Two weeks have passed since the central government suddenly requested that all schools across Japan close to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.

Various concerns that were initially raised have now turned into a reality.

Some parents find it difficult to work because their children have no school to attend. Many people and, in particular, single parents who are working without regular contracts, are facing a nosedive in their family incomes and uncertainty about their jobs.

Now that the spread of the new coronavirus is expected to last long, we have to reflect calmly on, and put into practice, measures for striking a balance between preventing the spread of infections and ensuring our stable livelihoods and mental stability.

Ahead of a new school semester to start in April, communities should watch over the spread of infections in their respective areas in seeking measures that are acceptable to a majority of their residents.

Some local authorities have moved, over the past several days, to lift their earlier decisions to close their schools.

The city of Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, for example, was to reopen its municipal schools and kindergartens on March 16.

Some parents complained they could not go to work, while others said their children had nowhere to stay during the daytime. The city government decided that those and other household circumstances had to be taken seriously.

The Akashi authorities will make sure, as part of their safety measures, that students and pupils will have their temperatures taken every day and classrooms will be ventilated once an hour. Moreover, the students will not be deemed absent even if they stay away from their schools.

All that could be seen as a practical decision.

The cities of Shizuoka and Hamamatsu, both in Shizuoka Prefecture, are among the other local authorities that were also to end their school closures on March 16.

Officials of the Osaka city government said they hope to have junior high school club activities resumed during the spring vacation and have elementary schools, junior high schools and kindergartens reopened when the next semester begins.

Of course, decisions should be reviewed flexibly when the situation changes. Some local governments, including in the city of Ota, Gunma Prefecture, have reversed their initial decisions to have students come to school as usual and closed their schools after infections were found in their respective areas.

Even when the authorities cannot afford to reopen their schools immediately, there are still other things that they could do.

The city of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, has decided, for example, to keep the campuses of its elementary schools and junior high schools open even during their closures so students and pupils can come to school if they so desire. The city’s authorities are exercising care to ensure that students' desks are more widely separated and that students do not face each other when they eat lunches.

Slightly less than 40 percent of eligible students have used that option. A majority of them have applied to be served school lunches, which are provided only on request.

That is enough proof of the reality that households are hard-pressed to have lunches prepared for their children.

That state of things cannot be unique to Tsukuba. Children of needy households who depended on school lunches for their nutrition must be facing even more adverse circumstances.

With schools closed, parents can leave their children in the hands of after-school care centers. Many facilities, however, provide no meals.

Some parents say overcrowding in the cramped rooms of after-school care centers makes them even more concerned about possible infection of their children. The option of keeping school campuses open should therefore be more extensively considered.

Many existing “children’s cafeterias,” which provide cheap meals to young ones from cash-strapped families, have also been obliged to shut down. They say they have lost the opportunity to provide children with not only meals but also with a place where they don’t have to feel uncomfortable.

Learning assistance being provided for children of impoverished households has also been suspended in some communities. Similar tears in social safety nets could hurt the physical and mental health of parents and their children, which can heighten the risk of abuse.

We should seek ways to return gradually to normal life.

Some citizens, unfortunately, find fault with children who play at parks. There is, in fact, no reason for putting excessive restrictions on outdoor exercise and strolls.

If grownups were to lose their heads, that would only end up unsettling children.

There is no such thing as a completely safe environment. We should remain large-minded in bracing for a prolonged battle.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 15