Barangay health workers must be deployed in all public schools to strengthen the protection of schoolchildren when face to face classes begin in August.
To strengthen and ensure the protection of schoolchildren from the raging COVID-19 variants, barangay health workers should be deployed in public schools once face to face classes begin next month.
Rep. Angelica Natasha Co of BHW Partylist, said this would strengthen the anti-COVID measures in the campuses.
I ask the mayors, barangay chairpersons, and the DOH to deploy healthcare frontliners to the campuses now and in the coming weeks as campuses reopen, she said in a statement.
DoH must give stipends
Barangay health workers should help school principals protect students and teachers from the many health risks out there. As this would be another responsibility in addition to their current responsibilities, it would be fair for the Department of Health to make sure that BHWs deployed to schools will get additional honorarium or stipend for their deployment there on short duration.
Schools and barangays will have to work together more now. Some kids going back to school would probably have difficulties involving social skills, mental health, undernourishment, lacking mandatory vaccines, on top of learning deficiencies because of two years of pandemic.
COVID response at this time should have more emphasis on all the schools and campus communities because classes are resuming with face-to-face contact.
Best defense would be primary doses and booster shots. The goal should be all students are vaccinated and given booster shots.
Remove all those plastic barriers because they impede ventilation and circulation of fresh air. Open classroom windows and remove all those curtains impeding airflow.
Teachers and other personnel who are not vaxxed but required to report for work could have movements limited to a separate building on campus. They could also have less work days on campus and more work at home.
DepEd should be transparent on the vax status of their personnel and students on a per school basis. There should be weekly public reporting from each school principal up to the DepEd central office, she stressed.
Students who have symptoms of COVID or other contagious disease should be isolated and sent home.
"COVID is not the only contagious disease to worry about now. There's measles, flu, mumps, sore eyes, and respiratory illness, among others. Remember,most kids have not mingled with other kids, nor their relatives or immediate neighbors. Mas mataas ang banta na magkahawahan ngayon, hindi lang ng COVID, pati na beke at tigdas."
There's also dengue, leptospirosis, and other rainy season sicknesses.
Public transport to and from schools should also have anti-COVID measures. Trike drivers should be vaxxed and boosted.
Tags: #barangayhealthworkers, #F2Fclasses, #antiCovidmeasures, #otherinfectiousdiseases, #DoH, #health