Scattered COVID cases in Taipei and New Taipei worry many parents.
Presenter: The current situation is especially worrying to parents. Experts say parents can consider whether to request disease prevention leave for their kids and urge the government to vaccinate the younger generation as soon as possible.
This is an elementary school located in Taipei's Zhongzheng District. The school closed for one day as a preventative measure. The campus was disinfected during the morning. This measure was taken because a student at the school's affiliated kindergarten attended classes last month at the New Taipei City kindergarten where a cluster infection has occurred. Meanwhile, the parent of a student at a New Taipei City elementary school tested positive on Sept. 7. Other parents only found out in the morning that the school was closed for three days starting Sept. 7 as a preventative measure.
First Grader's Parent:” My child said it wasn't contagious, but the school didn't say it so explicitly. I only found out through the news. (Are you taking these three days off?) Yes, my wife doesn't have any leave left as she used up all her family care disease prevention leave.”
Parents were caught unprepared and had to ask for leave to take care of their children at home for three days. Although schools require students to wear masks and frequently wash their hands, cases involving students and parents continue to emerge. Taiwan can open and close schools intermittently like in other countries. The National Federation of Teachers Unions says it hopes teachers and students can get vaccinated as quickly as possible. Early education teachers were prioritized, but have been waiting for second doses since July, reducing the efficacy of their first doses.
Yang Yi-fei, Chair, Early Childhood Education Committee, NFTU:”The efficacy of the first dose is already at the end. New vaccines aren't coming into Taiwan, so each vaccinated person's ability to fight infection is gradually waning. We really hope the government can quickly purchase second doses of the Moderna vaccine so that these frontline teachers can have immunity and protect themselves and their students.”
The NFTU said as second doses are unavailable, teachers, parents, and administrators should not hesitate to stay at home if any situation arises. It also asked schools and entities to not make things difficult, as protecting oneself means protecting others.
台北市中正區這所小學，全校預防性停課一天，一大早，人員忙著消毒環境，因為附幼裡一名孩童，上個月曾在新北爆發群聚的幼兒園上課！而新北市某國小，上午又爆一名學生的家人確診，同校家長早上才知道，全校今天起預防性停課三天。
新北市中和區某國小一年級學生家長：「小朋友是說不具傳染力啦，可是學校也沒有講那麼明，也是看報導才知道，(這三天都是你請假嗎？)對，我老婆沒有假，之前照顧防疫假放光光。」
再怎麼措手不及，家長只能趕快請假，在家陪孩子！而開學至今，雖然學校和幼兒園都一再強調戴口罩，勤洗手，但接連幾起學生乃至家人確診，台灣的學校不無可能像國外一樣，開開又停停，全教總指出，長期抗疫下，希望學校老師盡接種疫苗，尤其最早施打的幼教老師，七月初到現在，還等不到第二劑，效力慢慢流失。
全教總幼教委員會主委 楊逸飛：「現在第一劑(效力)其實已經到了，就是末端了，所以在疫苗不進來的狀況底下，每一個施打人員體內的抗疫效果，開始會逐漸減低。所以這部分，我們其實很希望政府應該趕緊採購第二劑的疫苗莫德納，讓一線的老師可以趕快有那個抵抗力，也是保護自己跟保護小朋友。」
楊逸飛強調，在第二劑疫苗未有著落前，老師、家長或是學校行政，有狀況時不要懷疑，寧可在家多休息，也不要強調什麼責任感，學校或機關，也不要刁難，畢竟切實保護自己就是保護所有人。
