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Spain has been, since the beginning of the pandemic, one of the European countries most affected by Covid-19, and during the summer the figures continued to increase. Still so, And with nearly half a million infected across the country, about 8.3 million children and youth will return to school for another school year starting this Monday.
Nurseries, schools, colleges and most educational institutes have been closed since mid-March, when the Pedro Sánchez government declared a state of emergency to contain the pandemic.
Now the school year is progressively resumed, but with new guidelines and safety and hygiene rules: all students must wear a mask, from the age of six, in all institutions, the temperature of each student, teacher and employee will be measured . Before entering, classrooms will often be disinfected, more teachers are needed to have smaller class sizes, and students must be ensured at least 1.5 meters apart. There are also autonomous communities that test teachers frequently.
But, according to the Spanish press, schools do not have enough teachers to comply with the recommendations of the ministries of education and health and to safely resume classes in the classroom.
According to the guidelines of the Spanish authorities, there should only be 20 students per classroom, but the small number of teachers may compromise this rule.
Faced with these uncertainties and the fear that they are already facing a second wave of the pandemic, many teacher unions and parent and student organizations fear that several families will not take their children to school for fear of contagion.
Spain will already be in the second wave
A study carried out by a hospital and a university in Catalonia, published this weekend, argues that Spain is already facing a “second wave” of the new coronavirus pandemic.
In this study, signed by the Germas Trias i Pujol University Hospital of Badalona (Barcelona) and by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the researchers wonder why Spain leads the number of new cases of infection in this “second wave”, since It is a country with high temperatures and strong cultural customs that favor outdoor activities.
The report mentions that the contagion rate is 20 times lower in outdoor spaces compared to the incidence in closed spaces.
For the researchers, the key to understanding the current situation in Spain lies in the fact that the country lifted restrictions on mobility, especially between provinces, before other European Union countries, at a time when “the rate of positive cases it could be three times higher than what was actually being detected. “
And as such, the researchers stressed, Social activity increased significantly, hence the fear of many families with the start of classes and the return to school.
Titled “Analysis and forecast of covid-19 for the European Union (EU) – European Free Trade Association (EFTA) – United Kingdom, in Portuguese translation,” the study also warns European authorities that the current moment is crucial to catch a second wave in Europe.
