Filenews 9 April 2021 - byIoanna Mantziepa
Huge is the problem that is observed with the dispersion of the crown in kindergartens as daily chains of cases are recorded. The problem is becoming even greater as the tracing team notes as some private kindergartens are slow to inform or even register infants as contacts.
Parents whose children attend private kindergartens in Limassol complain to "F" that they are not immediately informed by the Directorates of incidents covid-19 that are detected in the school unit. They also talk of a delay even in the children registering contacts of their teachers, making the spread of the virus even greater.
Typical case as a parent tells us, the fact that the kindergarten management delayed informing parents of a positive incident in kindergarten. "They closed the school with an announcement, after three days we were informed of a positive incident and in my child's department. If we did not contact the personal physician directly, we would have waited until today for them to declare us as contact,' noted the parent in question.
The head of the tracing team, Valentinos Silvestros, speaking to "F", confirms the above complaints, it is said that there is a large dispersion in kindergartens.
"When a child is tested positive in kindergarten, most children are diagnosed as positive" during tracing. He even noted that the problem is not found in a particular province but in all cities.
"Children of this age cannot be confined. Our view is that the protocol should be changed both for kindergartens which we put as a proposal to the advisory committee and also to the Ministry of Education," he said.
Mr Silvestros expressed a personal view that they do not declare contacts in kindergartens, because most of them are private companies. "Some kindergartens do not declare many contacts. Parents of children may not be informed that a kindergarten teacher is positive for covid-19 so that it is not heard outwards. Unfortunately, some people think that if they declare children as case contacts, then for 14 days they will have to be restrained and lose their income. Not all cases are reported on this basis.'
He also said the tracking team has been the recipient of complaints from kindergarteners who said the kindergarten management did not report them as contacts. "There were kindergarteners who told us that I didn't want them to declare where they work at the urging of their employers."
The tracing, as he said, shows that there is no faithful adherence to the protocols. "Children seem to be involved with other departments and there are kindergarteners who enter different classes." He gave as an example an incident with a principal who had contact with all the children of the kindergarten as he entered all classes and made contact with them.
Of course, as he said there were also incidents of parents who did not wish to register contacts even of his children.
On the subject of tracing and updating contacts, he said that citizens are shouting but they are wrong. "We are here all night. Whatever they give us, we promote them directly to public health clinics and do our best. Unfortunately, people are slow to send contacts or are not filling out the list correctly, making our job even more difficult."
In conclusion, he noted that what is found through the tracing team is that kindergartens record a very large spread of the virus, explaining that this is due even to the fact that the relationship between the kindergarten teacher and the children is very different from the other grades. "These are young children who have different handling."
