To prepare for a possible second wave of new coronavirus infections, the education ministry will launch a system to collect information about schoolchildren infected or suspected to be infected, and share the information between schools as early as before the end of this month, it has been learned.
Under the envisaged system, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry will ask all of about 50,000 schools across the country, including elementary, junior high and high schools and kindergartens, to report such cases. Currently, respective municipalities gather and manage information about infection cases. Enhancing the assessment of confirmed and suspected cases at each school will enable teachers and officials to take effective measures to prevent infections.
In the United States and Europe, it has been documented that some children affected with the virus show symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease, which causes inflammation in blood vessels throughout the body. Given this, the ministry will ask schools to report such cases, in addition to confirmed and suspected cases of the coronavirus.
Cases reported by schools will be compiled under information categories such as "regional infection situation" and "school years of infected students," and the information will be shared by the ministry, boards of education and others.
Then, schools are supposed to make use of the information in creating measures to prevent infections, such as dividing students into groups that arrive at different times, modifying classroom teaching methods and deciding whether to shutter schools again.
In Kitakyushu, elementary and junior high school students have been infected with the virus one after another, as seen in a case where five children at the same elementary school tested positive for the virus in May. By strengthening the monitoring system, it will become possible to take earlier measures to prevent such cluster infections.
However, schools that report infection cases could suffer reputational damage, so the education ministry is carefully considering the scope of information to be shared.
To share the information on coronavirus infections, the ministry plans to update and operate an information system that tracks absentees from schools and other facilities and infectious diseases administered by the Japan Society of School Health, a public interest incorporated foundation.
Schools are required to make written reports on infectious diseases such as influenza and rubella. However, even if schools use the information system to submit reports, they can gain little information. For that reason, the usage rate of the system by elementary and junior high schools has been low at about 50%. The ministry will spend several million yen on renewing the system to build up the server, establish protocols to share the information and encourage schools to use the system.
"Since the risk of another wave of coronavirus infections will remain for the time being, respective schools need to maintain caution," an education ministry official said. "We would like to establish a system that helps schools and boards of education take various measures."
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