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A student at a high school in Sundsvall was confirmed to be sick with covid-19.
Now the school has decided to send the 260 students home and keep them closed for at least a week.
– It is an extreme measure, says Maria Tempé, assistant doctor for infection control in the region.
Earlier in the week, a student at the NTI school in Sundsvall was confirmed to have fallen ill with covid-19.
– It was on Wednesday that we received confirmation that the student was sick with covid-19, says director Jon Ellrose.
On the same day, the school closed and the 260 students were able to go home and instead have distance education until at least Tuesday of next week.
– It became so unfortunate that the student may have been contagious and infected others. On Tuesday the incubation period expires and then we can see if we have more infected and based on that we have to decide if we can open again, says Jon Ellrose.
The closure of the entire school after a confirmed case was a necessary measure, according to the principal, despite the fact that the infected student had been at home for a week.
– The need for quality teaching and school for students is weighed against the risk of a major outbreak. Now that we do not have a widespread spread of the infection here in the region, we have the opportunity to put the liquor back in the bottle, says the director, who believes that they are good at distance education and therefore the students are not as affected by the closure.
Photo: Martina Holmberg / TT
Stock photography, empty school.
The Infection Control Doctor: An Extreme Measure
Maria Tempé, an assistant infection control physician in the Västernorrland region, is unfamiliar with the decision to close the NTI school. But a shutdown is an extreme measure, he says.
– It is extremely unusual.
In connection with the opening of upper secondary schools in the fall, there is a greater spread of infection among young people of upper secondary age.
But while some schools close completely after discovering cases, others have chosen to allow the affected class only to have distance education. Some report cases, others do not.
As established for confusion and anxiety among students and parents about what is applicable.
– Yes, I can understand that. But you look at each individual case: what kind of school it is, what contacts the infected person had and what hours. Do you think you can stop the spread of the infection by closing the school? says Maria Tempé.
Zero hospitalized
Photo: NTI
Jon Ellrose, Principal of NTI School.
The fact that Region Västernorrland now has a low spread of infection with zero covid patients in hospitals may also be important.
– We now have a pretty good location with a fairly small spread of the infection, so now we have a chance to quell it as soon as possible, he says.
Jon Ellrose believes that it is good that the schools themselves can make decisions in the event of a corona outbreak.
– Our facilities and schedules seem to have many points of contact and contact between students throughout the school, in our case it would not be effective to send a class home, for example.
Do you see the risk of people feeling confused when schools handle the infection differently?
– No, if you lock yourself in a certain rule, you eliminate the opportunities to take into account our local conditions. How crowded a school is, what the facilities are like and what the risks in public transport look like when you arrive at the school.
– But as a school, you have to be very clear about what you do and why.
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