After School COVID-19 Protocols To Help Keep Children Safe

The Ministry of Health and Wellness is encouraging parents to reinforce the preventative guidelines to keep school children from contracting and spreading the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

According to Director of Environmental Health at the Ministry, Everton Baker, when children return home from school, they must clean their hands, dispose of masks in garbage receptacles, or wash them where it is possible.

“We ask that when the children get home, that as far as possible, get their hands washed with soap and water, immediately. That will reduce the possibility of the collection of germs,” Mr. Baker stated during an interview with JIS News.

He informed that the Afterschool COVID-19 Protocols have been agreed by the Ministry of Health and Wellness and the Ministry of Education and Youth, and everything is being done to ensure that the “necessary preventative measures” are in place to protect the children who are back in school, as well adults who interface with them.

He said clothes worn to school must be washed before they are worn again, and where it is not possible for them to be washed, they can be placed in the sun. The best protection, however, is for the children to wear clean clothes every day to school.

“When the children get to school, there should be some controls, where they have a checkpoint to ensure that masks are being worn, temperature checks and handwashing, and sanitisation are done,” Mr. Baker said.

The protocols are working well, he emphasised, but it is important that they are not relaxed, as the virus is still a threat to the wellbeing of children and adults. He added that during breaks, masks must be worn and the children must be carefully monitored.

The Director also called on the population to get vaccinated, as immunisation has saved thousands of lives.