‘Urgent planning’ needed For schools

As children become eligible for vaccination ahead of term one, experts are calling for extra protections in classrooms saying jabs are not enough. Ellen O’Dwyer reports.

‘If the teachers are mostly at school you’d expect the kids to be at school too, but if most of the teachers need to be working at home, that’s when the kids might need to be at home too.’ PAPATOETOE HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL VAUGHAN COUILLAULT

EMILY Writes is in a race against time.

She needs to get her 9-year-old immunocompromised son fully vaccinated but Writes is concerned an outbreak of Omicron – thought to be imminent – will reach the capital first.

Eddie has type-1 diabetes, which leaves him vulnerable to a cold, let-alone Covid19. He will get his first shot as soon as possible – children aged between 5 and 11 are eligible for vaccination from tomorrow – but if Omicron reaches the community, she may not send him back to school until he’s fully jabbed.

‘‘Since March 2020, many families like ours have had to make decisions each time levels change; many of us have had to make our own lockdowns, or switch to home schooling,’’ she says. ‘‘Everybody should have the right to an education, every child and all medically fragile children. Schools need to do everything they can to protect their most medically vulnerable students.’’

She ‘‘absolutely agrees’’ schools should put as many protections in place as possible.

Leading paediatrician Jin Russell is calling for exactly that – she says educators and the government should be in ‘‘urgent planning’’ mode to get through a suite of measures she says are required for schools to deal with Omicron.

Russell says school closures should be a ‘‘last resort’’ and is calling for several protections.

That starts with an ‘‘urgent and equitable’’ vaccination roll-out for 5 to 11-year-olds, and booster jabs for education staff. But, vaccination alone won’t cut it, Russell says.

She wants mandatory mask wearing in years 4 and up, improved ventilation in classrooms, and rapid antigen testing to be considered.

A lack of ventilation can circulate virus particles, making a stuffy classroom ripe for transmission – especially during winter, when you can’t just open windows. Carbon dioxide monitors can identify the stale air in a room, and air purifiers cleans the virus particles out.

Russell says the monitors and portable purifiers – Hepa filters – should be installed at schools and early childhood centres within the next two to three months.

As waves of the virus have hit, parts of Australia, the United Kingdom, Denmark and the United States have stepped up testing in schools.

In Victoria, the ‘‘test-to-stay’’ strategy means close contacts of an infected child are given rapid antigen tests and if contacts test negative after seven days, they are allowed to come back to the classroom, rather than quarantining for two weeks.

‘‘You are aiming to enable children, who are not infectious, to attend school, and to keep children who are infectious home,’’ says Russell. But while here ‘‘we should carefully consider whether it is feasible and worthwhile to adopt these strategies’’ they can be difficult to implement, she says.

As director of online community Awhi Nga¯ Ma¯ tua, Writes is in touch with many parents who have medically fragile or

disabled kids.

Many parents in her situation were constantly watching the news for updates on the Omicron situation, she says.

School communities around the world have faced disruption, stress, and yetmore closures due to the latest Covid-19 variant.

In the UK, major teacher absences due to Covid infections has caused some schools – particularly in deprived areas – to struggle. In Ireland, thousands of education staff are also estimated to be self-isolating because they are close contacts.

This week, University of Otago epidemiologist Amanda Kvalsvig called for a delay to school reopening, but paediatricians disagreed, arguing it caused too much harm for kids.

The Ministry of Health would not confirm whether rapid antigen testing will be rolled out to schools, or whether these tests have been ordered.

The Ministry of Education has ordered about 2500 CO2 monitors and 8000 internal environmental monitors, so schools can assess the ventilation levels in term 1. The ministry did not confirm whether any air purifiers had been ordered.

In Auckland, Ashley Quensell said it’s been an ‘‘absolute juggle’’ working from home, while helping to manage the kids’ online learning.

Quensell’s three daughters, Layla, 8, Makaia, 11, and Khalen, 14, go to different primary, intermediate and secondary schools. After over two months of lockdown, moving back to face-to-face teaching meant different logistics for every school.

The high schooler was in class Monday to Friday for shorter days, at intermediate female and male students returned on different days, and the primary school started on time, but finished earlier.

‘‘It was a challenge, but it was worth it, because the kids really wanted to do it.’’

His daughters missed the social aspect of school and his biggest concern for the upcoming year was the disruption his daughters might face again. ‘‘We are hoping that schools are put in a position where they can open, and where they can teach and students learn.’’

Papatoetoe High School principal Vaughan Couillault says his biggest question was at what point a school would need to close in an outbreak, and whether schools could decide themselves. Under the traffic light system, schools can stay open at red, orange and green settings.

‘‘If the teachers are mostly at school you’d expect the kids to be at school too, but if most of the teachers need to be working at home, that’s when the kids might need to be at home too,’’ the Secondary Principals’ Association president says. He expected rapid antigen testing would be ‘‘in the arsenal of tools’’ for schools.

For now, many principals and teachers were still enjoying a well-earned break. Schools should open on time after the summer break. Closures are ‘‘the last thing we should do’’.

‘‘We need to get the kids back to school and into class and into the school community.’’