Parents on Spain’s Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca Return to School Concerns as Young Girl Dies of Kawasaki Disease

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PARENTS on Spain’s Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca are worried about their child’s safety when schools reopen in September after a young girl in Spain died from a Covid related disease last week.

Doctors believe that the Kawasaki disease could have been an adverse symptom of the coronavirus. Medical reports show that the young girl tested positive for the virus a few days before she was admitted to the hospital.

Susan Hodges from Elviria in Marbella, Spain wanted to share her concerns, she said: “I read about that young girl who died of Kawasaki disease – it’s frightening to think what could happen when we send our two daughters back to their Spanish school in September. I hope they are going to split up the classes, there are over 40 students normally in a class, how are they going to split them up and teach the kids properly? We haven’t received any notifications yet so we don’t know anything with regards class sizes. I would love to send them to a British school but we can’t afford it, especially since my husband lost his job at the bar. Our family always wear their masks but it’s everyone else I worry about, you see so many people not wearing their masks don’t you – it will be down to those people if anything kicks of, I’m sure of it. I really hope everything will be ok, we all need to get back to work. On the UK news, Boris Johnson said he would close pubs in the UK if there are new outbreaks, will they do that in Spain?”

Private English colleges in Spain, however, have the advantage that classes are smaller and lessons can also be staggered, it is also understood that complete disinfection of the colleges has taken place during the break.

ELE Safe School certificate facing the Covid-19

The Federation of Associations of Spanish schools in Spain, FEDELE, has created a complete recognition system with guidelines, recommendations and protocols to follow to achieve a safe school and free from infections facing the present epidemiological situation caused by Covid-19.

Quote: “You can come to our Spanish schools with the certainty that they have specific contingency plans and protocols to reduce the risk of infection within the centre as much as possible.”

This seal certifies that the centres have contingency plans to reduce the possibilities of contagion in the centres and to stop the expansion to prevent possible outbreaks due to Covid-19. However, we cannot assure the absence of risk due to the changing epidemiological situation in which we find ourselves and the personal responsibility of each user.

The scientific facts – is there anything to worry about?

One of the world’s most prominent agencies, the CDC (Centre for Disease Control) warns that all people with Covid-19, including those with mild cases of the disease and children, “can still pass this virus onto others who may be at higher risk, including older adults and people who have serious underlying medical conditions.”

Warwick University researchers warned reopening secondary schools will have the “greatest impact” on transmission because older children have more social contacts, leading to increased mixing and transmission.

Prof Neil Ferguson also warned big schools and further education colleges reopening “poses a real risk” of “case numbers going up quite sharply.” Dr Isabella Eckerle, head of the emerging viruses research group at the University of Geneva, cautioned: “If we go back to the normal school day now clinging to wishful thinking that children do not play a role in the pandemic, that will come back to haunt us.”

 

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Written by

Tony Winterburn

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