Back to school: Health eliminates anti-COVID-19 measures in classrooms

The return to normalcy before the appearance of COVID-19 could be closer than ever for schoolchildren and teachers. More and more anti-COVID measures are being eliminated, in an attempt to make the disease flu. Now the Spanish Public Health Commission has announced that all measures against SARS-CoV-2 that were imposed in classrooms since the advance of the pandemic will be dispensed with.

Therefore, the return to school that will take place between September 5 and 12 could be done in a much freer way for students than in the last courses, especially in the dining room, an area especially prone to contagion due to the need removing the protective mask to eat.

As they have explained, this elimination of restrictions due to the coronavirus for the 2022-23 academic year will be effective at all levels of education, that is, both in schools, in institutes, in high school, in vocational training (FP) and higher degrees.

Measures that will no longer be mandatory in the classroom

Until now, children had been separated by bubble groups, the capacity had been limited to avoid interaction and contagion between them, the mask was required indoors and ventilation was required from time to time to air the spaces. However, these are the measures that will be eliminated from now on:

• It will no longer be necessary to comply with the interpersonal distance of at least 1.5 meters.
• The coexistence groups of infant, primary and special education, ESO, FP and high school will be able to interact with each other in any circumstance and regardless of whether it is indoors or outdoors.
• The recommendation to organize coexistence groups for breakfasts and snacks in morning and extracurricular activities is eliminated.
• As for ventilation, it will no longer have to be permanent, although it is recommended that the windows be opened several times a day between classes, with natural cross ventilation being the preferred option.
• The use of a mask will not be mandatory either inside the classrooms or in outdoor spaces.
• The cleaning will be the usual before the pandemic, without the need to intensify it as it was done until now at each change of class.
• Finally, the recommendations related to vaccination will be followed.

Despite the withdrawal of the COVID-19 restrictions, we must not forget that the disease continues to be among us, so it is recommended to continue maintaining good hand hygiene and in the presence of symptoms not to go to the educational center.