Due to the increase in morbidity: 5th-6th and 11th-12th grade students may stay home • Senior Epidemiologist: "Canceling the capsules - lawlessness"
"Decisions are made in complete blindness."
Students in the classroom
Photography:
Michelle dot com
Due to the increase in morbidity: the
return of fifth- and sixth-graders may be delayed.
Many hoped that the return of 5th-6th graders to school as well as the return of 11th-12th grade students was around the corner, but it is possible that due to the increase in morbidity their return would be delayed and they would be forced to stay home.
The next stage of the students' return to the educational institutions was to be the return of the first-second grades to studies without capsules (in contrast to what is happening now) and at the same time a return to the studies of the fifth-sixth grades in part and in half grades.
High school students in 11th and 12th grades were also scheduled to return to school for at least two days due to the high school season.
The ambition was that in about a week, on November 15, these strata would be in the classrooms.
But nothing is final yet and the Ministry of Education and Health have not decided on a date - this is due to the instability in the morbidity data, so it is possible that the students will be sitting at home for many more days.
The Ministry of Health is in no hurry to decide on the relief, even in the educational institutions, and insists on adjusting the return to the morbidity data.
As for the return of the high schoolers, there is still no final outline.
In addition, middle school students (7th-9th) and tenth graders were left without a solution, and according to the plan, there is no date for them to return to school in any way, not even for a minimum of two school days.
It is these students who suffer the most severe injury, even during the closure of schools in the first closure.
The biggest concern is the social harm in adolescence.
"Working blindly"
Three weeks have passed since the kindergarten students (6-3) returned to the educational institutions and one week since the A-D students returned.
However, the Ministries of Education and Health do not have accurate data on the risk of infection within the educational institutions themselves or the number of children and staff who have entered isolation of contact with a verified patient within the educational institution.
The data that exists are on all students in the education system that it is not clear where they got infected or what led them to go into isolation, and therefore it is not possible to know what the impact of opening educational institutions is.
To date, about 220 closed kindergartens and three other schools have been registered.
About 4,500 students in isolation.
In total, the number of sick students in Corona is 1,341.
However, the Ministry of Education does not publish the morbidity data among teaching staff claiming that the issue is in the process of accuracy between the Ministry of Health system and the Ministry of Education system.
Prime Minister Netanyahu: "Consider a partial return to school", archive // Photo: GPO
At the end of the week, the decision was made to cancel the capsules among first- and second-grade students and return them to large grades, but to prevent mixing from several groups in the after-school programs that will remain organic.
This is an unclear decision by the Ministry of Health after insisting on capsules.
"It does not make sense to cancel the capsules after a short time, it is simply an epidemiologically irresponsible thing," says Prof. Hagai Levin, an epidemiologist at the Hebrew University and Hadassah and chairman of the Israel Public Health Physicians Association. B. You will succeed.
It was right to make sure of this split at lunchtime as well.
Unfortunately, we had to choose between two bad alternatives, in one there is a promiscuous mix of children in daycare and in the other alternative large and crowded classrooms just before winter begins.
Another problem is that due to the overcrowding in the classrooms, each student does not have his own table, so they share a table, the contact is much closer and the danger is greater. "
He said decision-makers continue to act in complete blindness with no data.
"If we do not make a systematic assessment we will not know anything, all the talk about the need for capsules and in the end eliminated them, it is a sowing of sand in the eyes of parents, because they do not test and are not tested.
Are left with masks
A senior source in the Ministry of Health estimated that the requirement to wear masks in the lower strata is not expected to be eliminated, and that despite the difficulty, first- and second-graders like the other students will have to stay and study with masks during classes and breaks.
This is an issue that has bothered quite a few students, teachers and parents since returning to educational institutions.
Last week, the Ministries of Health and Education announced the establishment of a special joint team that will re-examine the requirement to wear masks for first- and second-graders throughout the school day.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said: "I see no current situation to add relief. It is sure to lead to a loss of control over the disease."
Production of a solution for matriculation
The head of health services at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Sharon Elrai Price, added: “We are in discussions with the Ministry of Education.
I can not commit to a date as hard as it is, because we all want certainty and plan and I understand that.
We would be happy for the Ministry of Health to have a clear diary and dates.
But to do it right it needs to be correlated with an existing disease.
In the next step there will certainly be an opening of the 5th-6th.
We do not know when this will happen, it depends on the morbidity indices.
We are building options with the Ministry of Education to see how this can be done in another way and if it is possible to create an outline for 11-12 to produce a solution for matriculation learning. "