Scrapping the academic year is not a possible option in the real world and no matter what we do now, the country must brace itself for a surge of infections. This means that we must get going with what needs to be done and adapt to a different life during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to leading experts in the country.
When the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, declared that her department is determined to salvage the 2020 academic year, critics immediately began judging the move as a bad idea.
It turns out, some experts believe that sending children back to school in the midst of a pandemic isn't as deadly as those opposing the move have depicted it. This comes as most pupils returned to schools today after nearly three months of closure due to the Coronavirus pandemic. In a recent interview with Salaamedia, Professors Shabir Madhi and Tim Tucker both stressed that life will have to be adapted to the situation under Covid-19 and thus schools will have to resume activity. "We cannot afford to lose the academic year because these environments can be managed," said Professor Tim Tucker who is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town School of Public Health and Family Medicine and an NHLS Board Member. "It's important that we understand this virus is going to stay for the coming years. There's no vaccine, in my opinion, for the next 3-5 years in terms of broad distribution across the world." "We have to learn to live with this virus," says Professor Tim Tucker
Professor Shabir Madhi, a renowned Professor of Vaccinology at Johannesburg's University of the Witwatersrand, says pupils can return to school because studies suggest that children rarely infect adults in the case of Covid-19.
Children rarely infect adults Motshekga's announcement of the reopening of schools sparked a backlash because many fear that sending pupils back to school will cause a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases that will prove disastrous for the country's fragile healthcare system. However, in an observation that stands contrary to popular belief, Prof. Madhi cites studies as suggesting that children rarely infect adults. "Surprisingly, for Covid-19, studies to date have actually shown that children rarely infect adults. The major drivers of transmission of this virus are actually adults of the same age group." He explains: "Adults are more likely to engage with other adults of the same age group, so they are more likely to infect those adults of the same age group." "Adults infect children. Children rarely have been infecting adults and children are rarely introduce the virus into households." Prof. Madhi stated that evidence has so far shown that, when children become infected, they are either completely asymptomatic or develop a very mild illness. Together with that, he says, it seems how long children remain infectious might actually be less than adults. Children are most likely to develop a less severe illness Prof. Tucker believes that children have less severe cases of the Covid-19 illness. "What we see is a striking age-related severity scale with children under the age of 18 having a far less severe illness. They may get the virus as regularly as older people but the incidence of mortality is vanishingly rare and the rate of severe disease is low." Childrens' position in society determines the risk According to Prof. Tucker, it's not really the severity of the illness that children and young adults will have that will determine the risk of re-opening schools. He explains: "It really is their position within the broader society [and] the risk that a child or young adult will go into the schooling environment, become infected and then take that virus back to their homes where they live with their parents and grandparents." Prepare to live with it Prof. Shabir Madhi believes that Covid-19 is "not going to go away at the end of 2020. We are going to have continuous outbreaks at least until the end of 2021 if not 2022." He warns that whatever strategy the country adopts now is not temporary strategy. It is for this reason that keeping schools closed is simply unsustainable. "If you say we should allow this school year to be lost then we should allow 2021 to be lost and possibly 2022 as well; which is obvious not practical." "Whether children are at home or whether the schools are open, children are still going to get infected." "We should stop believing that because children are at home, they're not going to get infected. If adults are going out to work and getting infected, they're going to bring that infection home and they're going to infect children." Preparing schools and pupils for what lies ahead is the best way to move forward Prof. Tucker believes that the reopening of schools may go ahead if adequate protection and support is granted to pupils. "We need to protect children. We need to ensure that children are supported, they are given the right education about Covid-19 and that they are given the right protective equipment." So, for now, it seems that schools will have to re-open, despite the fact that Covid-19 lurks around. Life as we knew it has changed. Listen to the full discussion here:
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AuthorZahid Jadwat is a South African writer, columnist, podcaster and radio show host. Archives
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