The ordinance published on Friday also further relaxed the obligation to wear masks in schools: Mouth and nose protection or FFP2 masks (in the upper school) then only have to be worn outside of your own class or group rooms.
Until two weeks ago, in view of the high number of infections, masks were compulsory in schools. Since February 14, elementary school students have only had to wear the mask outside of their seat, and this requirement has applied to all schools since this week. With next week, there will be further loosening here. The test regime – three tests per week, two of which are more meaningful PCR – remains.
Mask requirement for teachers
Teachers, but also external persons who have now been admitted again (coaches from sports clubs, reading grandmothers) must always wear an FFP2 mask during their stay in the school building, and the 3G rule (vaccinated, recovered, tested) also applies. From March 5th, vaccinated and recovered teachers and other people will only be required to wear masks in general parts of the school building.
At the same time, staying away from class is made more difficult, and from Monday the obligation to attend schools, which has been suspended since the end of November, will apply again. Most recently, an apology from the parents was sufficient if students did not want to or could not attend classes for “reasons related to the COVID 19 pandemic”. Pupils who belong to a risk group themselves or who share the household with someone from the risk group must now submit a medical certificate for the absence.
Class Closing Changes
There are also changes with regard to class closures: From Monday, the rule will be lifted that in the event of an infection in the class, teaching will continue normally (without the infected child) and, from the second corona case, distance learning (for five days) will be ordered within three days. The decision on how to proceed is then again only up to the respective health authority of the federal state.
And the regulation also provides for changes in the risk assessment: The risk levels for school operations previously set weekly by the Corona Commission, which provided for certain safety measures depending on the infection rate and the utilization of the intensive care units, will be deleted. In the current phase of the pandemic, these are no longer a suitable means, the Ministry of Education explains to the APA. However, the Corona Commission will continue to advise the ministry on the “individual steps back to normality in the schools”, but on an ad hoc basis and not through a fixed weekly risk classification.
Currently 687 classes closed
One school and 687 classes are currently closed in Austria due to frequent cases of corona infection. The Department of Education’s two PCR tests detected 4,858 cases this week. The highest numbers were in Lower Austria (1,676), followed by Tyrol (969), Salzburg (740), Carinthia (701), Vorarlberg (445) and Burgenland (327). In Upper Austria and Styria, the students have semester break this week.
In Vienna, where “Everything gurgle!” If a different test system is used than in the other federal states, 4,255 schoolchildren tested positive in the current week. An infection was also found in 353 teachers and other people working in the school. This was announced by the office of City Councilor for Education Christoph Wiederkehr (NEOS) of the APA.
Source: Nachrichten
