New Delhi: What about closing schools due to the swine flu scare? The logic seems obvious. Stop children from being at one place where H1N1 could spread rapidly. But, then there's the other point of view.
The government may disapprove, but two prestigious schools, a DPS junior branch, and the Dhirubhai Ambani school, have closed for the week, because each has a confirmed swine flu case - both young students.
This makes it the third high profile school to be shut down this weekend.
"This is being done as a precautionary measure. This is not because we are in panic. Schools are the most vulnerable place so to safeguard the health of our children and nothing can be more important than their safety," said Abha Sehgal, principal, Sanskriti school.
The government wants schools to remain open.
"There is no decision to close schools. Only advisory will be sent to the schools by Health Department to be careful about the symptoms," said Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
And this is the catch-22 situation. Balancing the concerns of parents with the government's stand, that measures like closing schools don't really help.
Experts believe this infection has reached a stage in India that's difficult to contain and in the next few days, human-to-human transmission cases are expected to rise, so the need of the hour is to change the strategy to manage the disease.
"The people with severe conditions need to be treated aggressively even without test results and the mild cases need no treatment they will recover on their own," said Randeep Guleria, health expert.
Another Delhi school, Mother's International, with a swine flu case, has shut its junior school for just a day. But key questions remain - how long are schools willing to remain shut? What happens if another swine flu case turns up when schools reopen?