Will Ireland’s schools close early for Christmas break?

Do you agree that schools should close on Friday?

The Christmas holidays are just around the corner, but there have been calls for them to be pushed forward. An immunologist believes closing Ireland's schools earlier could help reduce the spread of Covid-19. Professor Christine Loscher of Dublin City University believes schools should close this Friday, December 17th. However, many parents feel like closing a few days earlier won't do much. She said, “The last thing we want to be doing, is to worry about opening schools." Professor Loscher explained, "If the schools close this Friday, we have a really long circuit breaker for those children." If schools were to close on Friday, children would have over a week of low-risk exposure, she told RTÉ's, Claire Byrne. “If Omicron is two to three times more transmissible, we know that it’s 10 or 11pc of cases at the moment – that’s going to increase next week. "That could be up to 50-60pc next week and we have the biggest cohort of unvaccinated people – i.e. children – we will have them mixing to a huge extent coming up to Christmas before we do intergenerational mixing." Despite her warning, the Department of Education stressed that schools won't close early. A spokesperson told RTÉ, "There are no plans to alter the school break at Christmas." Parents are also divided over early school closures. Many HerFamily readers believe it is too late to close schools and the damage has already been done. One teacher told us, "Schools should close early. I'm a pregnant teacher and scared of the Covid numbers rising in schools." Another added, "Yes, they should definitely close early. The cases have quadrupled. If they want schools to open in January then they should close early." "It won't make a difference," another claimed. Do you think schools should close this Friday?