- The Nigerian Medical Association has questioned the level of national preparedness as the Federal Government ordered schools to reopen for studies amid the surge in COVID-19 cases.
The Nigerian Medical Association has questioned the level of national preparedness as the Federal Government ordered schools to reopen for studies amid the surge in COVID-19 cases.
This is even as a study suggests that schools’ closure had been linked to reduced COVID-19 infections and associated deaths in hard hit countries.
The Federal Government had set August 4 as the reopening for exit classes of secondary schools, but the NMA had expressed reservations about the decision.
The NMA President, Prof. Innocent Ujah, said, “What is the compliance of the citizens in terms of regular hand-washing and other safety protocols?
“At the moment, many of the schools don’t even have water. Obviously, it becomes very difficult to say that schools should reopen because you have to wash your hands regularly.
“Again, I don’t know how the teachers would be teaching with face masks and all the pupils will wear face masks.
“If you are not used to face masks, you may not breathe well, particularly if the one you have is not standard,” Ujah said.
Researchers from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre at the University of Cincinnati and the Paediatric Research in Inpatient Settings Network in Ohio had suggested that school closure was associated with a significant decline in both incidence of COVID-19 and mortality.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Wednesday, states that places where schools were closed earlier when cumulative incidence of COVID-19 was still low, had the largest relative reduction in incidence and mortality.
In a model derived from the analysis, it was estimated that closing schools when the cumulative incidence of COVID-19 was in the lowest quantile compared with the highest quantile was associated with 128.7 fewer cases per 100,000 population over 26 days and with 1.5 fewer deaths per 100,000 population over 16 days.
The researchers, led by Katherine A. Auger, noted that “Between March 9, 2020 and May 7, 2020, school closure in the US was temporarily associated with decreased COVID-19 incidence and mortality; states that closed schools earlier when cumulative incidence of COVID-19 was low, had the largest relative reduction in incidence and mortality.
“However, it remains possible that some of the reduction may have been related to other concurrent non-pharmaceutical interventions.”
They added that the analyses presented suggested that the timing of school closure played a role in the magnitude of changes associated with school closure.
“As hypothesized, school closure in states that enacted this intervention early (when the cumulative incidence of COVID-19 was low) had greater associated relative decreases in incidence and mortality.
“Although these relative differences translate into smaller absolute differences associated with school closure, states that closed schools later (in the highest quartile of COVID-19 cumulative incidence) had more new cases and deaths from COVID-19 during the period after school closure.
“Thus, this study can inform future decisions about optimal timing for state and local officials to consider school closure to curb SARS-CoV-2 spread in the high likelihood that the pandemic continues,” the study noted.
