Ricardo Braginski
04/06/2021 18:39
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 04/06/2021 19:08
While discussing how the new restrictions will be in the face of the record of coronavirus infections, the National Ministry of Education presented its
first survey
on
Tuesday
on
how the pandemic is impacting schools across the country
.
And the results seem to add arguments to those who postulate that schools, for now, should not be closed.
Since the face-to-face classes started,
only 0.12% of the enrolled students and 0.79% of their teachers were infected
.
The data arises from the loads that the directors of the schools make in the application "Caring for Schools" that the Government implemented for this purpose.
According to official sources told
Clarín
, this system was used consistently (they uploaded both enrollment and positive data) by
5,926 public and private schools throughout the country
, which is about 10% of the total.
1,429,190 students and 214,850 teachers and non-teachers go to these schools.
The Government affirmed that
the sample is representative
and that, from there, it is obtained that for now only 0.12% of the enrolled students and 0.79% of the teaching and non-teaching staff also enrolled were infected.
There is a distinction between those enrolled and
those who actually attended in person
.
This is due to the fact that some students and workers do not go to school because they are a population at risk or their schools do not yet have face-to-face instances.
But the numbers don't change much.
In this case (those who went to school) the infections were slightly higher:
0.16% of students and 1.03% of teachers and non-teachers
.
Most relevant data from the official report on contgios in schools.
The data also show that
infections grow less among boys who go to school than in the average of the
general
population
of the country.
The specialists compared the data from epidemiological weeks 9 to 10 and 11 to 12 of 2021 (late February and early March) and found that, among school-age children, the growth of positive cases was lower than that registered in the provincial and national parts of those weeks.
"With these data we can ensure, with evidence, that
the school is not a place of contagion
,"
an official source
told
Clarín
.
The data was presented on Tuesday by the national Minister of Education Nicolás Trotta to his peers from the 24 jurisdictions, within the framework of a new meeting of the Federal Council of Education.
For the national government it is important to be able to show these statistics because they support the political decision already taken to
maintain presence in the classrooms
and that it is the last activity to be closed in the event that it is necessary.
"For us it is essential to be able to uphold the political and social definition of prioritizing the careful presence and analysis of the evidence, uphold the current protocols and not advance in any instance that implies relaxing care within the educational system," said Trotta.
As a precedent, it must be taken into account that this Monday,
Catamarca had become the first province to suspend face-
to-
face classes
in the middle of the second wave.
He did it on Monday in the towns of Andalgalá, Capayán, Santa María and Pomán, for a week and due to the rise in Covid cases.
In this case, Minister Trotta went on to clarify that the suspension of face-to-face classes occurred, there, within the framework of the restrictions of the rest of the activities and that the commitment of all the provinces continues to be that the schools are closed as a last resort.
The data presented this Tuesday by the national government are in line with those of the Buenos Aires government that recently showed that, since February 17 when classes started in the district, 1,215 cases of Covid have been registered,
0.17% of positive cases
.
60% occurred between teachers and the remaining 40%, between students, reported the Buenos Aires authorities.
