The 3rd Wave - Back to School for the 2nd Semester of 2021

Gershom Aitchison, host · [00:16]It's been a while since we've had a COVID podcast from Edu Inc. I think we've been quite fortunate and lucky in this part of the year so far. So going back to school next week is going to look a lot like going back to school at the beginning of this year, where we're going to be schooling from home for the first week. We'll review what the numbers are doing, and then we will possibly do it for a second week, depending on where we are with the third wave. I think it is the socially responsible thing to do. I think that specifically Gauteng has been hit very hard, and I know that the hospitals and health resources are being stretched to the limit at the moment. We are going to have our teachers and our matrix on campus. Our metrics will be in the large room with the teachers moving between classes to minimize exposure for them, and this is very important time of the year for the metrics because it's the last six weeks of their formal schooling before we go into winter school and their preliminary exams, and that's why we want them on campus. There's a lot of assessment happening and a lot of finishing up, and because the school has got the resources in terms of the technology and things like that, our teachers will be on campus as well. In summary, our teachers and our metrics are going to be at school on campus on Monday. If parents are in an emergency situation where they cannot have their children at home because there is no oversight for them, please will you contact Mr. G. Stanton at reception and email him so that we can make arrangements to accommodate those children. Please know that that is an exceptional circumstance and an emergency condition.

Gershom Aitchison, host · [02:28]As we came into school at the beginning of this year, there was a lot of discussion around what the requirements are for schooling from home, specifically for the students. And as a quick recap, there are three elements to schooling from home to make it successful. The first is technology for work, technology for communication, and then technological behaviors. Technology for communication is having a screen with your webcam on, being able to see your class while you're busy working, and the screen that the teacher's presenting to you. Technology for work is having your laptop, being able to access Google Classroom and work independently on the second screen from where you're seeing your classmates and the teacher, and also having your books and textbooks in front of you so that you can be writing notes if you need to and actually reviewing your textbooks. And then technological behaviors that are very important are being organized, making sure that your workspace is not cluttered, that you have enough space to work in the physical and digital world, in other words, write in your books if you need to, read your textbooks, et cetera, and that you are not having browsers open, listening to music, watching YouTube, that you're focused and in the classroom. Just remember that the teachers know when you're not doing that. I'd like to also make sure that all the students are in school uniform, we are at school, that you're punctual for your classes, and that you're engaged in your classes. Your webcams will be on at all times so the teachers can see you and speak to you. Please make sure that you have switched your computers on earlier in the morning so if any updates and things like that need to happen, that they can happen in that time, and that you have a stable and secure internet connection, please. So as a recap, two monitors, a webcam, over-ear headphones with a microphone, your school uniform, and we are following the normal school schedule. Because we're going into our second semester of the year, there is a new school schedule, class schedule that's coming out It will be on the school website under resources called Schedule June 2021, Term 2. If you were taking history last term, you're going to take geography this term. If you're taking geography last term, you're going to take history this term, and that's for the grade fours to grade nines.

Jacqueline Aitchison, host · [04:50]The questions we've been getting surrounding COVID are specifically related to the logistics of self-quarantining and self-isolating, when children should be at school, when they shouldn't be at school, how quickly they can come back, problems like that. We seem to be in the thick of the third wave now, and I suppose the biggest difference for us as Edu Inc is that we have more parents ill in the third wave than we've seen in the first or second wave, which means that the quarantining and self-isolation has become more real for us. How it works is that, let's take for example the, the immediate family as the first scenario. If a parent or a child in the family has contracted COVID, the family goes into self-isolation for ten days from the date of the positive test result. If within that ten-day period another member of the family shows symptoms and gets a test result that comes back positive, the ten-day quarantine starts again from the date of that positive test. When things get a little bit trickier, it's been when there's a once-removed scenario, and that's when, for example, a sports coach has been ill, or the sports coach's wife has been ill, or a staff member's husband's colleague has gotten ill. So we're not dealing with a direct contact at that point. And in that scenario, no self-isolation is required unless symptoms show, then you go for the test, and if it comes back positive, the ten-day quarantine begins.

Gershom Aitchison, host · [06:22]So do I understand it correctly that the 10-day quarantine applies to direct contact with somebody? If you, Mrs. Aitchison, are in direct contact with somebody who has had COVID and is tested positive, you go into self-isolation for 10 days?

Jacqueline Aitchison, host · [06:38]Yes, that's correct. If you are not the one who's been in direct contact, the isolation is not necessary unless you start to show symptoms or that person within your family shows symptoms and comes back with a positive test result, then you would go into the 10-day quarantine.

Jacqueline Aitchison, host · [07:12]The second challenge we've been facing as a school is when somebody has been in the self-isolation phase in, within the 10-day period, And parents would like to bring the kids back to school sooner than the 10-day quarantine period is up, and this is presenting quite a few challenges for schools. I think the easiest way to deal with this one is to actually refer a message that I was sent in the last few days that came directly from a GP, because she's answering the same questions we are, but she's doing it from a more professional standpoint. She understands, she's at the coalface. And she sent out a message with some Q&A on it, and I'm actually just going to work directly from that so that parents are getting it from the horse's mouth, as it were. So the first question she referred to was this one. She said, my child has had a COVID contact last Saturday. Can he play soccer this Sunday? In other words, day eight. I will take him for a rapid COVID test the day before, and he'll wear a mask, and he will sanitize before the match. Now, obviously, that would also refer to a play date or a birthday party or even coming back to school. And the doctor's response to that was, unfortunately not. He needs the full 10-day quarantine. The second question says, my child has a snotty nose. I'm sure it's a normal winter cold. Can you go to school if the COVID rapid test is negative? And the doctor says, no, the rapid antigen test is not sensitive enough to rule out COVID. Plus, no child should go to school with any symptoms, regardless of test results, even if it was a PCR. So that's quite an important one because there's a lot of confusion around the PCR tests. Then another one that's quite frequent, the parents would ask, after a COVID contact, can my child have a COVID PCR test on day five, then return to school on day six if it is negative? And the doctor says that this is not recommended, and she reminds us that the five-day PCR test was introduced by the CDC for healthcare workers that needed to get back to work, during the crisis. It's not really a great test for children to be using in terms of going back to school or not. Again, she's saying save the money on the PCR and just wait out the full ten-day quarantine.