February 7, 2022

15:02

Rômulo D’Castro – from Cenarium Magazine

ALTAMIRA (PA) – The capital of Pará, Belém, resumes this Monday, 7, the classes in the municipal network. The decision came after several meetings headed by the Department of Education, which was looking for ways to return with the activities without jeopardizing the Covid-19 containment protocols. 

The city government of Belém had announced in early January that classes would resume that month, but a growing number of confirmed cases of Covid-19, and the confirmation of the entry of Omicron, a more contagious variant of the virus, caused the schedule to be suspended and the new date changed. 

Passport required 

The only way to gain access to schools is with proof that you have had at least two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The controversial vaccine passport is one of the requirements for the student to be entitled to return to the classroom. Inside the schools, the use of alcohol gel will be monitored and masks will be indispensable. 

The Department of Education is studying ways to avoid agglomerations, even if only vaccinated students have access and follow sanitary protocols. 

Covid-19 in Pará’s capital

With 37% of the beds in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) occupied by patients with Covid-19, according to the Health Department of Belém, the capital of Pará sums, in the last 24 hours, 58% of all hospital beds with people infected by the virus. 

In the last 7 days, still according to the Health Department, 16 people died from the pandemic.

The decision to resume classes in Belém is limited to the state capital. The government of Pará has not yet decided how it will return to the cities in the interior of the state. 

And in the countryside?

The idea is that the return is gradual and that only vaccinated students have access to schools. But, according to the government, the continuity of hybrid teaching (in person and distance learning) for students who are not immunized is not ruled out.

Pandemic in Pará

The current pandemic scenario in the state is not the best. Pará still faces a growing, besides cases of the Ômicron variant and the low demand for vaccines against the virus. 

The situation in Pará territory is so worrying that the numbers are justified in a recent survey by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz).

The research institute listed the ten cities that have vaccinated the least until now in the whole country. Three municipalities from Pará top the list and a fourth appears in second to last place. 

Among the explanations for the scenario are ideological strife, whether religious or political, and the spread of false news.  

Pará has 664,513 infected and 17,441 killed by Covid-19.