In an attempt to not derail the return to school in this third year of the pandemic, public and private schools in São Paulo have relaxed protocols in the fight against covid-19. This Wednesday, the 2nd, the first day of classes in the state network, Secretary of Education Rossieli Soares said that the orientation is “not to close more classes for one or two cases and observe if it is a case of an outbreak”. Elite private colleges also changed the guidelines to have fewer interruptions.
Colégio Santa Cruz, in the west, for example, sent a statement to parents yesterday, informing them that a group will be isolated only “from the 2nd positive case in the same room, in a period of 7 days”. The change was decided by the board after an evaluation by the health committee, which has specialists Caio Rosenthal and Mário Scheffer. Following the new recommendations of the Ministry of Health, the statement also says that “the return can be brought forward to the 6th day by means of a negative test from the 5th day, as long as the person does not show symptoms”.
“What we know is that contamination of children occurs at home and in social activities and not at school, if all care is used: hygiene, mask, ventilation”, says the coordinator of school health at Hospital Sírio Libanês, Ricardo Fonseca. In the consultancy that the hospital does for schools, there is also a recommendation not to remove a class after the first case of covid. “We follow up, monitor, so as not to close without reason and harm teaching.” According to Rossieli, the classes will only be isolated if there is an outbreak. “It will be analyzed on a case-by-case basis, we will assess who the contacts are,” he said. “The biggest risk for the child is being out of school.”
Colégio Vera Cruz, also in the west, has the same attitude. “Last year, in all cases of covid, there was no internal transmission. Even more considering the different context of the pandemic, with vaccinated students and absence of circulation restrictions”, says director Regina Scarpa. At Colégio Itatiaia, the class goes home when there are more than two cases. “If only one or two children test positive, they are removed and will be able to do the activities on the platform, but there will be no real-time class”, says director Adriana Iassuda Nogueira.
no online
International organizations have warned of the losses of children out of school or with remote teaching during the pandemic. A survey recently released by UNESCO in 11 countries showed that more than 50% of teachers considered that students had not progressed to the expected levels during this period. There are also warnings for emotional and social losses.
At Colégio Bandeirantes, when a second case of covid appears in a room, there is an evaluation with the Sírio team, which advises the school to decide what to do. In the first, the room remains. According to the president of the Brazilian Association of Private Schools (Abepar), Artur Fonseca Filho, the trend now is for schools not to migrate online when there is an infected person. “At the beginning of the year, children are still getting to know the teacher, an interruption can be a disaster.”
Epidemiologist Wanderson Oliveira, who was part of the Ministry of Health, believes that the knowledge acquired in these two years led to a change in protocols. “When the first symptomatic case or contact of a symptomatic one (infected parents) is identified, it is the best moment for testing the room. If testing is not available, the symptomatic case is isolated”, he says. For him, the vaccination of professionals, children and adolescents, the maintenance of the use of masks and hygiene helped to change the situation. “School is a safe environment.”
In January, there was an explosion in demand for tests with the spread of the Ômicron variant. The National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) approved on Friday the release of covid self-tests in Brazil, but the sector’s expectation is that the product will only reach the market in March. Because of the scarcity of tests and the high cost, some experts believe it is safer to turn away everyone who has had contact with the infected person. Cleber de Moraes Motta, medical consultant for health projects at Hospital Albert Einstein, says that the group only does not need to be isolated if the colleague or teacher who tested positive was not at school two days before or up to 10 days after the onset of symptoms.
In the world
Many countries have failed to determine the isolation of classes. In the UK, children who have come into contact with someone infected must be tested daily for 7 days and “continue to go to school unless they test positive”. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends a policy called test-to-stay (test to stay) in schools. It replaced the quarantines imposed on children studying in an infected classmate’s room. States provide tests for free.
MP wants schools to demand negative test from students and teachers
At least ten elite private schools in São Paulo have received a notification from the Public Ministry that requests that all students and teachers present a negative test in order to attend face-to-face classes. And it determines that activities be suspended for five days for adaptation.
Among the schools that received the notification are Santa Cruz, Bandeirantes, Móbile, Vera Cruz, Porto Seguro, Oswald de Andrade, Pentágono, Dante, Magno and Carandá, according to the Estadão found out. The letter is signed by the 6th Consumer Prosecutor of the Capital, Cesar Ricardo Martins.
“There is not the slightest possibility that this will prosper,” he told the Estadão the State Secretary of Education, Rossieli Soares. For the professor of Law-USP, and member of the State Council of Education, Nina Ranieri, “to order the suspension of classes, only based on scientific data”. The president of the Brazilian Association of Private Schools (Abepar), Artur Fonseca Filho, says that schools should continue the return process.
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