covid-19 plan for next week, it is not expected to set down any specific dates for sections of society to reopen.
Supports
Pandemic welfare supports are almost certain to continue as businesses and employees face into further prolonged uncertainty.
Despite public efforts, continuing high case numbers is of particular concern as Ireland approaches the end of winter.
Health Protection Surveillance Centre data on Thursday showed 47 deaths and 901 new cases. That latest report brought the country’s death toll past the 4,000 mark, reaching 4,082.
Of more than 108,000 tests carried out in the last week, the positivity rate is at 5.5 per cent. The national 14-day incidence rate of the disease currently stands at 269.
As regards vaccines, the latest data shows over 182,000 first doses administered and over 98,000 second doses.
Health officials have noted that although infection rates among healthcare workers are falling steeply, it is too soon to attribute any pattern to vaccines. To date, front-line workers have received almost 167,467 doses.
Nevertheless, the signs are promising – both the UK and Israel, the countries with advanced vaccine programmes, have noted plummeting infection rates, although the omnipresent threat of variants remains in the corner of minds.
HSE chief executive Paul Reid said while he appreciated public frustration over the speed of vaccine availability, this is curtailed only by supply – almost 95 per cent are being administered.
The health authorities have their sights set on vaccinating one million people a month from April.
Meanwhile, the variety available appears to be causing tensions. In a letter to HSE management earlier this week the group of health service unions – known as the staff panel – said its members were dissatisfied at being given the AstraZeneca vaccine which it said had “only 60 per cent efficacy”.
That compared, it said, to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine with 95 per cent efficacy and Moderna with 94.5 per cent.