According to the Swedish Public Health Agency’s recommendations, healthy children can be in preschool – if collection and drop-off can be arranged in a safe way. But preschool teachers are worried that they could become corona infected.
– It is very worrying and it will be a mental stress that we are exposed to the infection. It can be when we sit and eat and the toddlers can sneeze straight out. They do not have time to get an elbow to sneeze in, says Birgitta Ekman who is a preschool teacher at Fridhem’s preschool on Kungsälv.
She talks about stress and anxiety to be infected by the children in preschool. In the spring, the guidelines were clearer for the slightest cold symptoms. But now it is not so anymore.
According to the Swedish Public Health Agency, children are infected to a lesser extent than adults, but preschool teachers are not allowed to relax, as this is a new infection and there is not much knowledge about the virus, says Birgitta Ekman.
Johanna Jaara Åstrand, chair of the Swedish Teachers’ Association, thinks that the Swedish Public Health Agency’s guidelines are too vague and this creates a lot of room for interpretation, which in turn creates conflict between guardians and preschool teachers.
– Now you have to come back with your child after seven days even if the child has continued symptoms, which has also meant that other infections and common colds have found their way into the preschool premises, says Johanna Jaara Åstrand.
A region that has chosen to go one step further is Västerbotten, which last week introduced regional guidelines.
This now includes family quarantine if a family member is ill, and even small children must stay home from preschool if there is an infection in the family.
– I think we have had an increased spread of infection. It is good that this is an effort to make it safer for everyone. It is a clear directive, says Petra Sahlin who is the principal at Sunnanå preschool in Skellefteå in Västerbotten.
Source: ICELAND NEWS