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The start of the school year marks the return to school for thousands of students across the country. But this year, due to the covid-19 pandemic, nothing will be the same again.
This will also be a “very important phase” of the pandemic, as the General Directorate of Health has already underlined, Graça Freitas. The official recalled that the return to school will bring a great increase in social mobility and contacts.
There will be new rules to follow, extra care to take into account, and plans prepared for worst-case scenarios.
Taking into account the guidelines published by the General Directorate of Health (DGS) together with the General Directorate of School Establishments (DGEST) and the Directorate General of Education (DGE), we developed a guide for parents, students, teachers, and staff.
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What general recommendations should schools follow?
Schools must, from the beginning, create a Contingency Plan that defines the procedures to follow in the event of a suspicious case and disseminate it to the entire school community (teachers, staff, students and those in charge of education). This plan should include a series of key points such as mark one or more isolation areas for suspected cases (these areas must be equipped with a telephone, chair, water, non-perishable food and access to sanitary facilities),routes to follow to these areas and how Staff replacement strategies in case of prophylactic isolation..
Schools must provide disinfectant dispensers and trash cans. The entire educational establishment must be subject to a general cleaning and disinfection plan.
Establishments must favor digital channels for all administrative procedures and suspend events and meetings with large numbers of people. Parents / guardians should be contacted by phone and whenever parent meetings are required, they should be held in small groups., with distance rules.
All teachers and staff, all students of the 2nd cycle of basic education, those in charge of education, providers or elements outside the establishment.
The mask will only be dispensed during meals, during Physical Education classes or before a Medical Certificate of Multipurpose Disability or “medical statement that proves a clinical condition that has not been able to use.”
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Will students and staff be assessed?
No. The covid-19 test will only be prescribed by the local health authority for suspected cases or high-risk contacts. For high-risk contacts, the test is prescribed after the positive result of the initially identified case.
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Will the temperature measurement at the entrance be mandatory?
No. DGS says that temperature measurement “is not even a recommended measurement.” Students, teachers, and staff should “watch their health” and should not go to school if they have symptoms, including fever.
At the entrance, everyone must sanitize their hands.
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How will the school space be organized?
Students must organize into groups / classes. Schools must organize schedules, breaks and meal times to avoid contact between different classes.
Whenever possible, the classes of each class must take place in the same room and with a fixed seat per student.
The establishments must reorganize the space to ensure a greater physical distance (this must be at least one meter).
Circulation routes, waiting points, and places to be occupied at cafeteria tables must be marked.
Schools should avoid the concentration of students in common spaces such as the library or computer rooms.
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What will the breaks between classes be like?
The intervals should be as short as possible. DGS also advises that students stay, as much as possible, in specific areas defined by the school.
Schools must define and identify the circuits to follow when accessing social spaces such as the cafeteria, the stationery, the bathrooms or the multipurpose room.
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What care should be taken when traveling to and from school?
When traveling to and from school, respiratory etiquette rules must be followed, hand hygiene must be performed after touching surfaces or objects, a mask must be worn on public transportation, and the safety distance between the passengers.
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What measures should school transportation take?
School transport must have a maximum capacity of 2/3 of its capacity, it must ensure compliance with the safety interval and the distance between passengers (for example, one passenger per seat), it must indicate the places where people must sit, They must provide disinfectant at the entrance and exit of the vehicle, decontaminate the vehicle after each trip.
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Should children with health problems go back to school?
It is known that people with chronic diseases or immunosuppression can have more severe manifestations of Covid-19.
DGS highlights that the evidence suggests that “the risk of severe disease in minors is generally lower than the risk in adults.” However, “extra precautions” should be considered in these risk groups. Children must undergo a medical evaluation, which must determine the care to be taken.
An order issued by the Ministry of Education on September 3 determined that students who belong to groups at risk of covid-19 can be monitored in person during the next school year, similar to what has already happened with cancer patients.
