Cyprus Mail 3 January 2022
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| Photo - Christos Theodorides |
The imminent reopening of schools hangs in the balance amid concerns, shared by teachers’ unions and paediatricians on Monday that sending children back to class will only add fuel to a record number of infections.
Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantelas is due discuss the surge in cases with the government’s scientific advisors on Tuesday. Any decisions for additional measures will be taken by cabinet when it meets on Wednesday with school reopening thought to be on the agenda.
Cyprus has been recording four-digit numbers of positive cases over the past week, hospital admissions have climbed, and authorities are bracing for numbers to continue to spiral on the back of holiday gatherings.
Large numbers of young people are testing positive, Makarios Hospital is treating nine children with the virus, the highest number since the start of the pandemic, and experts note that a large number of both young people and adults are self-isolating as contacts of positive cases, something certain to cause disruption for schools.
Schools were initially due to open on Friday, January 7, but this was postponed to January 10 so that all could test before returning to class.
But there is growing speculation that authorities may opt for another postponement. Although all the health minister would say when asked about the issue on Sunday was that all options are on the table, experts have indicated this may be advisable.
President of the Cyprus Society of Paediatricians Michalis Anastasiades on Monday urged a “small extension” as regards the date of reopening schools.
Anastasiades told CyBC that given the current situation and the surge in cases, it would be impossible for schools to operate smoothly on January 10 as a large number of pupils and teachers have tested positive or are a close contact.
He said he did not anticipate a significant improvement in the epidemiological situation by Monday.
He was echoed by University of Nicosia professor of microbiology/molecular biology Petros Karayiannis who said given the community spread, a large number of pupils and teachers are unable to attend school either because they have contracted covid or are contacts, and therefore schools would not be able to operate at full capacity
General secretary of primary school teachers’ union POED, Haris Charalambous, urged the education and health ministries to address the situation. “If the schools open with the current state of affairs, what will happen will be more spreading of the virus,” he said.
“We do not want schools closed, but there are some conditions now which cannot be avoided,” he added.
Vice president of secondary school teachers’ union OELMEK, Themis Polyviou, spoke in a similar vein. “The situation is critical and we would prefer for a week to pass before children return to school so that we have a clear picture,” he said.
Moreover, systems in schools have been upgraded as regards online teaching compared to last year, he added.
And paediatrician Kyriakos Hadjilambris told Alpha TV he believed it was too early to open the schools. “Cases have rocketed and the problem is not to have two variants together, that is for a child or an adult to get ill with both the Omicron and Delta at the same time or as occurred in one case in Israel with influenza A and the Omicron variant, in which case unfortunately the problems that will present themselves will be very serious.”
