As expected, the resumption of face-to-face classes in schools albeit limited in scope due to the alternative online classes being implemented has resulted in renewed transmission of the Covid-19 virus, this time among the students, teachers, and non-teaching personnel in some school campuses.
This rise of Covid-19 cases in schools was expected by the Department of Health (DOH) itself after the face-to-face classes started in August, as Officer in Charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire has admitted recently. And last October 2 indeed, the Department of Education (DepEd) confirmed that Covid-19 cases have been reported in schools.
Despite the fielding of safety officers in selected urban-based campuses who conduct health screenings and implement Covid-19 protocols, virus transmission still happens. The good thing, however, is that this transmission is easily detected with the help of these safety officers, Vergeire assured. But in schools where no safety officers are fielded, virus transmission must be spreading undetected.
At any rate, this rise in new transmission cases is indeed expected, because even if the safety protocols are being imposed inside campuses, many students themselves do purposely disobey such orders. They would enter the gates with their masks on, but inside the classroom or elsewhere on campus, they remove those masks while closely interacting with others. Naturally, the virus would quickly spread in such a scenario.
To prevent the continued spread of Covid-19, Vergeire is urging parents to get their children vaccinated, or given booster shots. This way, they would be resistant to the disease bodily, and this transmission would lessen if not cease. It takes cooperation and volunteerism on the part of the concerned.
