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According to information, the government is closing primary schools, kindergartens, as well as kindergartens and nurseries throughout the country, following a proposal by the competent infectious diseases committee, as part of measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
The official announcements of the Minister of Education, Niki Kerameos, are expected for Saturday, and the measure will take effect on Monday, November 16.
While it was officially announced that the relevant announcements would be made during the periodic briefing by the Ministry of Health, on Friday afternoon the meeting of the expert committee had not concluded by that time and was therefore postponed to Saturday. 
The background to videoconferencing
The issue was raised in a lengthy conference call, which ended shortly after 7 p.m.
According to the information, the suggestion of the committee of specialists in infectious diseases was of closure throughout the country, despite the possibility that the measure was temporarily limited only to the most burdened regions, such as Thessaloniki, was considered.
However, since the government throughout the pandemic period is in line with the scientists’ suggestions, the universal “lock” is preferred as the final decision.
The presentation was made earlier in the week and concerned Thessaloniki. However, the spread of the pandemic is changing the data across the country, which is reflected in 3,308 cases reported in the last 24 hours.
The suggestion of infectious disease specialists refers to kindergartens and primary schools. At the same time, experts suggest that special education schools remain open, as was done in the first closure. It is estimated that the decision to close primary education will involve kindergartens and nurseries. 
Why elementary schools now?
The goal of the decision to close schools is to limit mobility and stop the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. According to sources from the Ministry of Education, although the rate of transmissibility in primary education remains low, the measure is considered necessary to reduce the movement of parents during the day, but also the movement in small shops around schools.
Speaking to MEGA, the Minister of State, George Gerapetritis, said that “the decisions made by the government are based on scientific data. The health committee met late today, so tomorrow the competent minister will make the announcement for primary schools ”.
According to him, “it has been proven that there is no school contagion. However, there is a problem with mobility that arises around schools when parents transport their children to and from school. That fact must be taken into account.”
He added: “The issue of mobility is very critical for us to have satisfactory results. That is why most commercial activities have been reduced to a minimum ”.
As Athanasios Tsakris, professor of microbiology at the EKPA School of Medicine and member of the expert committee of the Ministry of Health explains, although as we know young students do not contribute much to the spread of the epidemic, the specificity of the schools and schools movement concerns, among others, parents and the elderly, so the measure they propose can help reduce mobility.
“Let’s not forget that this time mobility is much greater in this confinement in our country than that observed in the first one for various reasons of the functioning of the economy,” he said in statements to ERT.
The decision of the experts coincided with the closure of schools throughout the country because, although northern Greece is in “red”, it is very likely that in the coming days the map will change and at the same time be a message to society in general about how difficult It is the situation, stressed the member of the expert committee of the Ministry of Health.
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