08/27/2020 - 10:33
- Clarín.com
- Society
Schools do not play a central role in the transmission of the coronavirus, although their ability to spread it is linked to the level of contagion that exists in a community. The regional director for Europe of the World Health Organization (WHO), Hans Kluge, said this Thursday.
Although the international organization refers to the return to classes in Europe, the issue is significant in Argentina due to the debate on the reopening of Buenos Aires schools , since Nicolás Trotta, Minister of Education of the Nation, rejected the protocol of the City to enable "digital spaces" in schools.
"Until now, we know that the school environment is not a main factor in the pandemic. But there are more and more publications that reinforce the evidence that children do play a role in transmission, although more linked to social gatherings," he warned in Kluge press conference.
San Juan: With strict health protocols, face-to-face classes return. Photo Télam.
WHO stressed that schools should implement the same measures of hygiene and general social distance, but also depending on which phase of the pandemic the community of which it forms part each are, they should be implemented " additional measures " .
"What we know is that we cannot open societies without opening schools first. This has been the biggest disruption in the history of education , with 1.6 billion school children affected in 190 countries," Kluge said.
Of the 55 countries that are part of the WHO European region, 32 have registered 40 days in a row with increases in infections greater than 10%, but far from the situation experienced last March.
Students attend the start of classes in Manaus, Brazil. Photo EFE.
"Now we know more about what works, it is possible to better manage the transmission of the virus in society. The key word is surveillance, " said the director of WHO-Europe.
The region is also experiencing a "complicated" transition moment due to the coincidence of three events: the reopening of schools, the flu season and the excess mortality of the elderly that usually occurs in winter.
Kluge also warned young people, who monopolize the new infections produced in recent weeks, against the belief that the virus will not affect them, and recalled that " no one is invincible " and that covid-19 is "like a tornado."
Source: EFE.
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