It was virtually quiet here in this University Town that hosts at least four universities and two colleges, as the Governor declared a three-day suspension of classes until Friday, Feb. 7 in pre-school, elementary, high school, and tertiary levels of all public schools in the Province.
“This is a precautionary measure to contain and mitigate the spread of the dreaded disease, the novel CoronaVirus, that has claimed hundreds of lives in China, and has created havoc in various parts of our country,” read Executive Order 4-B signed by Gov. Roel Degamo.
Some private schools also issued their respective announcements. St. Paul University Dumaguete issued an announcement abiding by the Provincial Governor’s order of suspension of classes. They also advised their office staff and maintenance personnel to continue to report for duty.
A developmental daycare program for children also announced suspension of classes until Feb. 7.
According to Melanie Laurena-Macias, director of the Chapelhouse Learning Center, they have been constantly disinfecting their furniture and learning materials in the classroom with Lysol and alternately, with bleach. They have also temporarily suspended the self-help activities for the kids, like removing shoes upon entering the classroom.
“I have asked my teachers instead to be the ones this time to remove the kids’ shoes to minimize the children’s contact with soiled footwear.” Some of the kids are enrolled in the intervention program for dyslexia and for those with reading difficulty.
Macias added they have also suspended their regular activity of hugging each other during dismissal time. “Instead, we just encourage the kids to give ‘air hugs’.”
Atty. Ebenezer Y. Lim, chancellor of Foundation University, likewise issued their third advisory related to the nCoV situation, suspending classes on all levels, while employees are required to report for work.
Earlier, Foundation required its students to accomplish their school work at home, and to “regularly check-in virtually with their teachers”. All events scheduled until Feb. 14 were also postponed. Food deliveries for students and staff are only allowed “for pick-up at the gate” to lessen other people from coming into the campus. The university cafeteria also requested the FU community to bring their own utensils and tumblers to “avoid transmission of any virus”. A mandatory temperature check is also being implemented on anyone entering the campus. They had also temporarily suspended campus tours and entries by guests with no official business in campus at this time. The Chancellor also required all faculty and staff who had travelled out of Dumaguete since December to report to the University Health Service Office for monitoring.
Classes have also been suspended at the Negros Oriental State University, home to 25,000 students. According to Dr. Noel Yasi, vice president-academic affairs, their medical team had conducted a massive information drive on the prevention of nCoV in all their seven campuses in the Province.
At Silliman University, classes at the basic education (pre-school to senior high school) have been suspended starting Feb. 5 until Feb. 14 “with an alternative learning scheme”. The learning plan is for the students to continue with activities and assessment at home.
The Faculty-Staff Day and the annual University Honors Day have been postponed. All extra-curricular programs, including sports trainings and practices, scheduled for the month of February have also been shelved, as Silliman also announced its withdrawal from competing this year in the Central Visayas Regional Athletics Association Meet which Dumaguete is hosting on Feb. 17-22.
Dr. Nelson Caday, chief for Schools Governance & Operations of the Department of Education-Dumaguete Division, said they received a memorandum from the regional office on Feb.4 postponing the CVRAA due to the nCoV situation in Central Visayas. He said that meanwhile, they will continue with preparations on the venues for the games and provision of equipment to ensure a smooth-sailing hosting of the Regional Meet.
Meanwhile, the Silliman University Medical Center, after having installed screening areas in entrances to the hospital, is enforcing a stricter patient visitation policy. “This is to provide precautionary measures for the health and safety of all our patients and staff,” their advisory read.
Their infection prevention & control protocols include the No-Visitor policy, except on special cases. They also reiterated the advice of the Department of Health to stay home and avoid crowded places, to wash hands more regularly, practice cough etiquette (coughing on the elbow or the upper sleeve; never on the hands), and to ensure at least a one-meter distance from anyone who is coughing or sneezing. (Irma Faith Pal)