School Cluster Appears, 37 Teachers Of SMAN 4 Pekalongan Positive COVID-19

PEKALONGAN - A total of 37 teachers and education staff at SMA Negeri 4 Pekalongan City, Central Java were confirmed to have COVID-19 based on the results of the "Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)" test.

Head of the Regional 13 Central Java Education Office Branch, Zumrotul, said the emergence of the cluster was initiated by the presence of an educator who was identified as positive for COVID-19.

"However, the person concerned did not report to the school or branch head if he was sick. In fact, the person concerned continued to work as usual and gathered with his colleagues at school," he said, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, June 2

To anticipate the spread of COVID-19 in the school environment, his party decided that teachers and education staff would work from home and self-isolate from 2 to 11 June 2021.

The Head of the Pekalongan City Health Office, Slamet Budiyanto, said that the SMAN 4 Pekalongan cluster was indeed initiated by the presence of a teacher who was sick but still went to work.

Due to the symptoms of "anosmia" (the sense of smell does not work), he said, the local school principal concerned together with two other teachers who had close contact were asked to do a PCR test on May 25, 2021.

"As a result, the three people tested positive for COVID-19. Subsequently, the close contact of the three teachers with dozens of other teachers and 37 teachers and education personnel who were confirmed to have COVID-19 was carried out," said Slamet.

Currently, his party is redeveloping it with an agreement to carry out PCR tests because there are a number of teachers who have not carried out rapid COVID-19 tests.

"We ask teachers and education staff who are positive for COVID-19 who cannot self-isolate to isolate in the training building. We will also carry out development by identifying their respective families," continued Slamet.