A leading Dublin immunologist has called for schools to close this Friday, as opposed to next week as planned.
Concerns around the Omicron variant are mounting in the lead up to Christmas with NPHET due to meet this Thursday to discuss possible further restrictions.
Christine Loscher, Professor of Immunology at DCU said on Today with Claire Byrne: “I really think we should consider closing schools on Friday."
She said it would provide a long circuit breaker for school children, as well as allowing extra time before families mix with elderly relatives at Christmas.
Primary school principle Louise Toibin said she "agrees totally" with Professor Loscher's call to close schools at the end of this week.
She told Claire Byrne: "If we look at last December, schools closed on Tuesday the 22 and it was that previous weekend prior to the holidays when obviously a lot of people were mixing, socialising, visiting family and friends, out and about, visiting Santy, doing their shopping, and then we come back into school, last year it was for a day and a half.
"There followed huge levels of Covid cases amongst school staff and pupils. Christmas was ruined for a lot of people.
"I suppose the situation this year is that most adults are now vaccinated but vaccines may be waning and many do not have their boosters."
She questioned if it is safe to keep schools open.
"And then we also have the more transmissible variant of Covid in our community. We've worked tirelessly to keep our schools open but only if it's safe to do so I'm wondering, is it safe?
"What we're hearing is uncertainty. Parents are ringing and asking, will school be open next week. Attendance still remains quite low.. I'm wondering will parents choose to keep their children at home thinking that's a safer option for them.
"We are required to stay open, schools are open until Wednesday the 22 and that's the guidance at the moment.
"We all want a safe Christmas for our families, we all want to be able to visit elderly parents and grandparent, but coming back into school next week, there is a chance of transmission of variant and possible increase of cases."
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