The Answers for a Safe Return to School, by Elmer Huerta

One of the most dire consequences of the great pandemic of 2019 is, without a doubt, the not yet evaluated impact on the mental health and cognitive development of children. Experts agree that almost two years of absence from face-to-face classes they will leave a trail of emotional problems in the school population.

Faced with this reality, many societies –including the Peruvian one– protest the lack of a quick return to face-to-face classes, but accepting that the course of the pandemic is uncertain, today we will ask some essential questions before deciding to reopen schools completely.

“How dangerous is the COVID-19 for children? –

We know that children can become infected, become ill and be hospitalized, but – apart from the rare childhood systemic multi-inflammatory syndrome – children have low morbidity and mortality. In terms of health then,. The scale seems to tip with the child’s mental health.

“How risky is it for children to bring the virus home?”

In households where vaccinated people live and who do not have risk factors for complication by COVID-19 (young and healthy parents), the risk is minimal and the children could go back to school. But knowing that certain people at risk (the elderly, people with cancer or other chronic diseases or immune problems) can become complicated even when fully vaccinated, there is a risk that the child will bring the virus home and affect the health of those people.

“Unfortunately, those conditions [de sanidad] they are not couples in Peru, as there are thousands of schools in a precarious state ”.

“What should schools do to ensure a healthy return to school?”

Without a doubt, the most important thing is that schools ensure that teachers, administrative staff and students are vaccinated. ; and the vaccination of younger children, from 5 to 11 years old, is still in the process of being approved in the US, and depending on the capacity to purchase vaccines of the Peruvian State, it is not known when it will arrive in Peru.

Without such vaccination, mitigation measures at school, which include mandatory use of masks, ventilated environments, physical distance, and soap and water in the bathrooms, are very important. Unfortunately, these conditions are not even in Peru, since there are thousands of educational centers in a precarious state in Peru.

“What should the parent do when they perceive that their school is not safe?”

The system must provide the possibility for certain students to continue their education remotely or blended.

– What should the Ministry of Health do to ensure a healthy return to school? –

The Minsa must ensure a district testing program with molecular tests, tests that should not only be done on symptomatic people, but also on asymptomatic people at random. These results must be publicly displayed to know the district’s positivity rate and provide confidence to parents.

In coordination with and initiating isolation and quarantine protocols. Doing the opposite, that is, doing the test only in people with symptoms, and who have to wait for results for two or three days, would not be the most efficient.

The Ministry must also provide a protocol based on science and evidence, of actions to take in case a student or staff member has a positive test. Recent studies have shown that a 14-day home isolation would not be necessary if students in contact with an infected child were wearing masks.

“Each country, each region, has a different reality, which will determine the actions to follow.”

– What should parents do in this transition? –

If children are already going to school, parents should have positive speeches with their children, reassuring them that – if they become infected – the disease in them is mild, but at the same time they should reinforce measures to prevent infection.

If the children are not yet going to face-to-face classes, but reinforcing prevention measures.

On the other hand, knowing that the pandemic has increased anxiety and depression rates in adults, parents must be willing to acknowledge the state of their own mental health, and seek help if necessary. It will be impossible to help your children without first getting the help they need.

– What should schools do in this transition? –

The most important element is transparency: quickly and effectively communicate to parents, teachers and employees the occurrences related to cases of infection and the measures adopted.

-Corollary-

Just as there is no single recipe for fighting the pandemic, there is no single recipe for safe return to school. Each country, and within each country, each region, has a different reality, which will determine the actions to be followed. The authorities must provide, however,

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