Ricardo Braginski
04/13/2021 17:55
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 04/13/2021 9:28 PM
In the midst of a new record of cases, when there is a debate about the presence in schools and after the call of two Buenos Aires teacher unions to a strike for this Wednesday, the City released this Tuesday
the new data on infections within of the classrooms
.
According to the district authorities, the statistics "
confirm that the school does not produce contagions"
and that is why the interruption of the current class scheme with face-to-face and protocols is not analyzed in the district.
The district's hard data indicates that, from March 17 to April 12,
schools reported 5,006 Covid infections
.
They represent only
0.71% of the total number of people who attend schools
, including students, teachers and assistants (700,518 people in total).
This is 7.1 cases per thousand people who tested positive in schools, although not because of that they were infected in the classrooms.
Of 45,056 bubbles that work in Buenos Aires schools, during this second month of activities 2,045 groups had to be isolated and at this time there are 945 in their homes for prevention.
They are only
2.1% of the total bubbles
.
From the Buenos Aires government they emphasize that, of the isolated people,
0.012% were positive Covid:
less than those who had been "positive" in the previous measurement (from February 17 to March 17) when that indicator had given 0.017%.
This would be an indicator that infections do not occur within schools.
During the first month of classes, the positive cases in Buenos Aires classrooms had been 1,215, now there are 5,006.
“They had
an increase in line with the ascending curve of confirmed
in the City.
However, the percentage that marks the
index of the reproduction of contagion
within educational establishments remained stable with respect to the first month of classes, ”they explain from the City.
Before these figures were known, 2 of the 17 Buenos Aires teacher unions had called for
a strike for this Wednesday, against the presence
in schools.
These are UTE-Ctera, alienated from Kirchnerism, and Ademys, linked to sectors of the left.
The latter had already made a strike when classes started, which had very low adherence.
The demands of the unions basically point to the epidemiological situation and the risks that attending classes has for them.
In a statement, UTE "requires Larreta" to
temporarily suspend presence
in the City.
They say it is due to "the lack of answers to all our claims and proposals, the collapse of the health system, the non-compliance with the protocols and the call to the presence of teachers with dispensations".
From Ademys they describe the situation as a "brutal increase in cases, collapse of the health system, rise in infections in children from 0 to 10 years old, collapse of public transport."
And they demand "suspension of face-to-face classes and other non-essential activities, massive vaccination plan for the entire population, equipment and connectivity for teachers and students, emergency admission for unemployed and / or precarious families and no dismissed teachers."
Eduardo López, leader of Ctera and UTE, requested, in radio statements, "the temporary suspension of face-to-face classes in the City
until this contagion madness stops growing and there are
(intensive therapy)
beds
in the City."
"The best thing is face-to-face, but last year's remote experience was better in a pandemic, children study more, they are infected less and there are more beds," he said.
From the City they affirm that there are still beds available.
"It is the Province that says they do not have beds and the unemployment is done in the City," they slipped.
"We have already had
13 follow-up protocol meetings with the unions,
" they add.
They speak of the "little representativeness" of the unions calling for the strike.
They say that UTE has 8,600 members and Ademys 1,500, out of 57,000 teachers in the district.
And that the teachers who habitually adhere to the strikes are few, because they deduct the days.
All this occurs in a context of
high concern about the steep curve of the second wave
and when, from the national government, it seeks to maintain the current scheme of careful presence in schools, agreed by the 24 jurisdictions.
The official plan is for
educational activity to be the last to be restricted
.
Minister Nicolás Trotta pointed to the care that should be followed in other activities.
"If we do not manage to modify those behaviors that end up impacting the circulation of the virus and people unnecessarily, in the framework of a pandemic, when a second wave is hitting us, that will end up having an unfailing impact on the school," he warned.
With regard to teacher strikes - some unions in the Province also call - Trotta said that
"what we should have is a uniform voice"
and asked the unions to accompany the claim of their portfolio so that the restriction measures
affect the schools only ultimately
.
This Tuesday a new document of "#ALasAulas" -a campaign promoted by 130 civil society organizations- that ratifies the importance of prioritizing education was also released.
"We reinforced our support for face-to-face classes based on evidence about the importance of keeping schools open," they say.
"Studies by UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Bank and the IDB, among other organizations, show that the suspension of face-to-face classes has as a consequence the increase in inequalities, the loss of learning, the deterioration of the physical and emotional health of students and minors future employment possibilities ”, they added.
Meanwhile, national teachers unions and other provinces also raise their voices and are concerned about the health situation and the possible impact on schools.
At the national level, Ctera -which is part of the CTA- asked the authorities "to temporarily suspend presence in those localities, departments or districts where the increase in cases has been exponential in the last 14 days."
The Argentine Teachers Union (UDA) -of the CGT- has a somewhat more contemplative vision.
In a statement, they affirm that "only in those districts, departments or urban ejidos that the epidemiological reality imposes it is necessary to implement virtuality with the provision by the governments of the essential digital tools."
Last week, the national government had presented a report similar to that of the City, but at the national level, which also showed the low incidence of school bubbles in Covid cases.
They showed data from the "Take Care of Schools" application, which the same directors of the schools upload.
The result was that, so far,
0.16% of the students and 1.03% of the teachers and assistants
had been infected at school
.
The percentage of cases in schools is lower than the average number of infections in the rest of the activities.
Look also
Commitment to presence
For Nicolás Trotta, schools "proved to be a place with a low level of contagion" and bet on being present