As Singapore eases its way out of the Circuit Breaker phase, thousands of students have, once again, returned to their schools to receive education. And yet, one underlying question has never left;
What happens if school transmission, dreaded as it may be, does occur?
Early last month, when schools started to reopen, the Education Minister has already projected this scenario, saying that when a cluster occurred in a school, the school might be closed but not all schools.
Fast forward to today, and we have a possible transmission between two students. So what’s next?
First Case Of School Transmission Detected In Jurong West Sec; Whole Cohort to be on HBL for a Week
A 13-year-old girl at Jurong West Secondary School has tested positive for Covid-19.
That’s normal except that she is reportedly linked to a previous case from the same school – a 13-year-old boy who tested positive on 6 July.
MOE’s director of schools Liew Wei has since addressed the issue, stating that the girl had been placed on Home Quarantine Order (HQO) ever since the boy’s result was announced.
“For the latest case, she was last in school on Jul 3, was well, and remains without symptoms,” said MOE’s director of schools Liew Wei Li.
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“Being a close contact of a previous case, she had been placed on Home Quarantine Order (HQO) by MOH since Jul 6, 2020. As part of MOH’s expanded testing regime, she was swabbed and tested positive.”
Meanwhile, around 70 students and staff members (who were verified to be close contacts of the earlier case) have tested negative for the virus. Though as a result of this latest case, another six students and four employees will be given home quarantine orders.
Precaution
According to Ms Liew, disinfection and cleaning of premises have been conducted in the school since last weekend. And in light of the most recent case, the school has undergone further disinfection.
“The school has been cleaned and disinfected several times since the last weekend. Further disinfection and cleaning of premises is also taking place today,” said Ms Liew.
As a form of precaution, the home-based learning period for all Secondary 1 students has also been extended by a week.
“The school had placed all Secondary 1 students on home-based learning (HBL) on Jul 8 and 9 pending outcome of MOH investigations,” said Ms Liew.
“As an added precaution, the HBL period for Secondary 1 students will be extended till next week (Jul 13 to 18) before the start of the one-week mid-term break,” she added.
“This allows the Secondary 1 classes to continue uninterrupted with lessons from their own teachers despite being on HQO. All other levels will resume classes in school on Monday as per normal.”
Yes, in other words, the whole school is not closed. Yet.
Incidentally, the Secondary 1 female student was one of 16 new community Covid-19 cases announced on Friday (10 July).
The Secondary 1 male student, who was the earlier case, had been a contact of Case 443266, a 29-year-old Indonesian woman who tested positive after being diagnosed with acute respiratory infection.
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