Staff Reporter
Pupils at Eunice, Grey and St Andrew’s are among the 28 individuals at schools across the Free State who were confirmed this week to have contracted COVID-19, The Free Stater has learnt.
About 17 learners, nine teachers, an administration clerk and a screener are said to have tested positive for the respiratory disease but the provincial education department remains confident it has the situation under control.
Eunice Girls School in Bloemfontein announced Friday morning that a Grade 11 learner tested positive for COVID-19.
In a letter to parents, headmistress Zinnette de Wet said the learner had only been to school for three days earlier this week and all health protocols were now being followed.
“We were just notified that a Grade 11 learner, who was at school from Monday to Wednesday, tested positive for the coronavirus,” De Wet said in the letter.
“We confirm that learners and staff who were in close contact with the learner during these times will be contacted individually,” she added.
To allay fears, the school took time to explain in the letter what constitutes a close contact and what will be done going further.
It defined close contacts as persons who were within one meter of the person and were without protection (mask) for longer than 15 minutes in a closed environment.
Classes for Grades 10 to 12 are expected to resume Monday after decontamination over the weekend.
Another top school in Bloemfontein, St Andrew’s, recorded two cases in Grades 6 and 11, while Grey College reported a single case at its primary school.
Across the city, another Grade 6 learner at Roseview Primary School in Willows contracted the disease, with Brandwag Primary School also confirming a single case of a Grade 5 pupil.
Elsewhere in the Free State, Moroka High School in Thaba Nchu, Orangekrag Intermediate School at Gariep Dam and Trompsburg Primary School in Trompsburg each recorded two cases of COVID-19.
In Botshabelo, Reamohetse Secondary School (Botshabelo) recorded a single case of a learner, as did Theha Setjhaba Primary School (Sasolburg), Panorama Combined School (Jacobsdale) and Parys High School (Parys).
Tjhaba Tsohle Primary School in Deneysville had two teachers testing positive, while two other schools in the same town, Nomsa High School and JJ Kubheka Primary School, had a teacher each infected.
Two other teachers at Parys Primary School in Parys and Phirihadi Combined School in Heilbron also tested positive for COVID-19.
An administration clerk at Bofula Tshepe Primary School in Zamdela, Sasolburg, as well as a screener at Isaac Mhlambi Primary School in the same were confirmed positive.
Despite the increasing numbers of coronavirus cases reported at schools across the province, Free State education department spokesperson Howard Ndaba has called on parents and learners not to panic.
He said measures implemented in schools were helping in detecting the disease early.
“We are not defeated,” Ndaba told The Free Stater by telephone Friday evening.
“The standard operating procedures we have put in place in schools are proving to be quite effective hence we are detecting all these cases.
“Remember, when we opened schools, it was upon the advice of scientists who told us what to do and we are doing exactly that.”
Ndaba said COVID-19 should however not be treated as a school issue because it was affecting everyone in society and urged everyone to play a part in curbing the spread of the disease.
“This is societal issue and the disease . . . is the new normal and we should learn to live side by side with it,” he pointed out.
Ndaba urged people to continue wearing masks, washing hands and sanitising as well as observing social distancing at all times.