Cho Hee-yeon "Providing 2 Rapid Antigen Kits per Week"... Securing Multiple Tests and Substitute Teachers (Comprehensive)

5,764 Seoul Student Confirmed Cases, More Than Double Compared to Last Week
Rapid Antigen Test Kits, 7 Weeks Supply for Kindergarten and Elementary Students Under Review
Additional Support for Middle and High School Students Based on Ministry of Education Support Scope
Age Limit for Appointment and Hiring Requirements for Honorably Retired Teachers Also Relaxed

As the government decided to reinforce social distancing measures, it announced on the 17th that from the 20th, all schools in the metropolitan area, large schools outside the metropolitan area, and overcrowded classes will suspend full in-person attendance. Students are seen attending school in front of a middle school in Seoul on the 17th./Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education is planning to provide rapid antigen test kits twice a week before school attendance to students and staff at the beginning of the semester to prevent the spread of infections in schools. If the Ministry of Education limits the distribution of kits to kindergarten and elementary school students, the Seoul city and district governments will provide kits to middle and high school students using their own budgets. Additionally, the criteria for recruiting substitute teachers in case of confirmed teacher infections have been relaxed.

At the weekly COVID-19 briefing on the 15th, Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, said, "The standard for rapid antigen test kit testing is set at twice a week," adding, "If the Ministry of Education secures a budget to provide kits to all kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high school students, no additional measures will be taken. However, if the Ministry only shares the cost for kindergarten and elementary schools, Seoul plans to provide additional kits to middle and high schools in consultation with the 25 autonomous districts."

While the Ministry of Education is discussing including middle and high school students in the kit distribution target, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has first prepared a plan to provide kits twice a week for seven weeks to kindergarten and elementary students in cooperation with the autonomous districts. The day before, the Ministry of Education announced it was considering providing a total of nine rapid antigen test kits over five weeks.

Superintendent Cho said, "The number of kits provided is the same as the Ministry of Education's plan, but the reason the Ministry only provides five weeks' worth is because the target was initially only kindergarten and elementary schools, and the quantity was reduced when expanding to middle and high schools," adding, "If the risk from COVID-19 continues, separate discussions for additional provision will be necessary."

Ham Hye-seong, Director of the Lifelong Career Education Bureau, added, "Middle and high schools account for 20% of the total students and staff, and kindergarten and elementary schools account for 30%. The Ministry of Education plans to expand this to cover all students and staff and announce it accordingly. We intend to take other measures based on the Ministry's announcement."

Currently, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has secured rapid antigen test kits for about 20% of the total students and staff (30% for kindergarten and elementary schools). Five percent will be allocated to schools, and the remaining 15% will be stocked at the education office. The budget required for securing kits for school and education office reserves and distributing kits for proactive testing is estimated at 1.65 billion KRW each.

On the 13th, a notice regarding the purchase of COVID-19 self-test kits was posted at Yuseong Pharmacy in Jongno-gu, Seoul. According to distribution improvement measures, online sales of self-test kits are prohibited from this day until March 5, and the quantity that individuals can purchase at pharmacies and convenience stores is limited to five kits per transaction. However, there is no restriction on purchasing multiple times a day, and online stock can be sold until the 16th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyeong aymsdream@

The criteria for securing substitute teachers in case of teacher infection or self-quarantine have also been significantly relaxed. The age limit for appointment from the first announcement in the recruitment process for contract teachers and part-time instructors has been eased, and the hiring requirements for retired teachers have been temporarily lifted from the previous two-year limit for middle and high schools. As the Ministry of Education expands the number of contract teachers, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education plans to deploy about 800 contract teachers.

From the new semester, each school's academic operation plan will follow criteria of approximately a 3% infection rate and about a 15% attendance suspension rate (confirmed and quarantined individuals). If either condition is not met, full attendance plus restrictions on (non-)curricular activities will be implemented; if both conditions are exceeded, partial attendance will be applied. In case of a rapid increase in confirmed cases, the Ministry of Education, health authorities, and the education office will consult to switch to full remote classes.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will also apply partial remote class criteria at the class or grade level. For example, in a school with 600 students and 25 students per class, if 15% or more of students in 3 out of 4 fifth-grade classes are suspended from attendance, the entire fifth grade will conduct remote classes. If there are 25 new confirmed cases among 600 students and 97 students are suspended from attendance, and 13 out of 24 classes have 15% or more attendance suspension, full remote classes can be implemented.

From the new semester, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will establish a multi-testing system including rapid antigen test kit distribution, on-site mobile PCR testing, and rapid PCR testing. Each education support office will operate two on-site mobile PCR testing teams, and rapid PCR testing will be supported at schools with dormitories or arts and physical education departments.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education plans to expand health support services and increase the budget related to quarantine in line with the changing school quarantine and testing system. Emergency response teams providing quarantine-related consultation services such as school self-surveys will operate at the headquarters, the School Health Promotion Institute, and 11 education support offices.

Superintendent Cho said, "We will deploy a total of 8,015 quarantine personnel, ranging from 2 to 6 per school depending on the number of students, and additionally support 2,892 school meal quarantine personnel (1 to 6 per school level). We will support health assistant instructors at schools that request them and plan to increase support from 400 schools in 248 schools to 648 schools," he said.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, from the 7th to the 13th, the number of confirmed student cases increased by 3,009 to 5,764 compared to the previous week, and confirmed staff cases increased by 336 to 568. The most common infection route was unknown (40.4%), followed by family infection (37.8%), community infection (11.6%), and in-school infection (10.2%).

The incidence rate per 10,000 students also doubled from 30.4 the previous week to an average of 63.3. By age group, the highest was 10th to 11th graders (85.8), followed by elementary school students (80.8) and kindergarten students (51.3). Until the 3rd, cluster infections occurred with 15 cases at A Elementary School, 14 at B Elementary School, 13 at C Elementary School, and 13 at D Middle School until the 4th.

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