Face-to-face matters worrisome
Dear Editor,
I am writing to address my concern about school reopening from the perspective of a parent.
Recently, I received a message from the school saying one of my child’s classmates has tested positive for COVID-19. As far as I am concerned this school is not the only school which has a positive case. One of my friend’s child’s school had five positive cases and there are even more unknown.
From the message, you can see that very few preventative actions had been taken after the notice of an active case. Based on the World Health Organization (WHO) data, more than half of COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic, the percentage would be even higher for teenagers. As a result, a so-called careful screening by school nurse will not help in identifying existing cases and a potential source of infection. Students will bring the virus to each one’s home and pass the deadly illness to their beloved family.
Especially, for kids only eight or nine years old it is so common that they take off masks when playing and the virus can spread within 15 seconds.
From the experience worldwide, a minimum precaution that schools should have in place is being ready to access COVID-19 testing for any students and staff that come to school with symptoms aligning with the disease. Quick results will be critical in determining whether schools should be shut down to minimise viral spread among the student body.
Clearly, most Jamaican schools do not have the resources. If we just ignore the elephant in the room our children and people will be in danger due to the irresponsible decision of the Ministry of Health and Wellness and the Ministry of Education.
I propose that schools should at least:
1) develop a comprehensive plan for remote learning that includes plans for full-time remote learning and hybrid approaches;
2) shut down the school immediately if there are more than three cases per school and provide a COVID-TEST for close contacts.
I will not be able to sleep tonight since I am so worried about tomorrow. Should I send my kid to school? Should I let my kid skip the classes? Should I trust the public health protocol any more?
Concerned parent