Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

As was inevitable, my daughter’s school had its first Omicron case this week and in came the email notifying parents that a student had tested positive. They immediately followed that up with the very calm assurance that this should have no impact on school attendance, that all students - unless you’d been notified as a close contact - were safe to return to school, that health and safety protocols as per the Ministry of Health were being followed.  This of course does not diminish the alarm that Omicron’s arrived on their doorstep. Two years of fear-mongering and schools shutting for months on end will do that to you. So it took some persuading that all was fine, and it was business as usual. I’m not sure that email assured all parents and children though, as the next day another email came out reiterating the Ministry’s guidelines on returning to school, prioritizing learning, and the importance of carrying on.  I can only assume that email was sent out to hose down the number of parents and/or students who