Serra Negra (SP) once again requires the use of masks in schools

The city of Serra Negra (140 km from SP) once again made the use of masks mandatory in schools and recommended the use of the protective item in public places and in commercial establishments – in addition to public transport and in health units and hospitals.

A decree published on the 12th, signed by Mayor Elmir Chedid (União Brasil), states that the measure is necessary due to the increase in Covid-19 cases in the municipality.

According to the prefecture, at the beginning of April, an average of three cases per week were recorded. At the end of the month, the weekly average was already around 15 records, and it jumped to 57 cases in the first week of May.

“According to data from the Department of Health, in the last six weeks 85 cases were recorded, with about 25% in the age group of 10 to 20 years”, says the city hall.

With 29,500 inhabitants, Serra Negra had until this Sunday (15) 4,885 cases of Covid-19, since the beginning of the pandemic, and 84 deaths, according to data from the state government.

In January, Chedid had already taken a controversial measure when he promised to fine anyone who was infected with the coronavirus and did not stay in isolation.

The use of masks was no longer mandatory in the state of São Paulo on March 17, after an announcement made by the then governor João Doria (PSDB), who left office the following month to try to run for the Presidency of the Republic.

On the same day, schools in São Paulo announced that they would no longer require the protective item.

City halls, however, may choose to maintain stricter measures for the use of masks, according to the local epidemiological reality.

In a note this Sunday (15), the state government reported that there is no forecast, at this time, for the use of masks to be mandatory again or for any other restrictive measure to be adopted.

For Renato Kfouri, pediatrician, infectious disease specialist and director of SBIm (Brazilian Society of Immunizations), the requirement for masks in schools, in the case of Serra Negra, is correct. He says that there is an increase in cases in all age groups and that outbreaks in schools have been more frequent, which has even caused some to suspend classes.

“There are multiple transmission contacts in a closed environment”, says the doctor, noting that children under 5 years old cannot yet be immunized in the country against Covid-19.

Kfouri also says that the use of masks in closed environments, such as in schools, works to prevent contamination. “We’ve already learned that when there is more tranquility, it becomes more flexible. And when cases are discharged, measures need to be toughened. What you can’t do is have children out of school once again”, she says.

According to the Secretary of State for Health, São Paulo has, in an average of seven days, 3,638 new cases of Covid-19. “That is, 78% less than the peak at the beginning of this year, when the same average reached 16,642 cases”, he says in a note.