Schools should be among the last to be closed and go online, the Minister of Education told Digi24, after the worrying evolution of the recent Covid pandemic. Sorin Cîmpeanu insisted on the importance of testing, arguing it can ensure health safety in schools. The Minister added that testing of those who do not show symptoms will also be taken into account.
Sorin Cîmpeanu said he encourages all teachers and students of eligible age to be vaccinated. However, it would not support the compulsory vaccination of school staff, a measure adopted in other Western European countries.”We did not support compulsory vaccination, but presented arguments for everyone to understand. At the moment there is no legislation for compulsory vaccination. But testing must be supported because it helps us in health safety in schools. Testing is provided for all students and teachers who it shows symptoms, plus for direct contacts in schools. There are also discussions about a test in other cases“, Sorin Cîmpeanu also specified.
More than 1,000 students and more than 600 teachers are infected with Covid-19, one week after the start of the new school year. 795 classes currently have physical activity suspended as a result of confirmed cases. In total, more than 17,000 students will take classes online, according to data reported on Friday. The Minister of Education, Sorin Cîmpeanu, though said that the current infections have nothing to do with the school, but are the result of the activities from the last weeks of the children’s vacation.
The minister however announced that, if the upward trend of the infection rate is maintained, students in Bucharest could go to school online from mid-October.
“From August 1 to 31, the upward trend increased 6 times. Mathematically speaking, unfortunately, it has not slowed down. On Sunday in Bucharest we had an infection rate of 2.44 per thousand, after it was 2.33 per thousand a day ago. The upward trend is maintained, which, if we do not understand to observe the sanitary rules and the importance of vaccination, will be confirmed mathematically and it is possible that in Bucharest, in mid-October, we will reach the threshold of 6 per thousand, from which, unfortunately, schools will go online until the infection rate drops. I would have liked the rate of advance of the infection rate to decrease, but, unfortunately, the figures did not confirm this desire,” explained Sorin Cîmpeanu.
Students from 13 localities in Romania, where the infection rate exceeded 6 cases per thousand inhabitants, will take courses exclusively online as of today, September 20.