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According to the procedure established by the Government, municipalities where the number of new cases in the last two weeks exceeds 200 cases per 100,000. population, you must assess those who drop out of primary school.
In Šiauliai City Municipality, this indicator is twice as high, but not all primers are tested. The municipality was supposed to start testing them from the beginning of the week, but the beginner testing only started on Wednesday. Oh, and not all beginners are far from being tested.
No evidence
According to the mayor of Šiauliai, A. Visockas, this happened for various reasons. One, the municipality lacked tests to evaluate beginners. Second, there were requests from primary school parents to allow unexamined children to go to school. Therefore, as the mayor says, the decision was made to allow untested beginners to study in the classroom as well.
“We started testing on Wednesday because we could only test on Wednesday. The primers had to be sure to go to class on Monday or I had to remove them all and come back in a few days. Where is all the thinking? So we didn’t have any testing. We didn’t have the tests that we chose in schools on Monday morning. As a result, the elementary school kids went to schools that we just didn’t have, “says A. Visockas.
The mayor says evidence is still lacking. The city is said to have received 2,000 rapid antigen tests Monday night, then received about 1,500, but nearly 200 are still missing today. In total, according to A. Visockas, the municipality of the city of Šiauliai had ordered 13 thousand. these tests.
“It just came to our notice then. The Prime Minister is still fundamentally misled. We don’t have all the necessary evidence yet. The ball is not even on our side. The car came back empty. I am ashamed of the Prime Minister’s team, not to mention the attitude. towards the primary school, the teachers, the parents. We are very sorry. If I knew what I knew, I would be 100 percent. I would be on the side of the residents of the city of Šiauliai “, details A. Visockas in a message sent to journalists shortly after.
Initially, as the mayor says, the system was such that Covid-19 tests had to be evaluated by doctors. The order change allowed for a simpler system where children could test themselves. This is exactly the test principle that Šiauliai chose.
“In fact, the system has to work perfectly like this: the children come, because they can evaluate themselves, all the classes in the city have to take an exam before the first lesson. The test is done, 15 minutes, all Šiauliai knows what the situation is. The child whose test shows that there may be a problem, those tests may not be correct, that child is taken out of class alone, returns to the family, and the family decides what to do next, or is tested by PCR.
We have chosen this method because we do not want to send the whole class if a child has a trait. Because those tests are not accurate. Imagine sending an entire class, panicked parents, investigating, and then it turns out that there is no problem. Then the parents would send what is happening in Lithuania. There is maximum tension in Lithuania, which really does not bring benefits ”, comments A. Visockas.
Parents don’t want to test their children
Another problem faced by the Šiauliai City Municipality is that a large part of the parents are opposed to testing their children. Children themselves fear tests, and sometimes their parents do not see the meaning of tests. The mayor says that after receiving hundreds of letters of support from Šiauliai residents, support for the mayor can also be seen on social media groups such as “Padres Unidos”.
As A. Visock says, there are also parents who take tests at work, so they may not agree to evaluate their children at school.
“They have a logical explanation, but who listens to these people? His motive may be: we want to save public finances, we know the situation of our family. So it is enough that one family member takes the test at work, for example, and everyone knows about their family situation. If it shows that the person is healthy, then the whole family is healthy ”, thinks A. Visockas.
The mayor is convinced that it is mandatory for beginners to go to school and study in contact, and cannot be tested by coercion and force. A. Visockas says that education in elementary schools is something sacred, therefore, the goal is to ensure the possibility for children to be in class.
“The teacher needs to be able to educate the children in the classroom and I will make sure that the children are in the classroom, it takes time to achieve it. Those who agree to get tested and get tested are already becoming role models for those around them. Regardless of whether there was no proof or because the parents disagreed. The point is, he’s just looking, not testing, ”says A. Visockas.
Therefore, according to the mayor, it would be fair that there was a certain transition period during which the children and their parents could decide on the test. Otherwise, the children are ordered.
