Comedian Owen Gee kicks against school reopening says Son contracted Covid-19 last term
Nigerian Comedian, Owen Gee has frowned at the plan by the government to reopen schools as he shared the story of how his nine-year-old son contracted Coronavirus while in school last term.
Owen Gee in an interview with Punch said him, his wife, and his first son got infected with the virus while looking after his second son who got diagnosed with the disease.
He said;
“I have two kids, one is in primary while the other is in secondary school. Last term, one of my kids came home ill and was sick for a while. We kept treating him for malaria but to no avail. We treated him for two weeks till he lost his senses of smell and taste.
“He had body aches and was excessively weak. It was at that point we discovered he had contracted COVID-19. He was about nine years old at the time. My wife and I started taking care of him because we could not abandon him, he is our son.
“In the process of taking care of him, my wife and I also contracted the virus. It was a war for us, later on, his elder brother contracted the virus. I couldn’t be separated from my family because going to an isolation centre will mean separating us. The psychological damage alone was something else.
“We became a family of four with COVID. We had it at different times so for over a month, we battled with the deadly ailment. It cost a fortune aside the fact that I also got help from well-meaning friends who had contracted it. Some friends also helped in terms of medication and support.”
Owen Gee not in support of the government’s decision to reopen schools despite the second wave of the pandemic in the country said “With the rate at which the figures are going up, give me a reason why they want the schools to reopen?In light of what we have faced, I have asked my children to stay at home. Their lives mean more to me than their education.
“A lot of countries are on lockdown, they are not bothered if their children will go to the next class or not. Nigeria is not the most developed country in the world. We should not act as if education is a do or die affair. We are talking about a virus.
“A bucket of water outside the school and hand sanitiser is not enough to prevent children from getting the virus. Because we all have different immunities, I cannot risk the life of my child. I do not support the resumption of schools.” he added
School has to reopen, the children have spent too much time at home. Even parents are tired of everything. Just teach your children some preventive measures
The government are the at the fault mostly because most of our schools do not have water at all not to talk of running one, how do we go about this?
You shouldn’t have faulted the resumption of school but faulted the system that is not working.
Though, to stay alive is something that must be Paramount to ourselves but also we need to do many things that is also good for us.
The students have over stayed at home, we can’t till Corona virus is gone totally but we need to learn how to live with it.
that is very bad…. but they only have to provide basic prevention protocol or if the parents doesn’t want to risk there children live then they better let them stay at home…..
In my own opinion, we should learn how to live with this disease juz as Evey other disease out there
It won’t serve us any good when for fear of covid19 we shut down all activities and lockdown. Coronavirus is just like any other disease and all we have to do is to learn and accept it a part of diseases to be dealt with not run away from. Let our daily life continue including reopening of schools but with strict adherence to the pandemic protocols. We didn’t lockdown in time of Ebola and Lassa fever, which is as deadly as coronavirus. But then that was when we had government that cares. Not what we have now.