School Safety Tips During the Pandemic

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There’s a dilemma right now with regard to the reopening of schools this fall. President Donald Trump is pushing for in-person learning, which just means the kids should physically go to school as they did before the pandemic. The president even stressed that keeping the schools closed “is causing death also.”

Understandably, parents and teachers are concerned. Once schools reopen, the students, teachers, and school staff will be forced to go out and face the risk of getting the dreaded virus. Some schools have chosen to conduct classes online, which is a lot safer despite the possible issues and initial struggles. In case of school reopening does push through, the best everyone can do is to make sure the children understand and follows all school safety tips during the pandemic.

 

 

Explain the Dangers of COVID-19

People tend to believe what they read on the internet or watch on the news. Sad to say, there are those who believe that the coronavirus is some hoax or is portrayed as far worse than it actually is. There lies the danger. Those who believe them don’t care that much about protecting themselves from COVID-19. As a result, they’re endangering other people even those who put a premium on their safety.

How to Survive A Deadly Pandemic
How to Survive A Deadly Pandemic

This is why it’s imperative that you teach your children to take the pandemic seriously. Explain the possible effects of the virus. Go into detail if necessary but do thorough research first so you can clearly explain the science behind the current pandemic. This is particularly important for college and even high school students. They should also understand that even if they are healthy enough to survive the virus, they can be carriers and infect other people. This is particularly dangerous if the student lives with young children and someone in their 60s or older. It’s also risky for those with existing medical conditions.

 

Strengthen Their Immune System

School safety starts at home. Make sure your child gets the proper nutrients to strengthen his immune system. The coronavirus has adverse effects on patients with weak immunity. That’s why a number of casualties are the elderly and people with existing medical conditions.

How to Boost Your Immune System to Fight Coronavirus

 

Always Wear A Mask

Wearing a mask is one of the simplest school safety tips during the pandemic that everyone can do. No, it will not cure you if you are infected with COVID-19 but it will lessen the chances of you getting it. A face mask will also keep you from spreading the virus.

You’ll need the right mask for this school safety tip. If you have an N95 respirator or surgical mask, they’re your best options. However, they may not be readily available since healthcare professionals and frontline workers need them more.

Cloth face masks are recommended for public use as long as they’re designed correctly and worn properly. It should be made of multiple layers and made to fit around the face. Better if there’s a slot where you can place a filter for extra protection.

With Love From Sugarsnap™ is a face mask by Teelie Turner that is available on Redbubble. Since this particular design is only available for adults, parents or teachers can wear them to show their love for the children. Sugarsnap is actually a special Valentine’s fairy but you don’t need a particular holiday to spread love and happiness. The kids will surely appreciate seeing the grownups wearing as cut a face mask as this one.

As for the children, they can choose from this collection of kids’ face masks. Alura The Animal And Pet Fairy™ Face Mask features a fairy that takes care of all animals and pets in the fairyland. This one is perfect for pet-loving kids.

Airapippen The Author Fairy In Turquoise™, meanwhile, is obviously the fairy in charge of books and writing. This would look great on book lovers and kids with wild imaginations.

Cool Coronavirus Outfits to Keep You Safe and Stylish

If you’re worried that your son might not like these fairy-themed face masks, there’s no need to worry. You can get a pirate-themed one for him. The Pirates Will Be Pirates mask, for example, features the classic skull and crossbones over a bright red background. The Not All Treasure Is Silver And Gold Mask sports a glittery gold death’s head printed on the black cloth mask. Both pandemic must-haves are made of two layers of 95% polyester and 5% spandex. They’re for people ages 13 and above only.

 

 

Avoid Touching Your Face

Despite all our efforts to remind ourselves not to touch our faces, we often catch ourselves doing so. It’s simply a hard habit to break. But break it, we must.

One way we can lessen these touches is by constant reminders. Apparently, nagging works. According to a study conducted by Psychology Today, face-touching was lessened when the subjects were reminded every one or two minutes.

