From Azzolina to Locatelli, the open school front: “It’s safe”

The voices of those who ask to return to school as soon as possible in the presence of all are multiplying. Starting with the Minister of Education Lucía Azzolina, who in a letter to the press addresses the students directly: “Leaving you at home is a defeat, dear children, we will reopen the schools.”

“You don’t have to pay the highest price for this emergency. Schools are a controlled environment, there are strict rules that are carefully followed by the students. Schools must remain open. Their prolonged closure runs the risk of having a negative and long-term impact on training, learning capacity and educational levels. On the emotions of the boys ”. Because, Azzolina adds, “at school, and it is not rhetoric, the future is built, a future that walks on your legs.” Then the minister writes that “the closings and openings of schools are not decided by the Ministry of Education. Teamwork is necessary, together with the heads of the local authorities and the Presidents of the Region. Administrators whose concerns I understand. I call them one by one. We must all agree that leaving you at home would be a defeat for the entire community. “

Closing school is not the best way to protect ourselves from contagion, according to Franco Locatelli. “If we want to tell the truth, we must have the courage to say that it is not true,” the president of the Higher Health Council told Foglio, praising Lucía Azzolina’s “clear vision” and “maximum commitment”. “Our school is in a position to guarantee the safety of students until the end of the school year. And I mark it. Until the end of the school year. The school must be protected to the maximum as it is done with the work activities ”. According to Locatelli, “continuing with distance education exposes children to social, cultural and emotional deprivation.” For this reason, “the sacrifice of closing schools must be made for limited periods and with the primary objective of reopening them as soon as possible.”

In government, however, it is not yet clear what will happen after December 4. Starting next week, if the data of a general slowdown in the circulation of the virus are confirmed, we will begin to reflect on what to do.

For now – writes the Corriere della Sera – we are working to try to heal the tears in the regions that have decided to close all schools, including primary and secondary schools: Abruzzo, where the decision so far has been avoided despite the opinion of the regional CTS that lobbied to block everything, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania. Now Valle d’Aosta has also launched a screening campaign before deciding whether it is appropriate to keep primary and secondary schools open.

Last Friday, the Higher Institute of Health presented a specific monitoring in schools, comparing the data on infections at the national level with those of the age group of 3 to 18 years. With some caveats, such as that the data for the last two weeks – provided by the ASL – is not complete and therefore runs the risk of reducing the scope of the study, the graphs show that since high school closed, the Infections in the 14-18 age group have decreased and – the conclusions read – “as of October 20, the data suggests that cases among children and young people do not grow at the same rate as non-school cases and that they have reached to a plateau ”.