The summer school in Vlčkovce, near Trnava. (source: TASR)
As the number of coronavirus infections rises in Slovakia again, schools are preparing to open for the new school year in three weeks.
On August 11, there were more than 700 active COVID-19 cases in Slovakia, and the daily increases have been in the double digits this month so far. This is not a reason for schools to stay closed in September, according to hygienists that the Sme daily spoke with.
“We are going back to normal operation in schools in September,” Education Minister Branislav Gröhling said as quoted by Sme.
The pattern hygienists are preparing to follow with regard to schools is similar to what they do when coronavirus is detected in production companies. If the infection is confirmed in a pupil or a teacher, regional hygienists will intervene depending on the number of infected people and how the infection will spread. That does not necessarily mean the school will close.
Experts should be finishing various plans these days, which will be useful for schools when someone with COVID-19 appears among pupils, teachers, cooks or cleaning staff.
“The situation is different if the positive test is of a teacher who went to ten classrooms in one day or if it is a pupil who does not leave their classroom,” said paediatrician and the main expert for general care of children and teenagers of the Health Ministry Elena Prokopová, as quoted by Sme. “One infected person does not have to mean that the whole school will be closed.”
She also works on a team of experts preparing a manual for schools.
In the new school year, the spring 2020 mass closure of schools should not repeat, said Minister Gröhling. Schools do not have much more detailed information to go on by at this point.