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What will the Physical Education classes be like?
The General Directorate of Education (DGE) sent the schools the new guidelines for physical education classes, which in the next school year will be different from the usual one.
Students will not have to wear a mask during class, but teachers will only be able to dispense with it at times that involve physical exercise, such as demonstrating an activity.
Teachers must choose strategies that privilege respect for physical distance “of at least three meters between students.” Thus, the activities should preferably be individual or between small groups, simulating “reduced and conditioned” game situations.
Material and equipment must be disinfected at the beginning of the day and before and after each use. Sharing material and equipment without cleaning should be avoided.
Classes should preferably take place outdoors and in the case of interior spaces they should be cleaned before and after the entry of each class.
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How should the school deal with a suspected covid-19 case?
Upon detecting a suspicious case, the school must immediately activate the previously defined Contingency Plan.
If the suspected case is an adult (teacher or employee), they must go only to an “isolation area, through its own circuits, previously defined in the Contingency Plan, which must be visually marked.” If you are a minor, you must be accompanied by an adult to the isolation area. The school should immediately contact your parent / guardian and he / she should go to school, preferably “in their own vehicle”.
In the isolation area, the guardian or himself, in the case of an adult, must contact the SNS 24 or other lines created for this purpose and follow the instructions given.
If the case is not considered suspicious by phone review, the Contingency Plan procedures are terminated. If deemed suspicious by screening, the adult or minor can be referred in one of the following ways: either for home isolation or for primary health care or the emergency department. The movement must be carried out in individual transport and with the use of a properly fitted mask.
If the suspected case is confirmed, the Local Health Authority should be contacted immediately to assess the risk of contagion. This authority can implement the measures it deems most appropriate, such as isolating close contacts of suspected cases.
If the infection is confirmed in the laboratory, the health authority assesses the situation and can implement measures such as “isolation of contacts”, “closure of class, areas or, at the limit, the entire educational establishment”.
The school must “clean and disinfect the surfaces and ventilate the spaces most used by the suspected case, as well as the isolation area.” The waste produced by the suspected case must be placed in resistant bags and these in collective waste containers, never in ecopoints.
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What if there is a case of covid-19 outside the school?
If there is a confirmed case of covid-19 outside the school, the establishment must also activate the Contingency Plan and contact the Health Authority.
It will be the responsibility of the Health Authority to make a diagnosis of the situation and determine the measures it considers most appropriate, namely, the isolation of contacts, the closure of classes, areas or, “at the limit, of the entire educational or teaching establishment” .
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Can schools be closed completely?
The DGS establishes that the closure of the entire school should only be considered “in high risk situations in the establishment or in the community” and that this measure can only be determined “by the Local Health Authority, involving the Health Authorities in the Regional and National decision-making ”.
An outbreak will be considered when there are two or more cases with active infection. The outbreak can occur in one class, in several classes with no epidemiological link, in several classes with an epidemiological link, or be an outbreak without transmission control, that is, when there is a high number of cases in different groups (students, teachers, staff) .
The DGS stresses that in the event of an outbreak “it will be necessary to act quickly and apply individual and collective measures by the Local Health Authority.” Again, the Local Health Authority must make an assessment and determine the measures to be taken, which may include isolating cases, isolating contacts, closing classes or school areas, or, at a minimum, closing schools. the whole school.
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Can the isolation area be shared by more than one suspected case?
The isolation area should not be shared by more than one suspected case, unless they are cohabiting. If several suspected cases are identified simultaneously, the rooms that are not being used should be used for the isolation of the different cases.
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What should parents do when their children are infected?
If a minor has a positive test for COVID-19, he must remain isolated, according to the instructions of the Local Health Authority, until he meets the criteria for cure. The student must remain home and be contacted.
A family doctor will accompany you through the “Trace covid-19” platform and you can only return to school when you meet the cure criteria and have this indication from the Health Authority.
