Letters: Coronavirus not the first epidemic for some

Schools may be closed due to coronavirus risks. Photo / Getty Images

With the decision pending to close the schools because of Covid-19, how many of us remember the school closure during the 1947-49 infantile paralysis epidemic?

Schools were closed for three months from January 1948 until April the same year.

We received our schoolwork by correspondence each week and it was posted back to the Education Department for marking.

We skidded through our schoolwork and spent the rest of the day playing on the sandbanks in the Waikato River.

Several children in our area died and my cousin was in a leg brace for many years which resulted in having one leg shorter than the other.

Gwyneth Jones
Greeerton

Coronavirus casting vote

Councillors have recently been divided over whether Tauranga ratepayers should be burdened with steep increases in rates.

However, I am sure that they are of one mind now that coronavirus has cast the deciding vote.

R Rimmer
Welcome Bay

Grandparents to the rescue

Procedures and protocols to contain and restrict Covid-19 are fluid and ever-evolving but I do think it's time we heard some positivity.

We are barraged with numbers affected, number of deaths around the world, how in some countries if you're over a certain age you will be ignored and how dire Covid-19 is for the global economy.

All of this is true and some repercussions are beyond the comprehension of most, but ahead of that news should be the positive outcomes.

For example, how many testing positive had minimal symptoms, how many tested positive but showed no symptoms and how many recovered and are back to normal.

Whilst there is no end in sight, we need light at the end of the tunnel.

Should schools close I'm sure many grandparents would put their hands up to fill the childcare role so that the parents could continue work.

I certainly would, even knowing that the older age group is most at risk.

Paddi Hodgkiss
Rotorua