[ad_1]
“Regarding the document [referencial para as escolas] There is not much to say. Does not respond to upstream problem […]. We still do not have the conditions that minimize the possibilities of covid-19 in the classroom, ”said Mário Nogueira, speaking with Lusa.
According to the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof), the decision to close a school or isolate a student or any other infected person rests with the local health authority, an entity that must carry out an inspection of educational establishments before they open.
Mário Nogueira also stressed that this is not an easy decision, taking into account that an infected teacher “has already had contact with other classmates and with various classes” and an infected student “has also had contact with other students and with the family.”
For Fenprof, the reference of the General Directorate of Health (DGS) for schools does not allow to minimize the possibility that “a case of covid appears” in educational establishments.
In this sense, Mário Nogueira also accused the DGS of “incoherence” when it came to validating executive rules that go against its own guidelines.
“We continue to recommend the distance of one and a half to two meters, but the Ministry of Education says that the distance is what is possible,” he exemplified.
On the other hand, DGS recommends classes with a reduced size, “but continues to validate the orientation of the ministry with normal sizes of 28 to 30 students,” he added.
Although DGS indicated that the benchmark is still open to new contributions, Fenprof has already sent eight requests for meetings with this entity, which have not been responded to.
“We are always available, until the beginning of classes, to meet and raise our concerns, but the Director General [Graça Freitas] and the Ministry of Health itself must have this availability, “he said.
However, Mário Nogueira emphasized that returning to face-to-face classes “is fundamental”, pointing out that turning to distance education again “can be catastrophic.”
Schools will only be closed in case of “high risk” and the screening of who has been in contact with patients with covid-19 will be carried out “preferably within 12 hours after the identification of the case,” recommended the DGS.
These are some of the measures provided for in the “Reference Schools – Control of the transmission of Covid-19 in a school context”, which was published this Friday and is available on the DGS website, but which will continue to be “subject to contributions to be improved and consolidated ”, according to information from the General Directorate.
In the document, DGS explains that two confirmed cases of covid-19 in a school are enough to be considered an outbreak, but that only in “high-risk situations” do health authorities choose to close the school.
The first options are to close only one or more classes, or to close “one or more areas of the educational or teaching establishment”. Only in the latter case is the entire school closed.
The reference also indicates that the isolation area in schools should only be used by one person, and other rooms should be chosen if cases appear simultaneously.
The covid-19 pandemic has already claimed at least 875,703 deaths and infected more than 26.6 million people in 196 countries and territories, according to a report by the French agency AFP.
In Portugal 1,833 people died of the 59,457 confirmed as infected, according to the latest bulletin from the Directorate General of Health.
