Covid – keeping things in proportion

Not sure if yesterday’s 6pm media call quite fitted the bill. Islanders may be underwhelmed, or relieved, or possibly frustrated or despairing. Because while there was plenty of content, none of it was really earth-shattering.

For those not travelling or preparing to travel, or awaiting family who are, they would have probably learned three things. One – developments in Covid are forcing the local team to run around at 100mph. Two – the Civil Contingencies Authority is wary of the new Omicron variant. Three – the response to the Covid ‘crisis’ in our schools is 'proportionate'.

It’s all about proportionality now.

Director of Education Nick Hynes – a canny choice to send out on to the front line, offering a change in messenger – revealed shocking absence figures, putting last week’s rather low-key announcement on school absences into sharp focus.

One in five children is absent from primary schools, one in four in the secondary sector. In both sectors roughly 7.5% have Covid or are awaiting the result, or even to be called for, PCR tests.

Mr Hynes praised the staff – represented by unions who were so unhappy with the response across schools they issued a critical statement at the end of last week – for the way they’re responding, but the sense was that Education is, at present, just trying to hold schools together.

‘It’s a volatile situation – we don’t know how it’s going to play out,’ islanders heard.

So moves to make masks mandatory for non-classroom settings at schools seem sensible. There will be no early finish to the school term, and still no masks in the classroom – not a proportionate response, we were told – as Education seeks to strike a balance between risk mitigation and keeping the response ‘proportionate’.

This was the CCA not making a drama out of a crisis. Yes, Omicron is a threat, adding at least a new uncertainty into the mix. Taking the steps announced is regarded as ‘proportionate’.

This is the latest version of living with Covid – and that feels currently like it’s mainly muddling through, and keeping things in proportion.