THE DEPARTMENT of Education (DepEd) ordered education workers to resume work on June 1 in preparation for the August resumption of classes.
But before education workers are asked to report, isn’t it prudent to subject them to mass testing for COVID-19? The testing should be shouldered by DepEd, of course. This is an important step with regards to eventual class opening lest we risk spreading COVID-19 further, rendering the two-month lockdown moot and endangering the health of at least two million education workers, their families and their students.
As per omnibus guidelines on the implementation of community quarantine in the Philippines, full work force may operate in public offices in areas under the modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) and general community quarantine (GCQ), with special work arrangements to be extended to vulnerable populations such as senior citizens, people with comorbidities, and with risky pregnancy. DepEd announced it will release a separate guideline for its employees. Well, this needs to be available at the soonest possible time.
Mass testing should be conducted among education workers who have symptoms and exposure to confirmed COVID-19 case/s; who don’t have symptoms but have exposure to confirmed COVID-19 case/s; who have COVID-19 symptoms but no known exposure to confirmed COVID-19 case/s; and to vulnerable populations within the education sector workforce.
These are crucial not only in ensuring a safe working environment but also in determining whether our school system may be able to operate should classes open in August. We cannot afford to risk the lives of our teachers, and especially not the lives of our students.
The need for mass testing stems from the still lacking mass testing throughout the country. We currently only have around 30 accredited laboratories for processing of swab samples, hence the continued massive backlog in test results.
Does the country already have baseline data to serve as scientific basis for the government to make a well-informed decision on how to move forward such as reopening schools? There are those who have doubts, and this is due largely to the fact that the government’s militaristic response to COVID-19 has been problematic, to say the least, and its medical response to the pandemic wanting.
Successfully controlling the virus remains to be the biggest requisite for work resumption and school opening.
