Riverside ESC Continues with Minimal Covid Impact
It was wonderful to see so many of our parents and carers arrive this morning wearing an interesting variety of masks, greeted by equally colourful masked staff. Masks have become part of our lives and for this week at least (until midnight Friday 7th May) must continue to be worn. Further explanation follows.
At Riverside schools:
- Masks must be worn when attending the school for any reason. They should be worn every time you leave your home.
- All staff must wear masks, although some exemptions may apply (see below) for teaching and communication purposes.
- Children 12 years of age and under are exempt from wearing a face mask.
Some common sense rules also apply regarding circumstances when a mask is not required to be worn:
- The person has a physical, developmental or mental illness, injury, condition or disability which makes wearing a face covering unsuitable;
- communicating with a person who is deaf or hard of hearing and visibility of the mouth is essential for communication;
- the nature of a person's work or the activity that they are engaging in means that clear enunciation or visibility of the mouth is essential;
- the person is engaged in swimming or any form of vigorous activity or;
- the person is consuming food, drink or medicine provided that they are seated at the time.
You may recall our article published earlier this year that provided information about what constitutes a COVID-appropriate mask. The basic requirement is that it be made of three layers, with each layer being a different material. Pulling a scarf over one's mouth or tying a handkerchief across the face are not sufficient. To avoid embarrassment and to protect our vulnerable community, please wear an approved version.
What's in a name?
Names are important for all of us to accurately identify what we are talking about, whether it be people, place or something else that has a unique quality. The coronavirus has spawned new names for us to learn:
- COVID-19 is the name of the disease associated with the coronavirus.
- Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, abbreviated to SARS-CoV-2, is the name of the virus that causes the disease. Thus the coronavirus becomes part of the SARS-CoV species that includes viruses such as SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV_PC4-227, and SARSr-CoV-btKY72.
For the sake of simplicity the World Health Organisation (WHO) refers to SARS-CoV-2 as "the COVID-19 virus".
As a little bit of extra information, you may notice that some segments of the news are now reporting virus strains as "B.1.1.7" and "B.1.351". These are simply the registered names for the UK variant strain and South African variant strain respectively. It is certainly worth keeping up with the evolving language of our time!
Thanks again to all members of our Riverside schools community for your willing compliance and support.