{"id":7367,"date":"2020-11-09T14:52:47","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T18:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/?p=7367"},"modified":"2020-11-09T14:52:47","modified_gmt":"2020-11-09T18:52:47","slug":"a-message-from-the-office-of-chief-medical-officer-dr-shawn-charles-on-the-removal-of-physical-distancing-in-the-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/2020\/11\/09\/a-message-from-the-office-of-chief-medical-officer-dr-shawn-charles-on-the-removal-of-physical-distancing-in-the-classroom\/","title":{"rendered":"A Message From The Office Of Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Shawn Charles, On The Removal Of Physical Distancing In The Classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Given the fact that there is currently no community transmission of COVID-19 in Grenada,\u00a0 there is no justification for not allowing children to return to the classroom as normal. A return\u00a0 to normal distance for school children in this setting will not carry additional risk.<\/p>\n<p>The focus at this time should be on educating everyone, and staff and students, adhering to\u00a0 the recommended hygienic measures, which include mask wearing and sanitization. Since\u00a0 research has shown that staff will be the most likely source of infection for other staff\u00a0 members, attention should be given to ensuring their compliance with the health protocols.<\/p>\n<p>The justification for the return to normal distancing at schools is outlined below:<\/p>\n<p><b>The World Health Organization (WHO) provided a summary of research on COVID 19 in children and in schools as outlined below:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Infection in children generally causes mild disease. Serious illness due to COVID-19 is\u00a0 seen only infrequently. Young children seem to have lower susceptibility to infection\u00a0 compared to adults, with susceptibility generally increasing with age.<\/li>\n<li>Current evidence from contact tracing and cluster investigations also suggests that\u00a0 children are less likely than adults to be the main transmitters of infection.<\/li>\n<li>Studies in educational settings suggest that the introduction of the virus generally\u00a0 started with infected adults. Staff-to-staff transmission was more common than staff to-student transmission and student-to-student transmission was rare.<\/li>\n<li>A clear causal role for schools in community resurgence has currently not been\u00a0 demonstrated.<\/li>\n<li>Overall, most evidence from countries that have reopened schools or never closed\u00a0 them suggests that schools have not been associated with significant increases in\u00a0 community transmission.<\/li>\n<li>Risk of an outbreak in schools and other settings where young people congregate is\u00a0 determined in large part by the background community transmission and settings linked risk amplifiers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>epidemiological status with regards to COVID-19 remains safe,\u00a0 despite there being one or more cases that are imported. There is no evidence of\u00a0 community spread of the disease.<\/li>\n<li>The Ministry of Health continues to have good control over the introduction of\u00a0 COVID-19 in Grenada through the aggressive implementation of public health control\u00a0 measures. Therefore, in this situation, schools are allowed to open (or re-open) at\u00a0 normal capacity.<\/li>\n<li>According to UNICEF, the adverse effects of school closures on children\u2019s safety, well being and learning are well documented. Disruptions to instructional time in the\u00a0 classroom can have a severe impact on a child\u2019s ability to learn.<\/li>\n<li>Schools are not merely centers for learning. They are also safe havens for many\u00a0 children. Being out of school also increases the risk of teenage pregnancy, sexual\u00a0 exploitation, violence and other threats.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Given the fact that there is currently no community transmission of COVID-19 in Grenada,\u00a0 there is no justification for not allowing children to return to the classroom as normal. A return\u00a0 to normal distance for <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/2020\/11\/09\/a-message-from-the-office-of-chief-medical-officer-dr-shawn-charles-on-the-removal-of-physical-distancing-in-the-classroom\/\" title=\"A Message From The Office Of Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Shawn Charles, On The Removal Of Physical Distancing In The Classroom\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[45,39],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7367","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"category-local-news"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Classroom-Management-for-an-Effective-Learning-Environment-scaled-1.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Classroom-Management-for-an-Effective-Learning-Environment-scaled-1.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=1",2400,1600,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Classroom-Management-for-an-Effective-Learning-Environment-scaled-1.jpg",2400,1600,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Classroom-Management-for-an-Effective-Learning-Environment-scaled-1.jpg",2400,1600,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Classroom-Management-for-an-Effective-Learning-Environment-scaled-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Classroom-Management-for-an-Effective-Learning-Environment-scaled-1.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1",300,200,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Classroom-Management-for-an-Effective-Learning-Environment-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1",1024,683,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Classroom-Management-for-an-Effective-Learning-Environment-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1536%2C1024&ssl=1",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Classroom-Management-for-an-Effective-Learning-Environment-scaled-1.jpg?fit=2048%2C1365&ssl=1",2048,1365,true],"mh-magazine-slider":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Classroom-Management-for-an-Effective-Learning-Environment-scaled-1.jpg?resize=1030%2C438&ssl=1",1030,438,true],"mh-magazine-content":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Classroom-Management-for-an-Effective-Learning-Environment-scaled-1.jpg?resize=678%2C381&ssl=1",678,381,true],"mh-magazine-large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Classroom-Management-for-an-Effective-Learning-Environment-scaled-1.jpg?resize=678%2C509&ssl=1",678,509,true],"mh-magazine-medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Classroom-Management-for-an-Effective-Learning-Environment-scaled-1.jpg?resize=326%2C245&ssl=1",326,245,true],"mh-magazine-small":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Classroom-Management-for-an-Effective-Learning-Environment-scaled-1.jpg?resize=80%2C60&ssl=1",80,60,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"adminrfm","author_link":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/author\/adminrfm\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/category\/health\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Health<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/category\/news\/local-news\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Local News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Given the fact that there is currently no community transmission of COVID-19 in Grenada,\u00a0 there is no justification for not allowing children to return to the classroom as normal. A return\u00a0 to normal distance for [...]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7367"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7369,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7367\/revisions\/7369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}