The Ministry of Health has been forced to engage the services of private companies to deal with the volume of Covid cases in schools in areas where social transmission is out of control.
Drive through express PCR tests have already been carried out on students from Alcoy schools and yesterday were also carried out in Elche. Across the region, there is growing concern among parents and teachers about infections in schools. Spokesperson for the Valencian Ministry of Health, head of Public Health Isaura Navarro said, “Emails have been sent to all educational centres and health departments to find out if there are pending PCR tests in the educational field, if they are expedited through a private company the tests are carried out in a single day.” These private PCR rests are administered in drive through tents located in spaces where cars can pass without interrupting traffic and students do not have to get out of the vehicle.
Navarro denied that tests are not being carried out on students without symptoms, as claimed in a letter sent to Education from 100 school principals to demand that the communication systems between both ministries (Education and Health) be streamlined.
A hundred school principals located across various health departments in the Valencian Community wrote to the government claiming it takes an average of between 3 and 4 days to inform schools, and therefore families, that students should be confined if an outbreak has been detected.
Those responsible for running public schools say they are not being heard and demand urgent measures because they see a serious risk of infection while they wait, with hands tied, for the Health Department to intervene and determine protocols for outbreaks and confinements.
The principals claim that as a result of the collapse of health centres, that the Ministry of Education itself has recognized, officials in some areas are now only doing PCR tests on students with symptoms.
The letter claims “it is not true that schools are safe.” The principals claim that schools are as safe as any other space where the rules are met, but warn that the protocols approved between the departments of Health and Education have become out of date as a result of the progressive increase in infections.
They point out that infections “increase by the day” and that the current protocols are clearly “insufficient” and should be changed to introduce “stricter measures.”
The situation in schools is only exacerbated by the strain on the system with management desperately trying to cover the absence of teachers. Principals say they are “saturated, stressed and exhausted”, and that they feel isolated because they do not receive a response to the numerous communications they send through official channels. “The Ministry listens, but that is not dialogue or consensus” they explained.