Hungary not closing schools is a controversial issue - But is it really?
A total of 1.2 million children are enrolled in elementary and secondary schools in Hungary. The cabinet declared a state of emergency on Wednesday but - among other restrictive measures – ordered only universities to close their doors and continue teaching via the use of distance learning.
As for schools, the only restrictive measures are that trips abroad are banned and student language programmes in foreign countries are put off by a year.
That should serve as containment, while
even the very basic sanitary conditions are missing from most of the schools.
Many of them do not have hand sanitizers and even the basic soap-paper towel combination is nowhere in sight, either.
Another attempt at containing the spread of the coronavirus is that schools were asked not to hold the 15 March celebrations. What’s the point, you may ask, when students spend hours with their classmates in their respective classrooms and then mix in the hall during every recess. When journalists asked Tibor Lakatos, head of the operative board at the Operational Corps, about this, he replied that it’s not the same if 12 classes are separated in different classrooms or get together in the school gym.
By the way, as a measure in the state of emergency principals (as well as notaries and the Education Office) were stripped of their right to close their school on their own, while regulations give them that jurisdiction in case of emergency.
Whereas children may rarely show symptoms of the coronavirus, there is no reliable information as to how many children carry the disease. Theoretically, they could be infected with COVID-19 without their knowledge, travel to school on public transportation and infect who knows how many people around them.
A flu-related experiment in French schools showed that in the few weeks after the regular school breaks, the number of infected students dropped by 20-30% and the flu infected fewer adults and elderly people too.
The spread of viruses also slows down when railway workers go on strike (i.e. in times of disruptions of public transportation).
Hungary’s chief medical officer Cecília Müller argued against school closures by saying that the children will infect their grandparents (who are likely to be asked to watch them while the parents are at work). But what if the government acts in time? What if schools are closed BEFORE children could become virus carriers?
The Democratic Union of Educators (PDSZ) warned on Thursday that the average age of teachers is high and the shortage of teachers tends to be mitigated in many institutions by hiring retired colleagues, i.e. the age group that runs the highest risk of falling victim to COVID-19.
We should also be aware that
the 14-30 age group has the most widespread social relationships.
They are the ones that spend most of their time in communities, both inside and outside school. While the coronavirus does not pose a grave danger to them, as potential virus carriers they pose a huge danger to others.
An education expert told news portal index.hu that this is a situation no one has ever faced before therefore the regulation on how a normal academic year should go down should not be the starting point of the management of this situation. This requires a whole new way of thinking, approach and solutions.
Secondary school linked to coronavirus patient
Sources told 444.hu about a truly scary story that unfolded in a secondary school in Budapest. On Thursday night, parents were calling each other frantically if they will let their child go to school on Friday.
The 17-18-year old children unexpectedly went home from school on Thursday morning because one of their classmates has learned during an English class that his/her mother was infected with the coronavirus. The affected family informed the school immediately, but no official action has been launched.
According to the students, the teachers were threatened with criminal proceedings “from above” in case they take any action or even disclose which family or which class is affected. The teachers told the students that if they discuss this with them their jobs are on the line.
When it turned out that everyone was in the know, the students went home in the middle of the day. Those that could avoid public transportation walked, not wanting to spread the virus should they already be carriers.
The students’ consideration for human life was not shared by the authorities. The school was told Friday will be business as usual, no one may be exempted from attendance, not even those that are in the class directly affected.
Not even the child of the infected mother has the possibility to be tested for coronavirus in the public health care system!
The father, his children and classmates were all rejected when they demanded to be tested. The Szent László hospital turned them away, saying that if they do not show symptoms they cannot be tested, and wait in a quarantine for the symptoms to show.
Sources working in health care told 444.hu that as far as the public system goes only this hospital has tests for COVID-19.
The only action the school dared to take was to order an extraordinary clean up.
The story of the mother is also horrific - There's prevention for ya'!
The mother tested postivie for COVID-19 on 12 March, but before that she showed up at Szent László hospital on 7 March with symptoms. As she had not been in any country where the coronavirus spread the doctors there were not suspicious. In fact, they were so relaxed that they referred the patient to the Szent János hospital. She was diagnosed with pneumonia there and treated for five days before her repeated test for the coronavirus came back positive. Only then she was transferred to the Szent László hospital.
Authorities have no clue whom she contacted while being a virus carrier. Müller only said that contact-tracing was still in progress.
444.hu talked to the medical staff of the Szent János hospital, who confirmed that nurses and doctors treating the patent
- did not receive and use protective gear
- continue to work there to this day
- are in constant contact with other patients.
On Thursday, patients were admitted to the ward for half a day while they had knowledge that one of the previous patients had been tested positive for COVID-19.
Some 10-15 doctors and nurses were in contact with the patient, but they have received no official notification whatsoever in this respect. There was no official investigation as to whom the patient contacted. Cleaning staff, X-ray personnel, caterers and residents could have been close to the patient, no one knows.
The hospital staff in contact with the patient were never tested and their requests to be tested were turned down by the management that they had probably not been close to her for 15 minutes or more therefore the hospital cannot ask for more tests to be delivered there from the Szent László hospital.
Staff in the Thursday afternoon shift were not let home in the evening, they had to stay in the building, but they have no idea how long this quarantine will last. Those that were not in this shift are expected to be back and continue to work, either on Friday or on Saturday. In light of the developments, however, they cannot be sure that if they show up they will be let home. Yet, their request for home quarantine was flatly denied.
Cover photo: Getty Images
