Closing schools not best because COVID-19 can be contracted at home too - Dr Oko-Boye

Dr. Bernard Oko-Boye says calls to close down schools at this point is not best.

There are calls by the National Council of Parent-Teacher Associations of Ghana for the government to close down schools over some reported cases of COVID-19 some senior high schools.

The association in a statement on Monday, July 13, 2020, called for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) to be postponed following the outbreak of COVID-19 in schools.

According to the association, the call is “to avert further spread of the coronavirus among our children and staff.”

READ ALSO: We've put measures in place to contain spread of COVID-19 at Accra Girls - GES

The association also said, “not enough health personnel are either stationed in or attached to many of the schools for routine surveillance due to the pandemic. More worrying is the fact that despite good counsel and encouragement, most parents insist their children should be brought home.”

Dr Oko-Boye speaking on Citi FM's Eyewitness News says the best is for everyone is to protect themselves now because the virus is everywhere and closing school will not serve a good interest.

“I have to check with the Ghana Education Service on their protocols and on their statutes on letting students go home but the advice I can give as a public health person is that when you pick your child from school and say you are taking your child home, remember the virus is at home, the virus is at the workplace and the virus is on the street. The best bet is to take care of yourself because your child might actually be exposed more.”

“Imagine if you have a parent who is a taxi driver who comes across 200 people before he goes home or imagine a parent who sells at Makola or myself who moves from one hospital to the other, the virus is around. We all can expose our kids. That’s why all of us must take care of ourselves so we don’t carry the virus home,” he said.

In a related development, the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) say it has put measures in place measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 at the Accra Girls Senior High School.

This was after 55 people including students at the Accra Girls’ Senior High School have tested positive for COVID-19.

According to a joint statement by the Ghana Health Service and the Ghana Education Service (GES), 55 people tested positive out of 314 total tests done.