Nearly a month since schools reopened, 746 teachers and 1408 pupils have contracted Covid-19 in the Western Cape.
The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) said 11.5% of schools were running at full capacity with 47 531 staff vaccinated, and has called on everyone to adhere to the protocols at home.
WCED’s director of communications, Bronagh Hammond, has confirmed that between August 7 and 13, there had been a decrease in teacher infections with 246 cases.
She said infections rose due to the normality of family and school lives, and the mixture thereof.
Hammond said while protocols were being adhered to at all schools, the third wave had added to the infection rate.
“746 educators (Representing 2% of educators) and 1 408 learners (representing 0.1% of learners) have reportedly contracted the virus since schools reopened,” she explained.
“However, it would be completely inaccurate to state that they contracted the virus as a result of being back at school. We are at the peak of the third wave, so understandably so, there will also be teacher and learner infections, as they too live and breathe within our communities, and are living in close quarters with other family members, with some socializing with friends and some taking public transport.
“At school, however, they adhere to strict Covid-19 protocols such as the wearing of masks and sanitizing regularly.”
She said figures fluctuated weekly showing a decline in numbers in recent weeks, far less compared to data in January during the second wave while teachers were not at school.
“New data indicates that this past week (7 -13 August) we saw a decrease in teacher infections compared to the week before with less than 1% of educators reported to have contracted the virus (246 cases reported).
“In fact, we have less active cases this past week than we did at the end of December/beginning of January in the second wave – when teachers were NOT at school.”
Hammond added that last week, there was definitely an increase in pupils contracting the virus but that the numbers were only 0.1 percent of the school population.
“Learner infection rates remain under 0.1% of the population with 0.05% of the learner population reported to have contracted the virus last week. (638 learners), “ she said.
“The infection rates of our youth have been discussed with health professionals who have confirmed that while there has been a slightly greater number of COVID-19 cases among our youth in this wave, the proportion of those being admitted to hospital with COVID-19 is still very small.
“Their symptoms are generally mild.”
Hammond said the difficulty lay in controlling how pupils adhere to Covid-19 protocols outside of school.
“Many infections are caused, not as a result of being in school, but because of other social settings outside of school. While learners are asked to comply with Covid-19 protocols at school – we cannot monitor their behaviour outside of school.
“We urge members of the public not to make unfounded claims about schools being the source of spreading the virus,” she said
Hammond said while the schools have reopened for nearly a month, many have applied to run at full capacity.
“894 applications, representing 88,5% of our 1010 primary schools, have been approved to continue with their rotation models,” she said.
“The remaining 11.5% will be operating at full capacity as they have the ability to comply with all the health and safety regulations – including the 1 metre physical distancing rule.
“38 of 72 special needs schools also returned to 100%.
“The majority of schools, however, cannot comply with the 1 metre physical distancing rule, and therefore have been approved to continue with rotation.
“These figures do not surprise us, as it mirrors similar figures when schools could apply for 100% attendance earlier this year.”
Hammond said that 87% of their staff were vaccinated: “47 531 education sector staff in the Western Cape were vaccinated as part of the sector drive (Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccines), which is just over 87% of our allocated target.”
This figure excludes the staff vaccinated with Pfizer under the national age-based rollout (now open to those aged 35+).
“The WCED is waiting on data to correspond with our rollout to see how many more education sector staff received the vaccine before the rollout (over 60’s) and subsequently.
“We continue to encourage all staff, parents and communities to get the vaccine – contributing towards safer school environments and communities at large.”
Hammond thanked the provincial department of health for their assistance in the rollout, as well as the WCED officials who coordinated the staff appointments.
Joshua Chigome, the spokesperson for the Minister of Social Development, Sharna Fernandez, said that 3128 ECD’s had reported their vaccinations, excluding the age groups who were open to have themselves vaccinated.
“As part of the social development vaccination rollout programme, 3128 ECD practitioners were vaccinated (Please note that this sector excludes ECD practitioners who received their vaccine before the sectoral rollout programme started),” he said.
Weekend Argus