Face-to-face classes at universities: what measures should be taken to avoid contagion?

Peru now has more than half of the population vaccinated against the COVID-19, an advance that few countries in the region have achieved. In this context, the health and educational authorities have announced the next return to face-to-face university classes, more than a year and eight months after they were suspended due to the pandemic.

In several regions, and the main commitment of the universities and the Ministry of Health to achieve a safe return to the classroom are immunization days such as the ‘Rock Vaccine’, held this week at the University of San Marcos.

The population over 18 years of age has already been vaccinated for two weeks in regions such as Lima, and previously in Tumbes or Huancayo. But many of the university students are still waiting for their second dose, after which they need

The Ministry of Health assured that classes could start before the end of the month, but everything depends on each study center having to receive students.

According to data from the Ministry of Education, in 2020 little more than was registered, which means a fall of more than 300 thousand students compared to 2019.

Contagion in study centers

The contagion of COVID-19 in study centers, mainly schools, has already been studied in multiple places in the world, such as the US and Europe, and it has been shown that they are already known, such as the use of masks, social distance and the ventilation of the spaces, in addition to the surrounding of confirmed and suspected cases.

What happens in centers of this type, says a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), reflects the epidemiological situation of the community in which they are inserted. That is to say, . This, the document points out, coincides with the breach of the protocols or the relaxation of the same.

“It is important to control community transmission to protect educational environments. Schools are part of the community. If there is an increase in the community, then this will be repeated in schools and universities. However, that schools are the ones that promote transmission in the community [de explicarse]. Since we are in the pandemic, the use of a mask, mainly, has played a role in the control of transmission. These biosecurity measures are very important ”, Dr. Ciro Ugarte, Director of Emergencies of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), said in response to El Comercio.

The specialist comments that, although it is a difficult decision, it is therefore necessary to establish clear protocols and that these are respected. In addition, it should be considered that the situation is different, since vaccines are now available, but care must be taken to relax measures in the presence of the most contagious variants.

“Even with vaccination, when restrictions were removed and masks are not used or physical distancing is not respected in schools, even when people were vaccinated […] Being in schools can have an effect on the spread, but the use of protective measures can help control the spread. Reopening schools and universities, making that decision, is very difficult, because there may be repercussions on the students and the family, so there are consequences for the future ”, Explain.

A new study published in the journal PNAS found that the return to schools in late 2020 in the US was linked to an increase in COVID-19 cases and deaths, but this may be due, the authors say, to related factors. , such as the lifting of restrictions at the community level and the fact that they are also spaces for transmission.

However, research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that the increase in cases was due primarily to one factor: e among students and teachers in the counties included in the analysis.

Another study published in Nature analyzed the transmission of COVID-19 associated with the reopening of universities in the United Kingdom and found that “The implementation of multiple interventions, in addition to the already known biosecurity measures, could

“We found that controlling transmission is possible with a combination of social distancing, online teaching, self-isolation, and potentially massive testing. [de covid] to asymptomatic students ”, say the authors, who emphasize that, while the covid test application is effective in preventing transmission, it is expensive to implement.

University population and COVID-19

Unlike those under 17 and children, Peruvian youth of university age in various regions are already being vaccinated. But the university population not only includes students, but also professors and non-teaching workers, they -in their majority-

It is important to note that the; this is the average age of teachers in the country, according to the World Bank. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics, there are about 70 thousand university teachers in Peru.

In Peru, of the almost 200 thousand deaths in the pandemic, just over two thousand were people between 20 and 29 years old, according to the COVID-19 Situational Salt.

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