Education Minister Explains Strategy When COVID-19 Case is Detected in a School

We are well into the re-opening of our society and economy while in the midst of the pandemic, as cinemas have started to reopen on 13 July.

Schools are also trying to resume relatively normal schooling.

If you are a parent or just a concerned citizen, you may be worried over “What if a student catches COVID-19?”

And thus, when a 13-year-old girl was falsely identified to have been infected in a school, the country started to lose its sh*t for a while.

Well, a false positive is always better than a false negative in such cases.

MOE’s Strategy Against COVID-19 Cases In School

But you may be wondering, what exactly is MOE going to do with there is a case for real?

The same question was asked at Education Minister Mr Ong Ye Kung, especially with reference towards the case of misdiagnosis.

According to Mr Ong, the approach is “to ring-fence and quarantine” by placing students and teachers on a leave of absence but in as small a scale as possible.

Reader Bao: Simi is ringfence? Like the MMA ring that fence?

Basically, if a student is detected to be COVID-19 positive, their class would be placed on home quarantine. But depending on certain conditions and circumstances, it could be their entire cohort.

A full closure of the entire school is not appropriate, according to the minister.

“Make life as normal as we can”

The same was done for Jurong West Secondary School, as the entire cohort was placed on quarantine and Home-Based Learning (HBL) when the girl was first “diagnosed”.

During that period, over 90% of students continued to return to school as per normal, which Mr Ong found to be comforting, as that signified faith and understanding in their system.

With the procedures in place, alongside the understanding of the parents, teachers, and students, “we can make life as normal as we can”, he said.

Currently, most other school activities such as CCAs have yet to resume to minimise intermingling, but they are constantly monitoring the situation and reviewing their approach.

Meanwhile, whether you’re a student or adult, the best we can do is obey safety measures and help us all tide over this pandemic as a nation, so we can come out stronger as one Singapore.

Wah, the government should hire me to write some National Day speeches or slogans.

And lest you’re wondering…so far, there hasn’t been a case of school transmission. Yet.

You can help to stop the spread by downloading the TraceTogether app, and if you’re still worried about privacy, watch this: