I'm at home with James today who claimed his tummy hurt this morning. He seems fine now (happily playing with our newly replaced Wii) but he's adamant that his stomach really DID hurt this morning.
A friend called this morning and said that schools might be closing for the next two weeks (which basically brings us through the end of the school year). Will they really reopen for the last day of school?
No news (as of yet) on the Education Bureau website but I checked on the RTHK website and found this:
Junior Schools to Close Amid Flu Alert
The government has announced that all nurseries, kindergartens and primary schools in Hong Kong will be closed for two weeks from tomorrow because of a swine flu outbreak. This comes after 12 pupils at St Paul's Convent school in Causeway Bay were confirmed to have been infected with the HINI virus in the first local cluster of cases. The Chief Executive, Donald Tsang, said that closing schools would slow the spread of the disease. He said there was no need to panic, but urged people to remain alert to help combat the virus. The suspension will affect some 1,800 primary schools, kindergartens and nurseries. The government will make an assessment in a week's time whether to resume classes on June 26. The Secretary for Education, Michael Suen, says that if classes cannot restart by July 10, all schools will go into summer recess. But he said special arrangements might have to made for primary five pupils who have yet to be assessed for secondary school allocation.
Aii-yaa!!! Not sure what effect this will have on the spreading of potential flu cases. I can't see everyone keeping their kids inside for the next two weeks (although we certainly did do this during SARS---well, not inside but outside here in the marina and on the boat---we took Claire nowhere during this time). It's also kind of sad for my two as they won't be able to say good-bye to their friends at IMS.
Related articles:
Comments