Kon: School break must start before St. Nicholas feast, Education Ministry should get organized

Photo: Tanjug/Sava Radovanovic

Epidemiologist and member of the Crisis HQ, Predrag Kon, is warning that students should go on school break before our citizens living abroad start returning to Serbia for the holidays.

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Kon also touched on the announcement of the World Health Organization that by March 2022, another 700,000 people across Europe will die from the effects of Covid, Kurir reports.

The epidemiologist said that the realistic number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic is between 10 and 20 million, because subsequent analyses always show that the number of deaths is higher.

"Winter is the period when respiratory infections are most common and transmission is easiest because people are indoors. Last year it turned out to be so. The virus lives in the human body. It depends on our behavior. We gather in heated rooms and the collectives are less ventilated," Kon told Kurir.

He added that the very thought that the flu virus and coronavirus could intersect sounds scary.

"A natural process cannot be prevented. The collision of the flu virus and coronavirus depends on their potential. We didn't even detect the flu virus last year. It is probably now present in our country, but has not been found through research. The very thought of having two epidemics in parallel is very unpleasant because the two diseases are difficult to distinguish," said Kon. The epidemiologist warns that the drop in numbers does not mean that the third wave is over.

"A prediction can be made only two weeks in advance. After that, you cannot know whether the virus will change and how people will behave, regardless of how we regulate the measures. It directly depends on how the situation moves forward. You cannot observe Serbia isolated in relation to Europe. There is growth everywhere. We now have a slow decline, but for a full seven weeks there was an average of 6,000 (new cases) a day while it was calm elsewhere. Measures only serve to slow down that course. The virus will reach everyone it did not at that time. All of this is done because of the healthcare system," said Kon. He stressed that immediately after the holidays, there is a noticeable increase in the number of new cases.

"We expect a drop during the week, and next week it's possible that the curve will flatten due to the return to school. Immediately after the break, a gradual increase is seen. In just one week, the number of new cases increased five times. Nearly a million people are connected to schools. When you put everything together, half of Serbia is connected to schools," said Kon.

The epidemiologist stressed that there is a lot of talk about an early school break.

"We need to talk in advance. The Ministry of Education should get organized. We from the medical part of the Crisis HQ think that it is useful for the break to start earlier. We spoke about dates, but it's not right to come out with that. Because of the Catholic Christmas, our citizens come back from the countries where the Delta strain is strong around St. Nicholas Day (December 19). It is realistic that children shouldn't go to school during the period when people who bring the virus come back. The Ministry of Education has stated that it will harmonize. I think it has all been started in time. There is not much time," said Kon and added that a meeting of the Crisis HQ has not been scheduled yet.

He added that there is a noticeable change in the behavior of citizens in terms of respecting epidemiological measures.

"It's important to recognize vaccines people received abroad because there are problems. As for quarantine, I think people are aware enough. That still stands. Everyone is frustrated by non-compliance with the measures. We have a change in the behavior of citizens, which is noticeable through the numbers. We have pleaded and begged enough for everyone to get vaccinated," said Kon and added that he is optimistic about next year.

(Telegraf.rs)