By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

EDUCATION Director Marcellus Taylor revealed that there have been “one or two cases” of COVID-19 in schools recently which were “largely contained”.

He said officials detected a case in New Providence.

“We had one or two cases but they were largely contained. We have in all of our schools in New Providence a nurse on staff who was able to give advice and guidance as to how these matters should be addressed and we are confident that to date we haven’t had any problems in terms of spread on the campus,” he told reporters yesterday.

“The two cases that I could recall, I think they were both adults who presented with symptoms.”

He would not say if the people in question were teachers.

“They were largely dealt with right there at the schools,” he said, However, he did not identify the schools.

For her part, Education, Technical and Vocational Training Minister Glenys Hanna Martin said these cases pale in comparison to the number of students currently in school.

“These children are back in school and if you could consider you have… we have 42,000 children and two cases among adults on the campus. This is amazing and I pray it continues the way they are managing the processes.”

The officials spoke amid plans for the resumption of full face-to-face instruction in schools.

Mrs Hanna-Martin said that in “most of the islands” schools are “almost at 100 percent” face-to-face.

“Abaco is challenged for a number of reasons post-Dorian, etc, and the schools in New Providence there’s also space challenges and human resource challenges. The regulation requires a certain amount of feet between each student so that’s not normal in a classroom,” she said.

“So while we would love 100 percent to get every child in the classroom because of the curtain regime and other issues that we’re facing, we’ve not been able in every instance to get 100 percent, but what we’re seeking to do is to get every child in the classroom - hopefully within any given week - to ensure that there is face-to-face just in that process.”

Yesterday, the ministry received a donation of 172,500 children’s masks for distribution to public schools throughout the country. The donation came from cryptocurrency company FTX.