Editor:
A version of this letter was sent to B.C. Premier John Horgan.
First of all, thank you for a magnificent job your team has done to navigate our beloved province through this horrific pandemic. You have made important, difficult, and historic decisions.
Now that cautious reconsideration of restrictions are being considered, perhaps it is also worth considering the extension of the public school term into July 2020. The benefits are exponentially interrelated:
• Parents have been home schooling; children and parents alike might benefit from some time apart, while the children may benefit from augmented social interaction.
• Families would likely reduce their holiday travel plans, thereby reducing the potential interactions and increased population densities in areas which have less health care capacity for COVID-19-related illness – should outbreaks occur through increased summer vacation travel.
• Mitigate the stress associated with increased transient BC Ferries traffic experienced by permanent residents living in ferry-dependent coastal locations.
• Teachers in our province could potentially participate in the frontline heroics demonstrated by health-care professionals throughout our country, and garner the patriotic symbolism bestowed upon that working segment. Thousands in that segment have been working overtime. While our army of competent teachers are doing their best online, perhaps an augmented in-class school year may assist those students who have fallen behind in their studies.
Wayne Stremel, Garden Bay
