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The data on infections and the difficult homogeneous implementation of the prefects’ plans put the reopening of schools on January 7 at risk
Will high school students really return to class on January 7? A few days before the start, doubts and perplexities seem to increase: and if a few days before Christmas, at the center of the critical issues was mainly the return plan planned by the territories, especially from the early hours of 2021, which is worrying are the data of the contagions. which, although declining, are cause for concern. Especially in view of a possible third wave.
The science alarm
Let’s start with the doubts of the experts: in recent days, saying openly that a reopening of institutes from January 7 could be difficult to manage was Walter Ricciardi, Advisor to the Minister of Health: “The Christmas closure should last at least until mid-January and there are no conditions to reopen schools in a week”.
“With the current circulation of the virus, schools are dangerous both because of what happens inside and because of the traffic they unleash, but it makes sense to try to partially reopen them to assess the effects over time and possibly recalibrate “, instead he informed La Stampa Fabrizio Pregliasco, virologist at the State University of Milan.
However, in the last days of 2020 came the opinion of the Scientific Technical Committee on contagion situations in schools: according to experts, the school was not responsible for the second wave and therefore is not presented as an unsafe place.
There is also the first in-depth report from the ISS on the infection situation in the 3-19 age group, which serves to provide a scientific basis for the reopening of schools. And here too the discourse gets stuck: in the current state of knowledge, schools seem relatively safe environments also due to lack of data: “The impact of the closing and reopening of schools on the dynamics of the epidemic is not yet clear.” For scientists, in short, the decision to reopen on January 7 remains political, because “Schools do not seem to cause a significant increase in infections within them but, depending on the external context and the epidemiological situation, they can help slow or accelerate the spread of the virus.”
Even politics does not seem completely convinced of the reopening in the coming days: the governor of Veneto Zaia admitted: “I have many doubts, it is now established that contagion curves are everywhere connected to school resumption. Children have the right to a school in presence. If they do become infected, the literature says that in many cases they are asymptomatic and with high viral loads. A school classroom runs the risk of being a breeding ground for the virus which then spreads on buses and outside of school.
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“With this growing data, I call on the government to think carefully about the reopening of secondary schools on January 7th. They must remain closed throughout Italy. It would be extremely unwise at this stage in the epidemic to reopen the high school in a week.“Said the regional councilor for Health of Lazio in a more categorical way, Alessio D’Amato.
“We agreed with Councilor Lagalla that the Usca Scholastica, established only in Sicily, will continue the detection actions in the institutes. We must keep the utmost attention and I think more caution would have been necessary, perhaps waiting a week before the end of the holidays to see the trend ” instead says the health councilor of the Sicily region, Ruggero razza.
Transportation, staggered schedules and flexible schedules: the other nodes
The uncertainty of the reopening of January 7, however, also affects other thematic areas: the implementation of the plans envisaged by the State-Regions agreement does not seem to excite all the territories. Not even all the protagonists: yes Antonello Giannelli, The president of the national ANP underlines the criticalities of the prefects’ plans but nevertheless proposes to arrive at the end of January with 50% of the lessons in attendance Mario rusconi, from PNA Lazio, is more categorical: “We have always been for the assistance of the students in the presence, not in Dad, but under certain conditions: distances in the classroom, prophylactic measures provided by the CTS and that public transport is adequate and functional. Let the boys in at 10 – says Rusconi – It means moving the start to 4:00 p.m., arriving home at 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. ruining the day of our adolescents from the physiological and study point of view. In addition, – continues – in Lazio and in the south-central, unlike other regions, we still do not have a detailed transport plan, that is, there is no knowledge of transport schedules. Is it presumed – he asks – that children can be left hanging around the street waiting for the start of the lessons? ”.
Schools will reopen on January 7th, this is where we will return with different entry times. Lunch and time for homework?
Even from the Calabria, the unions explained what are the critical issues for the reopening of schools, dictated mainly by the difficulty of flexible hours, which provides a distance of one to two hours between the first and second entry of students to school since it is easy anticipate a number of critical issues that are difficult to address.
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