New Zealand's foremost academic in the area of early childhood education (ECE) has reinforced calls for ECE centres to stay closed under a Level 3 lockdown scenario.
Last night, chief executive of the ECE Council Peter Reynold wrote an open letter to the Government saying his members do not want ECE centres to re-open, because the risk of carrier transmission among children is still too great.
Mr Reynold wrote that guidelines for social distancing and prevention under Level 3 were impossible to implement, and would not prevent the spread of Covid-19 from asymptomatic children.
"It is impossible to prevent teething infants from putting toys in their mouths just as much as it is impossible to prevent an 18-month-old from breaching their bubble in the playground."
Speaking this morning to TVNZ 1's Breakfast, Dr Mike Bedford, who has extensive experience researching the ECE sector, concurred.
"Teachers have spoken very, very loudly saying no, don't do this," Mr Bedford said.
"We've got to listen to the teachers - they're the people on the ground, they know it best - they're saying no."
Mr Bedford said social distancing rules and regulations were simply not enforceable among toddlers, because caring for them simply can't be done at a distance.
He also said one of the primary concerns is asymptomatic transfer of the virus among children and to others.
The Ministry of Health provided a statement saying they acknowledged Mr Bedfords' concerns, but that "children and teens have low infection rates, they don't become unwell if they get infected, and they don't tend to pass the virus on to adults".
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