The Health Ministry's chief scientist said on Sunday he believes that the school year should open on September 1 as usual despite coronavirus cases and hospitalizations being on the rise with no signs of stopping.
Notwithstanding calls to postpone students' return to schools by a whole month as morbidity soars to new heights not seen in months, Prof. Avi Israeli has sent out a letter to the ministry's top brass, claiming that schools are not hotbeds of infections, and are safe to reopen after the summer break.
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Elementary school students wearing face masks in the classroom during pandemic
(Photo: Yariv Katz)
Prof. Israeli relied in his letter on a new study published in the British Medical Association's journal BMJ, which shows that the prevalence of English coronavirus in schools was lower in June 2021 than during fall 2020.
"In a survey of schools, jointly conducted by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and England's Office for National Statistics and the findings of which were published on August 11, it has been argued that schools do not constitute hotspots for coronavirus, and therefore the researchers ask whether schools should be closed at all," Israeli wrote.
The last and sixth round of the survey, which was conducted in 141 schools across England, examined the prevalence of the virus among a sample of students and staff.
The survey included about 4,000 staff members and about 12,500 students from elementary and high schools, who underwent at least one coronavirus test or antibody test.
The results showed that 0.27% of elementary school students have tested positive for the virus in June, compared to the findings of the tests conducted in May 2021, which showed a 0.65% positivity rate.
In high schools, 0.42% of students have tested positive in June, an increase from May's 0.05%, but at a lower level compared to the figures recorded in November-December 2020.
Among high school staff, 0.27% of those surveyed have tested positive in June, similar to March 2021's 0.19% positivity rate, but at a lower than figures recorded in fall 2020 findings.
Relying on the findings, the scientist further wrote to ministry officials that despite the appearance of the Delta variant infection rates in schools during the summer of 2021 were in fact lower than fall 2020 which may stem from measures implemented in schools in England, including routine testing.
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Students getting tested for coronavirus at a school in Binyamina amid an outbreak
(Photo: Elad Gershgorn)
The report does not raise immediate concerns about the opening of schools after the summer break and that epidemiological evidence to date suggests that closing of the education system may be unnecessary.
Last week, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett approved an outline for the opening of the school year under coronavirus which features six "layers" of protection measures, including serological testing for coronavirus antibodies in students, rapid tests that will be provided to parents, testing in schools in virus hotspots, social distancing and hygiene measures and a special learning model for classes in which a student tests positive.
In accordance with the outline, 1.6 million students from kindergarten through the sixth grade will be invited to perform serological tests.
Parents will be summoned to come with their children to health clinics or public centers that will be set up to perform the test. The Education Ministry estimates that between 20% and 30% of students will have antibodies and they will be exempt from isolation even if they come in touch with a confirmed patient.
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Elementary school students go back to school in Tel Aviv amid pandemic
(Photo: Moti Kimchi)
The state will also provide rapid tests for parents who will need to test their children 48 hours before the start of the school year. In case one of the students test positive, their classmates will have to get tested every day for a week to avoid isolation. Students who do not want to get tested will go into isolation as has been the practice until now.
Students living in areas with high coronavirus infection rates will be tested once every week to detect any outbreaks early.
In parallel with the national vaccination campaign, the ministry stressed that students will have to continue wearing masks, observing social distance, maintaining hygiene and learning in open spaces as much as possible.