544 schools close; parents get panicky

By Kim Rahn

More than 540 schools across the country have been closed due to growing fears over the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), the Ministry of Education said Wednesday.

Without detailed information about the disease and distrust of government measures, parents are at a loss as to whether to take their children to public facilities such as hospitals, shopping malls and even playgrounds.

Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Hwang Woo-yea said that 544 schools and kindergartens across the country have shut down temporarily to prevent a possible spread of the deadly virus. This number may rise if school principals accept demands from parents for closure.

“A disease can spread fast at schools where students have a collective life, so we have to prevent MERS from spreading to schools,” he said during an emergency meeting with the heads of four regional education offices _ Seoul, Gyeonggi, North and South Chungcheong provinces.

“Preemptive and active measures are required until the epidemic subsides. Schools need much stronger preventive efforts than other sectors of society.”

The Ministry of Health and Welfare shared with the education ministry the list of students and teachers who have been ordered to stay home due to possible infection.

In Gyeonggi Province, where the largest number of MERS cases has been confirmed including the first patient and the first death, 439 kindergartens, and elementary, middle and high schools, and a university have been closed, 9.8 percent of the province’s total.

Of them, some kindergartens and elementary schools open partially for childcare programs for children of double-income couples.

In North and South Chungcheong provinces, 71 kindergartens and schools are closed. At parts of the institutions, some students or teachers came into contact with family members who were confirmed to have contracted the virus. They have not shown any symptoms yet, but health authorities are checking their health conditions.

In Seoul, seven schools decided to close.

Kindergartens and schools that do not close are instead canceling their outdoor activities, school excursions and other gatherings. Even some hagwon in the affected regions decided to shut down following requests from parents.

While the government is trying to assure people that MERS has not become a pandemic and children are relatively less vulnerable to the virus, parents’ concerns only grow.

“Does anyone plan not to send kids to the kindergarten this week? Is it only me who is making a fuss?” a mother of a preschooler posted on an online community for moms, and the posting has gained a large number of “me, too” replies.

Some parents worry about whether they can take sick children to hospitals, because the majority of the confirmed patients were infected after contacting other patients at hospitals.

“Children easily show fevers when catching a cold or having ear infections. As fever is one of representative symptoms of MERS, I may have to take my girl to a hospital if she has a fever. But I worry that she may be newly infected with MERS there although her original fever was from a mere cold,” a mother of a six-year-old girl wrote on another community board.

In an apartment complex in Mapo, central Seoul, on Tuesday, there were no children in a playground which used to be crowded. “I think I’ll keep my children at home for a while _ no playground, no shopping mall, no movies,” a resident there said.