“They just fixed the kids. Your father disagreed, all the best, outside, travel the distance. So where are the benefits? Education divides, classes divide. Obviously, those children who are at a distance or worse, in self-directed learning, mean that those children are no longer receiving an education. When you talk about elementary classes, in this place you need to understand what an elementary class is, what is the importance of a child’s development. What we can do in Lithuania now is enormous logical, educational and other damage, which we will speak in full force after a year and say how badly we did it, ”says A. Visockas.
In Sweden, primary school children were not expelled from schools
On Wednesday, the Seimas Health Committee held a discussion with Sweden’s chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnel.
The portal tv3.lt wrote about the reflections expressed by A. Tegelis on Wednesday. Primary schools, unlike other countries, were open to healthy children in Sweden during the pandemic.
“We think it was a good strategy because we are convinced that children have to go to school, because in general their health depends on social life,” said Tegelis.
He confirmed that a pandemic is increasing the number of children with psychological disorders in many countries and that this must be addressed.
“Although distance education has been applied in secondary schools, now we are talking about older students also going back to schools and most of the teaching would be done directly. It should be borne in mind that children of this age rarely contract. And if they fail to study by contact, it will affect not only their psychological condition, but their future in general, “said the epidemiologist.
A. Visockas, who overheard the discussion, says he is disappointed that the Lithuanian authorities are also listening to the attitude of the Swedish epidemiologist.
“I sincerely hope that the relevant Lithuanian institutions, including the Minister of Health Arūnas Dulkis and the country’s Prime Minister Ingrid Šimonytė, will also hear this,” A. Visockas shares his impressions.
Suggests assessing the possible consequences
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė stated that Šiauliai Mayor A. Visockas should carefully assess the consequences of his decisions, if the city decides not to test the primers for Covid-19 for some time.
“I think that the mayor, as the careful head of the municipality, should very well assess the consequences of such decisions, including the epidemiological situation. “The links between the opening or closing of educational institutions and the dynamics of the pandemic are very unfortunate, but are repeatedly based on a number of scientific studies,” the prime minister told reporters on Wednesday.
After the Šiauliai municipality has been under a stricter quarantine regime since Monday, all primary school children remain in the city’s schools for the time being. The mayor said the Covid-19 primers had not been tested by the cumulative method, antigen tests, or, in a new way, antigen self-monitoring tests, as required by government regulations, as of Wednesday.
Currently, government decisions force primates to undergo tests in all municipalities where the number of Covid-19 cases in two weeks exceeds 200 cases per 100,000. population.
In Šiauliai, according to Wednesday’s data, this indicator reaches 423 cases.
“I am very sorry that it is impossible for the mayor of Šiauliai what is possible for the mayors of other municipalities, because the tests of primary schools have been carried out in other municipalities for some time. And many more testing methods have emerged than when the first municipalities decided to start testing primary schools, ”said the Prime Minister.
“I heard a statement from the mayor about bullying of children and the like. Children are evaluated by nasopharyngeal tests, no one injures children’s nasopharynx. I really don’t know if someone has misled the mayor here, or if he wants to justify his decisions in this way, “he added.
The number of cases in Šiauliai is increasing
According to the Government Data Review, the growth of hospitalizations in Lithuania has stopped in all regions except for the Šiauliai-Telšiai Covid-19 group. New cases are increasing in the region and hospital employment is increasing.
“The epidemiological situation in the Šiauliai region is deteriorating, the hospitals in the Šiauliai region are also improving. Not as suddenly as in Vilnius, but still,” said I. Šimonytė.
However, the mayor of the city of Šiauliai A. Visockas says that the prime minister is significantly misled. According to the mayor, the current situation is reminiscent of a certain harassment.
Government decisions stipulate that the Covid-19 test is mandatory for all students in grades 5 to 11, as well as for beginners in municipalities with a rate of more than 200 new cases, and it is only recommended that graduates of high school take the test.
In addition to the tests with the cumulative method and rapid antigen tests, an additional possibility has been introduced for students to perform rapid antigen self-monitoring tests without the supervision of a medical professional, when the data is not required to be sent to the e-health system.
Only in the case of a positive test result, students are required to undergo an additional molecular PCR assay.
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