Dispute over Covid rules – Infected teachers in schools: principals skeptical

For Isabella Zins, spokeswoman for the AHS directors, the specification is “not yet fully worked out”. Because in order to consciously allow corona-positive teachers to teach with a mask, you should know that someone is infected.

“Test strategy is everything and everyone”
“The testing strategy is everything and everyone,” she emphasizes. Otherwise, both teachers and students would unknowingly be in the classroom with an infection but without a mask and potentially infecting others. For Wolfgang Bodai, the new spokesperson for the BHS directors, the debate without a test strategy makes little sense.

When asked what this should look like, Zins himself is “a bit torn”: three tests a week like last school year are organizationally unfeasible in the long term and the loss of contact with the health authorities in case of infection is a big problem. relief for the schools. “But of course there is a concerned look into the future of what the infections will look like.”

Bodai also points to the great effort involved in the tests, but they have also been able to detect a large number of cases and prevent further infections. He would therefore like to make a decision based on the assessment of experts whether regular tests are useful and necessary given the dominant mutations and the danger of the virus.

In the federal government’s variant management plan, regular PRC testing in the school system is not planned until the transition to scenario 3 (“worse case”) with a large wave of infections with a new, worrisome variant. Before that time, there may only be ad hoc tests with an antigen test.

“Personal responsibility must be strengthened”
In any case, teachers who know of their contamination should not come to school, Zins thinks. “Once someone tests themselves because they feel they may be infected and may have a sore throat, they should be home on sick leave.” so they don’t infect anyone. In principle, it should be his own responsibility for Bodai whether infected teachers teach with a mask or stay at home. “But I’m a little skeptical about it.”

“Distance learning worked well”
There is no desire to deploy infected staff at the schools themselves, the director-spokesperson emphasizes. Distance learning worked well at the BHS and after five to ten days those affected could still be used personally.

According to Zins, work order education has also worked well at the AHS in such cases in the past two years. That’s certainly better than teaching someone potentially highly contagious and infecting someone despite the mask, which is removed from time to time. Bodai emphasizes that the situation on the ground must also be taken into account. For example, if there is no space in the staff room and colleagues are not comfortable with it, “then colleagues who are positive stay home – of course”.

Infected students must also stay at home
According to Bodai, infected students should also stay at home. After all, it is a maximum of two weeks and for pupils over the age of 14 there are usually hardly any babysitting problems for the parents. AHS director spokeswoman Zins also wants to advise parents to leave infected children at home “to recover and to protect others” – if the guidelines of the Ministry of Education allow.

However, she also expects that protection is paramount here. She does not yet know the exact specifications of the ministry, which will not be announced until August 29. From their point of view, the possibility of deploying infected personnel does not bring particular relief to school activities.