On Monday, 180,000 students will start the new semester. The safety phase with several CoV tests per week remains in place. There are relaxations: In elementary schools, masks no longer have to be worn during class.
Elementary school students will only have to wear masks during recess and in the hallway in the new semester. The mask requirement for gym class will also be dropped, which applies to all types of schools and grades. However, students in fifth grade and above must continue to wear mouth-nose protection in class, and students in the upper grades must wear an FFP2 mask.
In a joint dispatch, Education Provincial Councillor Christiane Teschl-Hofmeister (ÖVP) and Lower Austria’s Education Director Johann Heuras appealed to children and young people to take a PCR test at the weekend. This is to exclude that someone infected comes into the class. Also, health Landesrätin Ulrike Königsberger Ludwig (SPÖ) called to use the public PCR test offer already this weekend.
Call for pupils to be vaccinated
The safety phase in schools is valid until the end of February. In Lower Austria, an antigen and PCR test will be carried out every Monday, and another PCR test every Wednesday. In addition, they continue to rely on vaccination.
“We are asking all students who can decide for themselves to say ‘yes’ to vaccination and all parents of children under 14 to have their children vaccinated,” Teschl-Hofmeister and Heuras said. The more vaccinated pupils, the sooner the measures could be withdrawn, and normality could return to everyday school life, they added.
- source: noe.ORF.at/picture:pixabay.com
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