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If a positive case of COVID-19 infection is confirmed in schools, the government and the General Directorate of Health (DGS) guarantee that they will not close. The exceptions, of course, will relate to borderline situations. In such cases, the closure of schools should only be “considered in high-risk situations in the establishment or in the community”, read in the manual published by the DGS to combat COVID-19 in the new school year in case of contagion or suspected contagion. The decision to close schools must involve local, regional and national health authorities.
But the 44-page manual further states that, even if a school is not closed, it can be determined “the closure of one or more areas of the school” or “one or more classes” to avoid sequential contagion and chains of transmission. active. . For this reason, the isolation of positive cases or infections are also measures provided by the health entity.
But for DGS, only two cases of COVID-19 infection with direct connection are enough to consider an outbreak scenario. In suspicious cases, the document says that the school must activate the planned contingency plan and immediately contact the person responsible for implementing the contingency plan in each school. The objective is to expedite the application of all measures, for greater efficiency in the fight against the new coronavirus.
What are the measures to deal with suspicious cases?
All suspected cases must always be directed to the isolation areas, through their own circuits and previously defined for this purpose in order to avoid contacts with other students or teachers. Once the student suspected of being infected has been isolated, schools must immediately contact the parent who must go to school “preferably in their own vehicle,” according to the document proposed by DGS.
The next step is to contact the parent or student, if it is an adult, on the SNS 24 line. If contact is not made, it is up to the person responsible for implementing the contingency plan in schools to make the call.
If COVID-19 infection is confirmed, the DGS may choose to isolate all people who had close contact with the infected student or apply more serious measures, such as the temporary closure of the class. But it is important that parents are aware of the health of their children so as not to send them to school if they show symptoms of infection, being obliged to inform the schools of the suspicion of infection.
The objective is clear: to prevent schools from having to close again, as both the DGS and the António Costa government want to avoid in the long term.
“Schools cannot close, nor can we have the level of distance education that we had last year. Teaching in public schools and in the classroom is essential. It is essential that we organize in each group of schools, and in each establishment, contingency plans to respond to what is needed: there will always be a contaminated student or teacher, we must prevent an infected student from being a sign that the whole school is close ”, Explained António Costa, at the end of August, during the National Conference of the Socialist Party, according to the newspaper” Público “.
Also the Secretary of State for Health, António Lacerda Sales, commented on the return to classes that, he says, should be done “with the utmost consideration and caution,” always bearing in mind that “nothing should or can be the same as what happened during the first stage “ Outbreak of the new coronavirus in Portugal.
Regarding the DGS, the strategy for returning students to face-to-face education does not differ much from what is already being done, that is, isolating suspected or confirmed cases and acting as quickly as necessary.
“It is important to define who is calling whom, who is speaking to whom, what type of action is going to be carried out because, as has been said, the intervention is intended to be directed and focused, and not expanded to the entire school. , to disturb the academic year as little as possible ”, defended Graça Freitas.
And he continues: “There is a very pedagogical attitude here, especially on the part of the schools together with the parents, so that they understand that situations are different and that it is necessary to remain calm when there is a suspicious case, not to panic.” [nem] the trend, the desire to close a school with thousands and hundreds of children. Effective measures can be taken, isolating those who need to be isolated, treating those who need to be treated. “
The next school year is scheduled to begin between September 14-17. In France, 22 schools were closed four days after classes started. “If we speak in terms of classrooms, we mean 100 closed classrooms, but this changes every day, of course”, said Jean-Michel Blanquer, French Minister of Education, who this Friday, September 4, quotes the “Jornal de Notícias”.
