Question:
Currently, schoolchildren have to spend meal times behind partitions and are not allowed to talk when their masks are removed under Education Bureau guidelines. Parents and a child development specialist said mealtime rules in schools should be eased. Do you agree?
Dear Editor,
With the virus terrorising the city's most vulnerable, students have had to tolerate dining behind partitions and not speaking when "maskless". While parents as well as experts in child developments are calling for mealtime restrictions to be lessened, it is my firm belief that the rules should not be eased.
Loosening the restrictions would lead to such grave consequences as threatening our schoolchildren's health. Students have been forced to have lunch in partitioned areas for safety's sake. Everyone knows it is impossible to eat with a mask on. But what if a student fell victim to COVID all because of having gone maskless for lunch and communicated with his/her friends during that time? The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States have proved, airborne transmission has played the biggest factor in virus chains. And partitions are crucial to limiting airborne transmission. What is more pressing, our schoolchildren have long been the most susceptible to COVID. The government's recent campaigns to boost the sluggish vaccination rates among children speak volumes about the majority of children who have yet to be immunised. What is more, younger schoolchildren may not be aware of the potential health risks in school. This indicates they are the most likely to contract and succumb to the virus, and virus chains among them are imminent. A series of infections might follow and most dispiritingly, lead to a higher death toll among the city's young.
Easing the mealtime restrictions will not only contribute to a climbing caseload, but also in turn, jeopardise the city's economic growth. Chief Executive John Lee has warned that, while hotel quarantine has been ditched, it will be swiftly restored upon a soaring caseload. While various sectors are now clinging onto that glimmer of hope that the economy will thrive again, rising cases from schools could threaten the chances of recovery. The most common means of transmission is often salivary transmission, which takes place whenever students communicate "masklessly". If the restrictions were eased with partitions removed and students allowed to chat masklessly, virus chains would be spread across a district, and the caseload would inevitably climb. In the end, it would thrust hotel quarantine back into place. The number of tourists will plummet because of the hurdles they will have to overcome for visit, in turn denting economic growth. As such, Hong Kong will be in recession yet again.
Sceptics may well argue, mealtime and the "no-talking-when-maskless" restrictions are too stringent to the extent that they obstruct socialisation among schoolchildren. Undeniably, they are not allowed to utter anything while maskless, and they need to eat behind partitions, impeding interactions. But common sense has it, who would need an entire school day for lunch? It typically takes, at most, an hour, and that only means students are barred from communicating with one another for just an hour. Before and after lunchtime, they can still make the most of their school day to bond with their fellow schoolmates and enjoy their time together. An additional one hour of chatting and frolicking has, at best, a minimal effect on their all-round development. Manifestly, the restrictions have played merely an unnoticeable part in affecting socialisation.
With health and salvaging the economy occupying paramount importance, it is clear mealtime rules in school should not be eased.
Yours faithfully,
Lucas
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