Smolny: Remote format can “cover” schools

The administration of St. Petersburg does not plan to transfer schools to distance learning, however, due to the “omicron” strain, the format may actually “cover” educational institutions. This was announced on the personal page of VKontakte by Vice Governor Irina Potekhina.

According to her, for face-to-face classes, a shifted schedule is maintained at schools, dilution of streams at the entrance and at lunchtime.

“Omicron behaves differently than previous strains. Its contagiousness is much higher, and the incubation period is shorter. Therefore, if someone in the family gets sick, it is also better not to send the child to school. In a day or two, an apparently healthy child can infect a whole class, ”Potekhina called another condition.

The lieutenant governor called for children to be left at home even with mild symptoms of the disease and to minimize social contacts in order to “smooth the peak of the disease.”

“Today, the city government does not plan to transfer the education system to a distance format. But outbreaks in individual classrooms will automatically send them away. And if this phenomenon becomes widespread, the remote format can “cover” schools – without any centralized decision, ”said the representative of Smolny.

Parents in the comments supported the idea to keep face-to-face education, but urged to meet halfway and allow children to be left at home at the first sign of illness without having to go to hospitals.

“Sitting with snot at home, then hanging around in the clinic is really with the sick and contagious in line for help,” the users were indignant.

Others called for students to be transferred to full-time education in order to maintain the proper level of education in the country.

Recall that upon leaving the New Year holidays on January 10, two classes in two schools were closed in St. Petersburg due to SARS and coronavirus. Students have been transferred to distance learning. As of January 17, the number of “remote” classes has grown to nine in eight schools.

The incidence of COVID-19 has been growing rapidly in St. Petersburg since January 10. Over the past two days, more than 4,000 cases of coronavirus have been recorded per day, which is an absolute pandemic record.