Students are Vulnerable to Contagion

Many Covid-19 sufferers in the capital city of Jakarta are pupils and university students. Although their mortality rate is low, sufferers can experience permanent effects on their organs.

KOMPAS/YOLA SASTRA

Students listen to their teacher on Thursday (13/8/2020) at SMP 9 Pariaman junior high school in Marunggi village of South Pariaman district in Pariaman, West Sumatra. The municipal administration of Pariaman, which is designated a “yellow zone” for moderate Covid-19 transmission, reopened its schools after the Education and Culture Ministry revised its regulation to allow in-class learning to resume in all yellow zones with strict adherence to the health protocol, including wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing rules.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The addition of Covid-19 cases in office and family clusters is increasingly worrying. In Jakarta, many of those infected are pupils and university students.

According to data from the Covid-19 task force, on Thursday (13/8/2020), there was an addition of 2,098 new cases. The addition was obtained from the examination of 14,850 people a day, and 34 percent of them were in Jakarta. This raised the total number of Covid-19 cases to 132,816 in the country, with 5,968 patients dying and 87,558 recovering.

With this data, the positive rate was 12.9 percent. In the past 10 days, the positive rate, namely the ratio between the number of examinations and the positive cases found was only 12.6 percent. "The positive ratio rise indicates that transmission in the community has increased and the number of tests is inadequate," said Iwan Ariawan, an epidemiologist from the School of Public Health, University of Indonesia, yesterday.

This should be a warning. If schools reopen later, the risk of a case explosions will be much greater.

The scale of Covid-19 transmission in Indonesia is difficult to assess because almost all regions have not met the minimum number of tests of 1 per 1,000 per week. Only Jakarta has consistently fulfilled this number of tests. According to Iwan, among data for Jakarta that needs attention is the fact that pupils and students are the most infected. Of the analysis of 6,416 cases or 29 percent of the total positive cases in Jakarta, 1,446 people are either not yet working or not working, 1,302 are pupils and university students, 928 health workers, 696 employees of private companies, and 611 workers in the trade sector. "This shows that young people, especially pupils and university students, are the ones who move the most or go out of their homes and ignore health protocols," said Iwan.

An epidemiologist from Griffith University, Dicky Budiman, said that children and students can catch it from their parents because offices have reopened. "This should be a warning. If schools reopen later, the risk of a case explosions will be much greater," he said.

Also read : Improving Tests Before Reopening Schools

Kompas/Bahana Patria Gupta

Police officers stand at attention as they hold form a flag corridor during the ceremonial launch of the National Police Covid-19 Mitigation Patrol on Thursday (13/8/2020) at the Air Defense Medium Artillery Battalion 8/Marawa Bhuana Sakti (Yon Arhanudse 8) in Sidoarjo, East Java.

If intending to break the chain of transmission, focus on young people who are asymptomatic.

The young children may be asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. "Research shows that even though they can recover, many sufferers experience permanent impacts on the organs," he said.

Data in Jakarta shows that pupil and student mortality rate is low. However, they can transmit the virus to vulnerable groups. "If intending to break the chain of transmission, focus on young people who are asymptomatic," he said.

Office clusters

Data in Jakarta has also shown an increase in office clusters. From 4 June to 9 August 2020 there were 1,081 employees in 166 offices who tested positive for Covid-19. Meanwhile, from 3-9 August alone, 173 people in offices tested positive.

According to Iwan, offices are vulnerable to becoming clusters of transmission, especially because the buildings are closed. "There have been many cases where the employees remove their masks when they are inside the buildings. In fact, the risk of transmission in a closed room is high," he said.

With this condition, residents are advised to always comply with health protocols, including wearing masks and maintaining physical distance. The government must strengthen testing, tracing and isolating those infected, as well as limiting working hours and the number of people working outside their home.

Also read:School Reopening in Yellow Zone Risky

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

A motorcyclist drives past the deserted Pujasera food court at Blok S in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, on Thursday (13/8/2020). Four traders tested positive for Covid-19, prompting the food court to close from Thursday to Saturday (15/8/2020) to thoroughly clean and disinfect the facility.

Meanwhile, at least 800 people have died due to misinformation about Covid-19 in the first three months of 2020. Many victims died because they followed the wrong recommendation to treat this disease. Indonesia is ranked the most in spreading this misinformation.

The results of this study were written by Md Saiful Islam from the Program for Emerging Infections, Infectious Diseases Division, Bangladesh, and other researchers from a number of countries in the 10 August issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. The research team found 5,800 people were hospitalized due to fake information on Covid-19 therapy on social media.

Also read : Workplaces at Risk of Covid-19 Transmission

Researchers identified 2,311 infodemics or misinformation related to Covid-19 in 25 languages from 87 countries between 21 January and 5 April 2020. Of that number, 2,049 or 89 percent of reports included rumors, 182 or 7.8 percent were conspiracy theories, and 82 or 3.5 percent was stigma.

Although placing Indonesia in the fourth position of the country with the most infodemics related to Covid-19, this report did not stated any specifics.

Director of Health Promotion and Community Empowerment of the Health Ministry Rizkiyana Sukandhi Putra said education related to the prevention of Covid-19 must be consistent and continuous.