As Coronavirus cases in schools rise, a virologist has called on the government to firmly close down pre-schools, kindergartens, and lower primary schools as a measure to control the spread.
Dr. Michael Owusu of the Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research said this move will be one in the right direction, helping substantially to slow down the rate of spread in the country.
“If we have to tackle schools, I don’t think that closure of all schools is necessary but we may begin by looking at the kindergarten and lower primary as it is extremely difficult to fully implement the protocol,” he said.
Dr. Owusu was speaking on JoyNews Prime, reports myjoyonline.com.
However, a lecturer at the Global Health Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr. John Amuasi, disagrees.
In his assertion, available data in Ghana and elsewhere suggests that the virus’ spread in schools is relatively low in the scheme of things except for the known threats associated with social gathering.
“For me, rather than focusing the efforts on random sampling within the schools, I will continue to trumpet the need for random sampling at the community level because this is what will allow us to measure the real rate of spread at the national level,” he said on February 1.