The Primary and Secondary schools in the Netherlands reopened their doors this Monday after almost a month closed, which constitutes the only restriction lifted from among the confinement measures that the Dutch Government introduced in mid-December, although the return to classes occurs among criticisms for poor classroom ventilation.
More than a quarter of schools have “insufficient” ventilation, a situation that prevents limiting the spread of the coronavirus through aerosols, according to a study by the Institute of Public Health (RIVM) commissioned by the Ministry of Education.
It is not clear who has the responsibility to solve these problems, since the national government, municipalities and school boards point to each other, according to a letter sent by a youth platform to the Executive, in which it asks him to assume control and costs to solve the lack of ventilation in classrooms.
The Government has allocated 360 million euros to correct ventilation problems in schools: it reimburses up to 30% of the cost to schools, but the rest must be paid by the educational center itself and the corresponding municipality. On average, the installation of a ventilation system costs about 500,000 euros, according to official calculations.
The situation has led many schools to ventilate with doors and windows open all day, a solution that is not sustainable in the middle of winter and with freezing temperatures.
Various measures are applied to education to limit contagion. Students with cold symptoms should stay home and take a test, and schools define routes to walk through the corridors and schedules to avoid contact between the different classes in the yard.
The basic rules also apply: staff maintain an interpersonal distance of 1.5 meters, parents stay outside the school premises and meetings are held virtually.
Starting in the fourth grade, children should wear a mask in the hallway, just like the teachers. In addition, vaccinated or not, they are asked to perform an antigen test at home twice a week, and if they are positive, the whole family will have to isolate themselves until a PCR is done.
Vocational and university education will continue to offer distance classes due to the increase in infections in this age group.
The aim of the Dutch government is to give university students more time to receive the booster dose, since all adults over 18 years of age can make an appointment since last week.
The current confinement, which supposes the closure of all non-essential activity and the limitation to two people invited to a home (although it is allowed to go out without police controls), will be in force until at least January 14, although it more likely it is that it will extend for a longer time, since the infections are registering daily records.
Yesterday 32,581 new positives were registered in 24 hours, the second highest figure in the pandemic and 4,625 more than the previous day. But hospital occupancy is trending downward, with 1,479 covid-19 patients in hospitals, of which 406 are in intensive care units.
– .
