The Sunshine Coast School District did the responsible thing this week by cancelling all overseas travel for the remainder of the school year, including four secondary school trips to Europe scheduled for March, due to the worldwide coronavirus outbreak. And while one set of parents were certainly within their rights to override the superintendent’s decision on this week’s trip to Russia, that reversal does not change the fact that the district acted correctly. When it comes to taking risks with other people’s children, exercising an overabundance of caution needs no defence.
The parents who chose to sign a legal waiver freeing SD46 of liability are by no means being reckless. Russia has had very few reported cases of COVID-19 so the chance of transmission is arguably lower there than it would be back home. Brief layovers in Frankfurt and London, England should also not pose an undue risk. Though also remote, the risk of quarantine is slightly higher. Three weeks is a long time, the disease is spreading quickly, and Russia is taking strong measures to keep its citizens safe.
The Moscow Times reported this week that the city’s rapid transit system has started doing random checks of passengers’ temperatures at station entrances, schools have cancelled swimming classes and large-scale events, and some train service has been suspended.
Moscow authorities placed about 2,500 people arriving from China under quarantine as a precautionary move, monitoring them with facial recognition technology. On Monday, 88 foreign nationals were being deported for violating that order.
The Russian government has barred Iranian and South Korean citizens from entering the country, along with any foreign citizens travelling from those countries. The Chinese Embassy has complained that Moscow police and subway workers are profiling Chinese nationals on the city’s public transport.
It’s not an ideal time to be a foreign traveller anywhere in the world, but the Elphinstone Secondary students appear to be well prepared for the trip and their parents have made an informed decision. If they are taking a calculated risk by sending their children overseas at a time of uncertainty, the level of risk is very low.
We wish them a safe and memorable journey.
