EPA-EFE/CHRISTIAN BRUNA
BASIC STRATEGY: Minister Heinz Fassmann
The new school year in Austria, which starts on September 6 in the east of the country, begins with the obligation to wear masks and test students.
The Minister of Education, Heinz Fassmann, presented the new rules for the upcoming school year, which, as he said, will begin with the “safety phase”, after which the situation will be monitored by the analysis of sewage water. In the first two weeks of school, each student will have to be tested at school three times a week, as was the case before the summer. In that “safety phase”, all students will have to wear masks outside the classroom, at school, and unvaccinated teaching staff will have to wear a mask during class. Fassman said that it would depend on the general situation in Austria whether the masks would have to be worn even after that “security phase”.
He pointed out that next school year, classes will be continuously held at the school, even if the pandemic is still present in the country.
Greater school closures and the transition to learning from home, according to Fasman, in the new school year, is not an option. In order to achieve this goal, the Ministry enters this school year with a new security concept.
The Technical University of Vienna and the University of Innsbruck will monitor the infection of the population by analyzing the water in the sewage system, so that they can react quickly. That analysis, as it was announced, will be conducted in 116 wastewater treatment plants, which will cover 75% of students and 3,062 schools. In case of increased risk, schools will be warned in a timely manner and can react through stricter measures. In addition, PCR testing of students will be introduced in all schools from the fall.
As children from the age of 12 can be vaccinated, as Fassman announced, vaccination actions will also be organized. Already, 30 vaccination buses are running across the country. According to the decision of the Ministry, the students who were vaccinated, after the “safety phase”, were released from the obligation to test.
Schools are also equipped with air purification devices. The state subsidizes the purchase of these devices and has made up to 10 million euros available to schools for that. At the same time, it is said that these devices do not replace vaccination or testing, nor precautionary measures, such as the concept of hygiene. The new schools will receive mechanical systems for airing each classroom, which aims to improve air quality, and this will be funded by the School Development Plan.
Praise the virologist
Virologist Dorothea von Laer assessed the plan for the new school year as positive.
– Mixing PCR and antigen tests is a well thought out idea. Also, air purifiers are a good measure – she said.
Dorothea von Laer added that, however, it is clear that the only factor with which a pandemic can be defeated is a vaccine.
– If everyone who could be vaccinated, then the crown would soon disappear – she said.
“Ninja booklet” as a visa
Of the three tests per week, at least one must be a PCR test, and in order to get fast results, the other tests will be antigenic. Negative results will continue to be recorded in the “Ninja Booklet”, which provides access to sports facilities, restaurants, hairdressers “
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