The Ministry of Education and Training, in accordance with the Ministry of Health and Consum, has resolved that in the case of Early Childhood and Primary education, regardless of the number of positive students in the classroom, close school contacts will not be quarantined or carried out. no diagnostic screening test, except in cases of immunosuppression.
This is one of the new measures that the Government has arranged in a document that it has sent to the educational centers of the Balearic Islands with the prioritization of actions in the event of the appearance of cases of COVID-19 while the epidemiological situation remains in the current scenario of high viral circulation.
These actions will be reviewed based on the evolution of the epidemiological situation and the new information that becomes available on the circulating variants.

Other measures

In the event of suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19, students, teachers or other staff of educational centers with respiratory symptoms compatible with COVID-19, regardless of their vaccination status or having had the disease, must consult with their team if you need an assessment and do not have to go to the educational center until:
Have a negative result of a diagnostic test.
End the minimum isolation period of 7 days after a positive result, provided that 3 days have elapsed since the end of symptoms.
Have the clinical resolution if the diagnosis is different from COVID-19.
In confirmed asymptomatic cases, isolation will be 7 days from the positive result.
It is not necessary to perform a diagnostic test to lift the insulation.
The educational center may not require any proof of diagnostic test to access the center.

Case management

Families have to inform the educational center if their child is positive for COVID-19 or there is a suspicion that they may be. When the family becomes aware of a positive in a group, the educational center will inform the rest of the families in the group of the presence of a case in the class and will indicate that the students have to go to the center normally, that during the 10 days after exposure they have to take extreme precautions, reduce social interactions as much as possible and constantly use the mask.
When in a period equal to or less than 7 days, 5 or more cases coexist in a group or 20% or more of the students are affected if the number of students in the group is less than 25, the educational center will report the situation to EDUCOVID, which together with the General Directorate of Public Health and Participation will assess the actions that must be followed.
While the strategy to be followed is decided, the students of the affected group have to go to the center and an individual assessment of each situation will be made.

Action against close school contacts

As a general rule, tracing will not be carried out within the classroom and the centers will not have to send the lists of close contacts to EDUCOVID. In general, PDIA will only be performed on close contacts who are vulnerable to COVID-19 or who live in vulnerable settings, pregnant women and people with immunosuppression, regardless of their vaccination status, as long as they have not had the disease in the previous 90 days.
In the case of students aged 12 or over, those students, teaching staff and non-teaching staff who, without having had the disease for the previous 180 days, do not have the complete vaccination schedule, and people with immunosuppression, will quarantine.

Tracking the pandemic in schools

The Minister of Education and Professional Training, Martí March, has reported that there are currently 835 teachers on leave from public schools in the Balearic Islands (604 in Mallorca, 49 in Menorca, 164 in Ibiza and 18 in Formentera). This figure represents 5.2% of the teaching staff of public centers (out of a total of 16,000).
March recalled that a coordinating commission is underway made up of the general directorates of Teaching Staff, Planning, Management and Centers and the Educational Inspection Service to closely monitor the situation of each center.
“We are aware that we are facing a complicated situation, as is the case in the rest of Balearic society due to the high rate of contagion of the new variant. The centers reorganize their templates to attend to the students and, on the other hand, teachers from the urgent substitution service are being sent in cases valued as priorities.
Currently there is an urgent substitution service in infant and primary school with 90 teachers and starting next week a specific one for areas in secondary school, with 26 teachers. This service is added to the usual ordinary substitutions.
On the other hand, according to data provided by the Ministry of Health and Consum, the positives accumulated in the last 7 days among the population aged 3 to 16 years are a total of 4,039 (3,267 in Mallorca, 255 in Menorca, 499 in Ibiza and 18 in Formentera). This amount represents 3.1% of the student body (out of a total of 129,884).