Schools in US face major virus test GERMANY ISSUES TRAVEL WARNING FOR BULGARIA, ROMANIA

Washington, Aug. 8: Reopening schools is easy. Keeping them open will be the hard part.

As educators prepare to welcome students back to class for the first time in months, schools’ ability to quickly identify and contain Coronavirus outbreaks before they get out of hand will be put to the test in thousands of districts around the country.

Newly reopened schools in Mississippi, Indiana and Georgia have already reported infections just days into the academic year, triggering virus protocols that include swiftly isolating infected students, tracing their contacts and quarantining people they exposed.

“It doesn’t matter if you open schools in July, like we did, or if you open in August, September or October. All schools are going to have to deal with the issue of positive Covid-19 test results,” said Lee Childress, superintendent of Corinth School District in Mississippi, where more than 100 students are quarantined at home after being exposed to a handful of infected classmates.

Schools are trying to mitigate the risk of transmission by spreading desks apart, serving meals in the classroom and keeping groups of students together throughout the day. Many schools — but not all — will require students and staff to wear masks, which health

Berlin, Aug. 8: Germany’s Foreign Ministry has issued a travel warning for parts of Bulgaria and Romania because of regional spikes in Coronavirus cases.

The ministry says on its website that tourists should avoid unnecessary travel to Blagoevgrad, Dobrich and Varna in Bulgaria.

Varna on the Black Sea coast is a popular tourist destination. It also urged travelers to avoid seven counties in Romania, most of them in the west of the country. Travellers returning to Germany from those areas must undergo a compulsory Coronavirus test.

experts say is critical to cutting down on spread.

Administrators say it might be difficult to control the mixing and mingling that happens at every school. Asymptomatic carriers could silently spread the virus to many others. A student might not remember every contact, or be reluctant to tell the truth because that would mean forcing friends into quarantine.