The general director of health said today that it is impossible to impose rules of behavior on young children, arguing that it is up to adults to "do everything" to minimize the risk of contagion when they are playing and socializing.
Day care centers are "a place to play" and children are "very small and therefore it is not possible" to impose rules of behavior on them, said Graça Freitas at the daily press conference on the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic in Portugal .
However, he underlined, "we must do everything, but everything, that the adults and the space allow to minimize the risk of their games."
Graça Freitas gave several examples of how to do it, such as «unfolding classes, keeping as few children in a room as possible».
“It doesn't guarantee that they don't get together”, but it allows for “a kind of widening social distancing” to be created.
On the other hand, he pointed out, "we know that in play they can't stop joining, but they can leave their shoes at the door" and, at bedtime, their mattresses should be at a safe distance so as not to pass "droplets to your little friend on the side» while they sleep.
It is also possible to ask that each boy have his own mattress and that «the meals that are taken should also be spaced between the rooms, that they are not all at the same time and that they have separate circuits», exemplified Graça Freitas.
«What we adults can do is not stop the world of children, but give this world of children as much security as possible and this is in the hands of adults, separating tables, rooms, dedicating the material as much as possible to a child , arranging their own circuits», he stressed.
Therefore, he argued, “it is so important that day care centers are organized according to their space, their number of students to create this circuit”.
«Now, obviously, we are not going to impede the normal development of boys, nor their games, nor their interactions, because that is impossible, we are going to do everything to minimize crosses between people, between children, and on the other hand protect adults who accompany them», reiterated the Director-General of Health.
As boys cannot wear a mask, "adults will have to do it, obviously, always to minimize the likelihood of contagion from an adult to a child," he also exemplified.
Graça Freitas underlined that the rules that were presented a few days ago in a public session were just yet to be discussed, to hear opinions from parents' associations and other sectors of the activity.
"We have to think about boys who have their own characteristics and the right to their development and play, and adults have to create rules that minimize the crossing between certain objects, equipment and then the crossing between many children at the same time," he concluded.
The Association of Early Childhood Education Professionals (APEI) has already expressed "deep concern" about the conditions for reopening day care centers within a week and says the recommendations for such opening are "deeply inadequate".
Moreover, in the Algarve, they are being made screenings at all crèches in the Algarve, such as the Sul Informação already told.
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