Opening on schedule

Today we heard on the news that the schools will reopen on schedule.  Right now the kids are out on spring vacation, the break between the fiscal school years.  However, the break started about 2 weeks early for most schools when the government recommended they close the schools back on February 27.

By the time kids go back to school on or around April 6, they will have been out of school for 5 weeks.

Of course things will not go back to normal.  There are recommendations in place to keep the kids safe.

1. No closed rooms - by keeping doors and windows open, the classrooms will have better ventilation
2. No crowds - not having large groups (like assemblies in the gymnasium) and creating spaces between desks will give the recommended social distancing
3. No conversing in close quarters - specifically don't let the kids talk to each other so they don't accidently spit on each other

I fully support the no closed rooms and no crowds, but how on earth are they expecting kids not to talk to each other?  I don't know about your kid, but mine isn't capable of playing the "quiet game" longer than a couple minutes.

The authorities also recommend kids should wear masks daily.  I don't know where we can even buy masks anywhere!  Good thing I know how to sew them.  But what are other families supposed to do?

Taking temperatures daily will be required as well.  This is an easy thing for us to do.  We did it the last couple weeks of kindergarten.  If a kid does have a temperature, they will immediately have to stay away from school for a specific amount of time.

Last, but not least, if a child is exposed to anyone with confirmed Covid-19, they will be immediately removed from school and it will be up to the school if it closes for a quarantine period.  

At this point, I can't imagine sending my son into this high stress environment.  By holding off starting school for another 2 weeks or so makes sense to me.  But I am not in the majority here.

People want to get back to work.  I understand that.  But I also see that Tokyo has had 32 new cases diagnosed in the past 2 days.  People are relaxing their diligence regarding social distance, enjoying hanami (picnicking under the cherry blossoms), and gathering for a variety of other reasons, more and more.  My family walks in the park each morning before 8 am, when the park has very few people in it.  By the time we leave, we have seen several baseball teams gathering, as well as many other groups.  On Sunday, we saw herds of people heading to the park with picnic supplies.

I just can't help thinking this is a mistake.  We are trying to resume normal lives too quickly and it is going to come back to bite us.  Please let me be wrong.  Please.