Experts share their views on what needs to be done in Puerto Rico to resume the face-to-face lessons

Reopening schools to return face-to-face classes after a year of distance learning would be one of the most important measures so that little by little the country can return to normal during the COVID-19 pandemic. But it requires that which jugglers track minors’ learning needs, coronavirus infections, safety of school environments and even the economic realities of families at the same time, experts agreed.

Today begins the second semester of the distance school year for the more than 270,000 students in public education. Thousands have not stepped into a classroom for a year because of the devastation caused by the earthquakes that mainly hit the southern part of the island and, later, the COVID-19 pandemic.

“You have to open schools, you have to keep this in balance. Steps have been taken and opened up in other countries. That quotas are used, that not all schools open (at the same time) … The necessary measures can be taken so that it can be done properly ”, says pediatrician Mario Paulino.

Governor Pedro Pierluisi has already issued the guideline so that the necessary steps are taken to try to resume face-to-face classes in March, depending on the evolution of COVID-19 infections on the island and that the vaccination of as many as possible is completed of teaching and non-teaching staff from public and private schools.

Bringing children and adolescents together in schools is a challenge around the world in the midst of the pandemic, which was enacted in mid-March. Countries such as France, Italy and Spain have ordered the opening and closing of schools in several cases over the past 10 months. Until yesterday, Russia, the Netherlands and Germany had postponed the start of face-to-face courses due to the increase in infections. In Britain, students could return to class in mid-February, but it is still uncertain.

In the United States, each state determines its school policy. For example, New York City closed schools in the spring and moved to distance learning due to the alarming number of infections in the area. In September, schools reopened under hybrid programs, with some students physically in school and others remotely, depending on the preference of each family. This would remain because the contamination in the city was under control, which was triggered when the schools were ordered to close in November because the positivity rate was above 3%. Two weeks later, it gave way to a gradual reopening ahead of the Christmas holidays.

For the return of face-to-face classes to the island, the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, for the acronym in English) would be taken into account, said Executive Director of the Public Health Trust, José F. Rodríguez Orengo. , which is part of the Scientific Coalition appointed by the Managing Director.

The vaccination of school staff – both public and private – will be crucial to make way for that return to the classroom, Rodríguez Orengo said. Likewise, an efficient contact tracking and monitoring system should be set up to detect infections and stop the potential transmission of the virus in school, he added.

“You have to plan well, which is why we will do it from now on. We can’t wait until February 25th, we’re doing very well the scenarios that may be there to make decisions based on studies and students, ”said Rodríguez Orengo.

The CDC has put together a series of indicators showing whether opening schools poses risks of transmission of the coronavirus. For example, to return to face-to-face class to have a low risk of COVID-19 transmission, less than 3% of diagnostic molecular tests performed in the 14 days prior to opening must be positive produce results, which is known as speed. of positivity. Until Friday, the positivity rate on the island fluctuated between 8% and 10%, depending on whether only unique cases and all samples collected were counted, Rodríguez Orengo said.

With those rates, the risks of transmission of the virus in schools, if they open now, would be high, according to the CDC.

However, the Director of the Public Health Trust stressed that it is possible to resume face-to-face classes, first in areas where there are few cases of COVID-19 and thus establish pilot projects that serve to test strategies that would be repeated as reopening expands. .

“In a place where it is a bit busier, the chance of contamination is greater. For example, if you follow a city like Las Marías, it has remained quite stable in terms of contamination after a number of specific outbreaks. Perhaps in those areas of rural schools where there are few students, an adequate reopening can take place, with tracing of contacts, ”he said.

Last year, the government raised the possibility of resuming face-to-face classes in municipalities with fewer cases of COVID-19, but this was not implemented.

The CDC also recommends that at least five measures be consistently and correctly implemented to reduce the risks of COVID-19 contamination in schools: use of masks that cover the mouth and nose, take physical distance, frequent hand washing, cleaning and disinfection of spaces, and contact tracking.

Public and private schools will receive $ 125 million in federal funds, through the latest economic stimulus bill to contain the pandemic, to safely open institutions. That money will be allocated through the governor’s office, Washington DC Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González announced yesterday, in addition to the $ 1.32 billion the Department of Education will receive directly.

The vaccination process

Puerto Rico has experienced one of the longest school closures in the world. According to data from the Insights for Education entity, the most extensive closures have been reported in Latin American countries, such as El Salvador, which closed schools on March 11; Costa Rica, which closed schools on March 17; and Guatemala, which coincided with Puerto Rico by stopping in-person classes on March 16.

This is without counting the schools that have not reopened since December 2019 due to the earthquakes and that in some cases their students were not even able to resume face-to-face classes in temporary spaces before the pandemic was declared.

He Education department It already has drafts for its gradual return to classes, designated secretary Elba Aponte Santos said Thursday. Since the summer, the agency has had a contingency plan that has been discussed with staff, determining that the first students to return to school are those at pre-primary and special education levels.

Each private school, for its part, draws up its own reopening plan, although it follows the guidelines and guidelines of the CDC and the government, emphasized the President of the Private Education Association, Wanda Ayala. Last semester, the schools met various government requirements – such as self-certification and their inclusion in the health surveillance system – to authorize school staff to return to work on campus and to admit students at a specific time, such as for standardized tests.

“We have fulfilled everything that has been asked of us and, unlike the Department of Education, that the schools are empty, we have all administrators in the schools and there are teachers who are in the classrooms. The physical conditions of our schools are ready, I don’t have to start repairing for the earthquakes, ”said Ayala, director of the Southwestern Educational Society (SESO) in Mayagüez.

Aside from the doubts about how much students have learned with distance learning, one of the biggest impacts in recent months has been on the social development of minors, pediatrician Paulino said.

“From a social, neurological, cognitive point of view, if children have no experience of social interaction in school, it can affect them throughout their lives. Much of social learning, the neurological development of children, adolescents and these social skills are developed through interaction with other children, ”he said.

Studies conducted in recent months, particularly in Europe, and reviews of data in the United States, have concluded that school-age children do not become seriously ill with COVID-19 at the same level as adults. A study published last week by the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice, conducted by economics and epidemiology professors at Tulane University, concluded that the reopening of schools has not increased hospital admissions with COVID-19 – an indicator. . of serious illness – in counties with less than 44 new hospital admissions per day per 100,000 population, which corresponds to 75% of counties included in the analysis.

There are concerns about the ability of minors to transmit the virus to adults, for which Rodríguez Orengo stressed the importance of vaccinating both school staff and adults over 65 as it is known that in Puerto Rico many grandparents are in charge of their grandchildren and help with their care.