Letters to my Grandchild

Hello dear Emily,  A million school kids were due to go back to school, in stages, by the end of July.  But many teachers and schools were not ready to reopen and there was resistance by the Teacher's Unions President Cyril Ramaphosa  announced that all public  schools  will "take a break" for four weeks from 27 July until 24 August. The last batch of pupils in Grades 5 and 8 will return on 31 August.  That meant that you didn't have to go back to school in July, but would need to return by end of August. You were quite sad that you wouldn't be going back to school with your friends but you understood that it was a risk for you and for your parents. Your Dad phoned Dr Roos and asked what the implications would be for a person with a connective tissue disorder, like you and your Dad have got, and he suggested that it could put you both at a higher risk as the OI disorder involves all the tissues in the body, including the lungs.  After discussing the si...

A million SA learners were set to return to school before end of July but  A week before Grades R, 1, 2, 3 and 11 learners were due to go back to school on Monday 6 July, the Department of Basic Education released a statement announcing that only Grade R, 6 and 11 learners would return to school on that day. By Sunday 5 July, South Africa had 196,750 Covid-19 confirmed cases. Since the return of Grade 7 and Grade 12 learners, 2,740 teachers, of the total of about 440,000 teachers, had tested positive for the virus. In an effort to minimise the number of learners at school at the same time, most schools were teaching Grade 7 and Grade 12 learners on alternative days.  On 30 July there were  a cumulative total of  482,169  confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa with  7812 deaths.  he number of recoveries currently stands at  309 601  which translates to a recovery rate of 64%.   Worldwide there have been 17.5 million cases. The...