Fall classes will be normal despite high Covid numbers

People wait in line at a Covid-19 testing site in Mapo District, western Seoul, on Thursday, some after returning from overseas. [YONHAP]

Schools will hold normal classes this fall semester even though Covid cases are expected to explode.

The announcement from education authorities Thursday came as 107,894 people tested positive for the coronavirus Wednesday, the fourth consecutive day that the number was in the six digits.

Wednesday’s figure was fewer than Tuesday’s 119,922, but 1.22 times higher than previous Wednesday’s 88,361 and 1.52 times higher than two weeks earlier's 71,142.

Imported cases hit 435 on Wednesday, the fourth straight day that more than 400 people caught the virus abroad before arriving in the country.

The number of Covid-19 patients in critical or serious condition was 310, up by 26 from the day before. Health authorities said it was the first time in 78 days that the figure rose into the 300s. Wednesday’s number was 1.58 times higher than a week before and 2.9 times higher than two weeks earlier, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Jung Jae-hun, a preventive medicine professor at Gachon University College of Medicine and an advisor to the government, said he believes the peak of the latest wave will arrive in a week or two. In turn, he said, this would mean that the number of patients in critical or serious condition may possibly inch up to 400.

Authorities say cases may explode in late August through September, when Korean schools begin their latter half of the school year.

But the Ministry of Education announced Thursday that normal classes will continue, although students who catch the virus will be told to self-isolate for seven days at home.

Under the ministry’s latest guidelines, schools will only switch to online classes if they deem the situation too dangerous.

As for field trips and physical activities, the ministry has allowed schools to decide whether to organize them or not based on surveys from parents.

Lee Sang-soo, a senior official at the Education Ministry, said the government will help schools readjust their autumn field trip schedules if the spread of the coronavirus precludes them from carrying out original plans, mainly by arbitrating between city and provincial education offices and travel agencies offering the tour programs.

Universities, in principle, must also hold their classes in person, the ministry said.

Shortly after the fall semester begins in early September, each student and faculty member at schools nationwide will be given two home test kits from the government as a means to check whether they have Covid.

A policy allowing kindergarteners to stay up to 60 days out of school classrooms and elementary through high school students staying up to 57 days out, regardless of their Covid symptoms, will remain in place. Their parents will be required to teach them the school curriculum at home.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN, HONG JI-YU [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]