After School Reopening, Class- or Grade-Level Attendance Suspension Should Replace School Closures When Confirmed Cases Occur

If Confirmed Cases Occur, 14-Day School Attendance Suspension
Advance Planning by Class and Grade

[Asia Economy Reporters Choi Dae-yeol and Lee Hyun-joo] With the new school term starting next month, frontline schools’ COVID-19 prevention measures have become more important than ever. Experts have called for precise policies such as suspending attendance by specific classes or grades rather than taking extreme measures like closing entire schools when COVID-19 cases occur within schools.

According to the COVID-19 infection prevention management guidelines distributed by the Ministry of Education on the 24th to kindergartens, elementary, middle, high schools, and special schools nationwide, if a confirmed COVID-19 case occurs within a school, attendance can be suspended for 14 days for the affected class, grade, or the entire school. Before attending school, families should check students’ health status and refrain from sending them if suspicious symptoms appear, monitoring their condition at home for about four days. Schools should also find ways to minimize contact during meal times according to their individual circumstances.

The guidelines include providing alternative meals, switching to classroom meal distribution, or bringing personal lunch boxes. Even when using cafeterias, measures such as staggering meal times or adjusting seating arrangements are recommended. Park Baek-beom, Vice Minister of Education, stated, “We will prioritize students’ health and safety and implement all preventive measures.”

Considering that new COVID-19 cases continue to occur steadily in the dozens daily, experts believe there is a high possibility of another outbreak after the school term begins next month. This is because transmission can occur easily even when symptoms are absent or mild, and social distancing is difficult to effectively implement in the group settings typical of schools.

However, given that COVID-19 clinical characteristics are mostly mild and it is difficult to sustain the previously strict lockdown and suppression strategies for a long time, experts emphasize that prevention measures should be prepared on the premise that cases can occur anytime in our surroundings. Oh Myung-don, Chair of the Central Clinical Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases, said the day before, “This outbreak cannot be ended like the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). The outbreak will spread after school starts, so plans must be made in advance to prevent transmission at the class, grade, and school levels.” If entire schools are indiscriminately closed under the pretext of preventing cluster infections when sporadic cases occur, normal social life will become difficult and the costs to be borne will increase sharply.

Since education authorities and frontline school staff are well aware of the characteristics of their respective sites, they should prepare prevention measures suited to their circumstances. Even if the measures seem somewhat relaxed, they should be ready to accept them after social discussions.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.