The thing is, no teacher will like telling her students to stop touching their faces 360 times during six hours at school. It’s annoying and the students won’t learn anything other than to not touch their faces.

The better option is to count your touches. Every time you touch your face, record it in a notebook or use a tally counter. When you do this, you become more aware of the action. Once you’re conscious of face-touching, the instances will lessen drastically.

The Beikalone Hand Held Tally Counter is available in sets of three. Give one to each member of your household and do try the experiment yourself. See if it does help.

Unfortunately, this method is not perfect. If you focus too much on the counting, you’ll lose focus on what the teacher is saying. Also, once you stop doing this method, you are more likely to return to your old face-touching habits.

Perhaps the best method right now is to wear face protection such as a face shield. Aside from the mask, you can wear a face shield to keep your hands from touching it. A face shield also keeps coronavirus droplets away.

There are lots of face shields available everywhere. You can purchase your Unique Gadgets & Toys Safety Face Shields from Amazon. The set includes two sets of reusable goggles, transparent anti-fog PVC visors, and clips to attach the two together.

 

Keep Your Distance

There was a time when the sight of a teacher holding a meter stick would conjure nightmares for young students. Once you see your teacher grab her meter stick, you know it’s time to behave and listen. Nowadays, teachers with meter sticks are probably just reminding you to keep your distance from the nearest person.

The World Health Organization suggests having a space of at least three feet between people to reduce the chances of infection. Less than that and the risk of getting infected increases. The closer your child is to another person, the more likely he’ll inhale droplets produced by that person through speaking, coughing, and sneezing.

Social distancing is one of the school safety tips during the pandemic that you need your kids to follow. Unfortunately, this will be pretty difficult, especially for the younger ones who like warm hugs.

 

Avoid Handshakes

Some teachers shake hands or give high fives to their young students before entering the classroom. Sadly, this is a thing of the past in the new normal. That doesn’t mean the teacher can’t be cool anymore, though. Keep your hands to yourselves and do elbow bumps or high fives with your feet instead.

Back to School Teacher Survival Kit to Start the New School Year | Photo by weedezign/Bigstock

 

Practice Good Hygiene

Medical professionals and disease experts have been going on and on about hand washing. Perhaps everyone in the world knows the coronavirus can be killed by simply washing your hands with soap and water for at least twenty seconds. That’s how easy it is or, rather, should be.

Despite the simplicity of the possible solutions, there are still 23 million cases worldwide. The United States leads the way with 5.71 million as of this writing. As scary as the figures are, they could be far worse if everyone didn’t care about wearing face masks, practicing social distancing, staying at home, and washing hands.

What Would I Do to Avoid the Coronavirus

Speaking of, another one of the school safety tips that your child needs to take seriously is to practice proper hygiene. Ideally, you should be washing your hands often. The problem with a school setting is that many students and teachers will be touching the faucets to wash their hands. This should be remedied by appointing a school staff to disinfect the faucets regularly. Also, show your child how to turn off the faucet without touching it with his just-washed hands.

Another potential issue is the availability of clean running water. With everyone wary of washing their hands, the line will probably be long. If your child needs to disinfect his hand but can’t go to the toilet yet, he can use hand sanitizer or alcohol spray.

The Suave Hand Sanitizer Spray is alcohol-based so it should help against the coronavirus. It says it can kill up to 99.9% of germs and bacteria on the label. Make sure your children each have one they can use at school. Just remind them not to let other people touch their hand sanitizer spray or any of their stuff, for that matter.

Another coronavirus safety tip is to cover your face when you cough, sneeze, yawn, or even talk. It should be common practice to cover your mouth to keep your saliva and other nasty stuff from spreading.

Cough, sneeze, and yawn into a piece of tissue or cloth. This is very effective against spreading the flu and other diseases. You need to be quick though. Dispose of the tissue properly after sneezing into it.

