"Catalan schools will not close." Alba Vergés, Catalonia's minister of health, has stated today that the situation in March, when all schools throughout Catalonia closed as a response to the first wave of the coronavirus, will not be repeated. However, she called for families to make the commitment to keeping their children at home in cases where a child has coronavirus symptoms or has had them in the previous two weeks. In both cases, it is necessary to inform the school. “If we have symptoms, we mustn't go to school,” she reiterated.
Masks compulsory at secondary schools
Catalan education minister Josep Bargalló, who also appeared at today's joint press conference, explained that distance, mask and hygiene will be key elements, and also stressed the fact that the stable classroom groups which will be established "should be as small as possible." As for the use of masks, he specified that at secondary schools "masks will have to be used all the time". For other age groups, the minister said it would be decided based on how the situation evolves. He used a traffic light analogy: "If it's red, masks. Green, no masks."
Vergés once again emphasised the concept of stable classroom groups at primary school level, consisting of students who, along with their teacher, will carry out the majority of school activities as an isolated "bubble", only interacting with other student groups or teachers in carefully-controlled situations. She also set out the school procedures for managing cases of coronavirus that emerge. “We have identified what we need to do and the circuit we need to go through,” she noted.
PCR tests
The health minister also spoke about the plan to carry out half a million PCR tests in schools between September 15th and November 15th, as announced yesterday by Catalan president Quim Torra. It would be, she said, "an exceptional new measure": 500,000 PCR tests in schools in a two month period "with the aim of screening the whole society." For now, it is unknown in which areas these tests will be given but it has been mentioned that the locations will be chosen based on "population characteristics and epidemiological criteria."
Vergés stated that, at present, in Catalonia, there are 87 cases per 100,000 inhabitants with an average age of 38 years. “We are not the same point today as in March but we are watching these levels very carefully, as they are high,” she stressed. "To be able to manage the situation well, the best we can do is to ensure we reach the back to school date on September 14th in the best possible conditions. And that depends on all we do from today onwards."
Teaching ratio in schools
In addition to the trinity of "hands, hygiene and masks", Bargalló emphasized a fourth important element in schools: ventilation. In this regard, he stated if classes were shortened to 50 minutes instead of an hour, to allow time for spaces to be ventilated well between classes, this would be likely to deal with the problem.
Another important issue is that of classroom ratios and stable groups. In this regard, Bargalló reiterated that in Catalonia, the ratio is one teacher for every 16 students. Groups "should be as small as possible", he added.