For 1.1 million students and 120,000 teachers, school operations will begin on Monday after the Christmas break with a further “safety phase”, initially until January 15th. During this time, people who have already been vaccinated must also undergo the three planned corona tests per week.
What is new, however, as explained in the office of Education Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) of the “Wiener Zeitung”, is that corona tests will be carried out at the beginning of the coming week on Monday and Tuesday. In view of the spreading infections with the corona omicron variant, this is intended to increase protection when returning to schools.
Education Minister Polaschek made parents responsible on Friday: “Please have your children tested on the weekend before they go back to school on Monday.” He pointed out that the school children were given three antigen tests at home before the start of the vacation. PCR tests are also useful.
More PCR testing
Next week, the development in the schools will be observed and any further measures will be decided. Tests are carried out three times a week in schools. What is new is that from January 17th, two of the three controls will be carried out using a PCR test in all federal states.
In principle, the same rules as before Christmas for starting school remain in place. That means there are classroom teaching in schools. However, this is exposed: Parents can leave their schoolchildren at home without a doctor’s certificate with an apology. High school students and teachers have to wear an FFP2 mask in class, mouth and nose protection is sufficient up to the lower school level.
The regulations also remain in place in the event of a corona case in a class. In one case, face-to-face teaching is continued. If another student tests positive within five days, the entire class must go to home schooling. With the exception of the student concerned, they are not automatically in quarantine.
After the federal-state consultations on Epiphany, teachers are among the staff in the critical infrastructure. For contact persons in these areas, relaxed quarantine rules will apply from this Saturday, i.e. January 8th. You can teach with a daily test and an FFP2 mask (however, teachers are already required to wear them). One thing is clear, however: Infected teachers are not allowed to teach and have to be in quarantine.
Fewer quarantine cases
In general: Anyone who has received three corona vaccinations will no longer be considered a contact person in the future and no longer need to be in quarantine. This also applies to double-vaccinated children up to the age of eleven as well as older students with three vaccinations. This means that fewer quarantine cases are to be expected. However, this nourishes parents’ concern, because people who have been vaccinated can pass the virus on in the family and there is fear that the wave of infection will intensify.
The union representatives are concerned that if there are more teachers absent from elementary, middle and special schools in Vienna, lessons cannot be continued at some locations, even if the teachers are in favor of face-to-face teaching. The chairman of the central committee of Viennese compulsory school teachers, Thomas Krebs, complains of “deficits” in the authorities of the city of Vienna. There are no contact persons at the health authorities for school locations, and better support from the PCR test company and more school doctors are necessary.
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