A popular tip is the Dracula sneeze, wherein you cover your mouth and nose with your elbow. However, there are still particles that are not blocked so you still risk spreading viruses and infecting others. Definitely avoid sneezing or coughing into your hands. Aside from not being an effective blocker, your hands will also be smothered with your saliva

 

Avoid Confined Spaces

This school safety tip is more for the school administration and teachers – hold classes outside. There’s a growing belief that the novel coronavirus is airborne. In fact, over 230 experts on infectious diseases, outbreaks, and aerosols along with clinicians and engineers published a commentary stating that the coronavirus can potentially be spread through airborne transmission.

The WHO stopped short of acknowledging that the virus is airborne but they did say it is plausible. However, they are still waiting for more concrete evidence. While the public is wise to take what scientists say seriously, it won’t hurt to be doubly careful.

Since there is supposed evidence that COVID-19 is airborne then we should carry on with our days as if it really is. There’s nothing to lose if you’re extra careful but you have your lives to lose if you’re not. For now, act like the coronavirus is airborne.

This coronavirus safety tip can be applied by the school by holding its classes outdoors. An airborne disease has a higher chance of infecting people in an enclosed area such as a classroom. At the same time, you should avoid taking public transportation. Drive your kids to school so they’ll have less contact with people and surfaces that possibly carry the virus.

 

Give Your Child A Reminder

Your child will be at school and you won’t. You’ll be at home or at work wondering if your child is following all the school safety tips during the pandemic that you discussed repeatedly. Understandably, it will be difficult for the parent to let her child go to school.

Even if you can’t sit beside your child in class, you can still remind him of the school safety tips by giving him a reminder. This can be anything from a sweet note tucked inside his lunch box, a text during breaks if phones are allowed, or a simple knickknack like a button pin or sticker.

Your child can choose from quite a number of fairy-themed button pins also designed by Teelie Turner and also available on Redbubble. Amaya The Asian Inspired Fairy™ Pin, for example, features a fairy whose job in the Fairy Kingdom is to “create serene and peaceful fairy gardens where fairies can meditate quietly.” This can remind your child that it’s okay to be alone (for now) as they practice social distancing. They can also take this as a reminder that things will be fine as long as they follow the school safety tips.

Megana Sweetness The Manners Fairy™ is described as a fairy in charge of teaching manners and proper etiquette. She or her button pin to be more precise can remind your little one that it’s polite to wear a mask and keep her distance from her classmates and teachers.

Think of them as their guardian fairies who will remind them to practice the school safety tips you have talked about. Whenever they see the button, they’ll know not to touch their faces, get too close to others, and leave their masks off.

 

Monitor Your Child’s Health

Keep a close watch on your child’s health. Once he feels sick, don’t let him go out of the house anymore. If he develops the symptoms, call the authorities immediately so you‘ll know what to do exactly. It’s important to isolate your child at once. The same goes for everyone in the household.

The coronavirus is not the only thing you should worry about with school reopening. You should also check your child’s mental health, too. Ask him how his day was and tell him to tell the truth. If he feels stressed and anxious, maybe he needs a break.

 

Welcome the New School Year With New School Survival Gear - The Gentleman Pirate
Welcome the New School Year With New School Survival Gear

Never get tired of reminding your children and other people, for that matter, about the many school safety tips during the pandemic. It’s better to have an annoyed kid than a sick one. Please go to Gentleman Pirate Club to read more tips on how to be safe from the coronavirus. You can also read up on preparedness tips to keep your child safe in school.

 


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Gentleman Pirate Club aims to share valuable knowledge and tips on how you can prepare and survive emergencies and other dire situations. We think of different scenarios and show you the many ways you can survive them. We also believe in self-sufficiency as a way to prepare for whatever lies ahead. As our ship sails in these waters, we look for valuable treasures. When we spot one, we tell you where it is.

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