Monday, June 29, 2009

What Good Is It?

Last week, I said that I do not believe schools should postpone their reopening due to the H1N1 virus.

My reasons were simple; Singapore don’t stop people from visiting infected countries, doesn’t stop people from infected countries from visiting Singapore, and H1N1 is already spreading here in Singapore; so what use to delay the opening of the school term?

However as sensible as my arguments were, kaisu Singaporeans will always have the final say. Westwood Secondary and Presbyterian High School will both postpone their school reopening by a week, after a teacher in each school had tested positive for the H1N1 virus. The Ministry of Education (MOE) ordered staff and students a 7 day Leave of Absence and monitors their health to prevent the spread of disease to other students.

I repeat the reason for the delay of school re-opening, “to prevent the spread of disease to other students”. However just yesterday, Singapore confirmed another 145 new cases of H1N1 which bring the total infected persons in Singapore to 599. So how is delaying the opening of the school term going “to prevent the spread of disease”?

H1N1 is already on our island, it’s a little late to worry about the spread of the disease now. So what good is delaying the reopening of the school term? It's like reinforcing the door after the horses had already bolted. Way too late!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How about getting all Singaporeans to contract the H1N1 virus and then quarantine the whole nation for a week?

By then, we'll all developed good resistance to this virus, it'll be no more a concern, correct?

Ghost said...

They are suspending school for 7 day because 1 teacher from each school got H1N1. During the school holidays, Singapore did not stop people from visiting affected countries or even place travel advisory against these countries;what good will suspending school be now when there are new cases everyday. Last I check there are 629 cases and it is growing everyday.
Suspending school now is like bolting the barn door after the horse had already ran off.