"Discussion on Returning to School, Isn't It Too Early?" Parents Still Anxious About COVID-19

Transition to Daily Quarantine from the 6th... Nationwide Elementary, Middle, and High School Students Expected to Attend School This Month
Parents Express Concerns About Potential Spread of Cluster Infections
Experts Emphasize Need for Measures Like Class Splitting to Prevent Student Infections

On the morning of the 16th of last month, a 6th-grade teacher at an elementary school in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, is repeatedly attempting to access an online class site in the classroom. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ga-yeon] The government announced that it will shift from 'social distancing' to 'everyday life distancing' starting on the 6th to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). Accordingly, school attendance, which had been suspended as part of social distancing measures, is expected to resume sequentially from this month.

However, some parents of elementary, middle, and high school students have raised concerns, calling the timing premature. They worry that if confirmed cases occur at schools, the nature of difficulty in maintaining distance between students could lead to large-scale infections. In particular, it is pointed out that it is difficult to enforce mask-wearing among lower-grade elementary students. Experts have suggested that measures to prevent transmission among students need to be established.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun stated at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting held at the Government Seoul Office on the 3rd, "From the 6th, we will transition to everyday life distancing," adding, "We will also sequentially promote school attendance for children. The Minister of Education will announce the specific timing and methods of school attendance tomorrow."

The initial expected date for school reopening was around the 11th. However, considering the COVID-19 incubation period, the plan to start sequential attendance after the two-week holiday, from the 19th onward, is gaining traction.

This is because if all 5.4 million elementary, middle, and high school students nationwide start attending school simultaneously, there is concern that COVID-19 could spread rapidly if confirmed cases occur at schools.

Parents unanimously emphasized that their children's health should come first and called for careful decisions from the Ministry of Education. Although the daily number of new confirmed cases has remained below 20 for 17 consecutive days since the 18th of last month, indicating that COVID-19 is stabilizing, concerns remain about the possibility of 'silent transmission' with unknown infection routes.

On the 14th of last month, hand sanitizer prepared for students was placed in a classroom of an elementary school in Anyang City.
Photo by Yonhap News

Earlier, on March 23, Singapore pushed ahead with school attendance as new confirmed cases decreased. However, after school attendance led to an increase in community infections, they switched back to remote learning on the 8th of last month, just 17 days after reopening schools.

As a result, parental anxiety is growing. A 30-year-old parent, Mr. A, who has a second-grade elementary school child, said, "Since the COVID-19 situation is not completely over, I think it is safer to conduct the first semester online."

Mr. A added, "Even if parents stay with their children all day, kids try to take off their masks at any time. Especially since the weather suddenly got hotter from the weekend, it’s difficult to use fans or air conditioners at school due to concerns about COVID-19 transmission. High school or university students might consciously wear masks, but how will elementary students be managed?"

Some have argued that voluntary attendance should be implemented to give students the choice. Parent B, residing in Goyang City, Gyeonggi Province, said, "Even if attendance is phased, eventually all students will attend school, and it will naturally become difficult to comply with quarantine rules."

He continued, "I understand that working parents have limitations in caring for their children. Therefore, it would be good to consider allowing students or parents to decide on attendance after gathering their opinions."

Experts urged that attendance should be limited to certain grades and that methods to comply with quarantine rules within schools must be established.

Professor Lee Jae-gap of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital said on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' on the 1st, "Having all grades attend school is not a feasible situation at this time," but added, "However, due to children's right to learn, starting school attendance with certain grades is an option."

Professor Lee advised, "Classes can be divided to use space more widely. Through such methods, the density inside schools can be reduced, and schools should be well ventilated. However, even then, thorough methods to block transmission among students must be devised."

Meanwhile, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the previous day (3rd), among the 12 confirmed cases reported from the 19th of last month to that day, 9 cases had unknown infection routes.

Jung Eun-kyung, Director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, emphasized at the regular briefing that day, "Nearly 10 confirmed cases with unknown infection routes have occurred within the last two weeks despite epidemiological investigations," adding, "This means that the source of infection that infected these confirmed cases exists in the community."

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