More than 1,000 children at Gauteng public schools have tested positive for Covid-19 in the past week. As South Africa enters the third wave, health experts are concerned over the implications of schools staying open, but schools and parents are more concerned about the academic and social impacts of blended learning and closing schools.

The Gauteng Provincial Command Council’s most recent (3 June) weekly media update reported that 1,637 schools in Gauteng had positive Covid-19 cases, with 1,227 learners, 802 teachers and a total of 2,068 positive cases (this includes all staff and learners) in the province. 

“There has been an increase in cases, but the school remains open with strict cleansing and no contact, and masks,” said a Northcliff High School parent. “I think it’s the right thing to do; these kids have been devastated by so much over the past year.”

More adults have adverse symptoms and die from Covid-19 than children, but children are still getting it — and spreading it. 

David Moore, associate professor and academic head of paediatric infectious diseases at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, told Daily Maverick, “Children tend to get mild Covid — so they usually don’t require admission into hospitals. Only 10% of all Covid admissions across the country have been paediatric.”

Globally, there are reports of Covid cases increasing among children, with the American Academy of Pediatrics reporting that out of the new cases in the US, children make up nearly 21%, while more cases of Covid are also being reported among children in India. 

The US, Japan, Italy, Dubai and other countries have begun to offer Covid-19 vaccines to children aged 12-15 as they realise the importance of vaccinating the majority of the population, and after the increase in children testing positive for the virus.

The increase of cases in schools coincides with a growing call for teachers to also be vaccinated. This couldn’t come soon enough, as 2,000 teachers in South Africa have died from the virus since the pandemic began.

South Africa is not excluded from the growing global trend of rising cases among children, with more and more cases of Covid being reported at schools across Johannesburg, despite the Department of Education’s recent decision to suspend all contact sport at schools.

This is in line with what general secretary of the National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB), Matakanye Matakanya, told Daily Maverick. Matakanya said that the NASGB had received multiple complaints from parents and other school bodies that Covid is escalating in schools and that some staff and learners have been attending school even though they have the virus.

Matakanya thinks this is because there is a lack of transparency from some schools and believes that the government should hold schools accountable and ensure that all schools adhere to Standard Operating Procedures.

Alistair Stewart, head of advancement at St Stithians College in Randburg, told Daily Maverick, “St Stithians College has seen a gradual increase in colds, flu and Covid cases since the arrival of the cold winter weather.”

Moore says the cold weather is a “very plausible” explanation for the increase in Covid cases at schools.

“As we’re aware, with any respiratory virus, people tend to cluster together rather than stay outdoors and maintain social distance,” says Moore, “and if people are close together and huddled together, they’re more likely to transmit viruses between themselves.

“It’s a very well described phenomenon with respiratory viruses — that cold weather leads to clustering of communities and as a result easier transmission of viruses between people. That’s why it’s important to adhere to non-pharmaceutical measures of maintaining social distance, wearing a mask and retaining hand hygiene. Especially in the school environment and in classrooms — which is a lot more difficult to do among small children, with children in nursery school or play school it’s much more difficult to implement.”

Basil Manual from teachers’ union Naptosa said there had been a marked increase in Covid cases in schools, not just in secondary schools, but in primary schools too, which did not occur in the first and second waves. 

A parent from St David’s Marist in Inanda, Johannesburg, told Daily Maverick that the school informed them that it had experienced more cases of Covid among learners this term than in the whole of 2020, attributing this rise to social gatherings happening outside of school.

Like St Stithians College, other private schools in Johannesburg, including St Mary’s, De La Salle Holy Cross College High School, and now some grades at St David’s, have had to temporarily move to online or blended learning because of the spike in cases.

But St David’s is trying to prevent blended or online learning, strongly urging parents to limit their children’s social interactions as it believes on-campus learning is critical for academic, social and mental development. It reminded parents that blended learning is not a sustainable solution, even for private schools, as “this hybrid model of education places enormous stress on an already stressed system”. 

“Going back to online schooling from a health perspective would be the right thing to do — but they also need to interact with friends,” says a Northcliff parent. “Also, not all the kids at Northcliff are able to do online schooling; they don’t have computers or internet so they are at a disadvantage.”

Moore, however, presents another view. “With the third wave, [the Department of Basic Education] really needs to consider mitigating the spread of the virus in classrooms because children might pose a risk to vulnerable family members back at home.”

Deputy director for media relations at the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE), Khuitsemang Diseko, told Daily Maverick, “The GDE only closes schools on the expert advice of the Gauteng Department of Health. Further, we are constantly engaging all schools to ensure that they follow all relevant Covid-19 protocols for the safety of teachers and learners.” 

Whatever decisions schools, parents or the department make during the third wave, what Moore says may indicate what the future holds: “I think the next six to eight weeks are going to be not an easy time for Gauteng and South Africa as a whole.” DM