São Paulo to permit resumption of in-person school classes on August 1

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Starting August 1, São Paulo schools will be in a position to resume in-person classes without setting a maximum limit on the number of students per classroom. Currently, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, in-person classes are allowed in the state at a maximum capacity of 35% of students, with a minimum distance of 1.5 meters between them.

However, the São Paulo state government will no longer set limits. As of August, each school will be able to estimate how many students will be allowed to attend, provided that a minimum distance of 1 meter between them is maintained.

“In this new plan, starting in August, each school will have to determine its total student reception capacity according to its reality, provided that all prevention protocols are observed, such as the use of masks, hand sanitizer, and a minimum distance of 1 meter between students in classrooms,” São Paulo Governor João Doria explained.

According to the São Paulo state government, the return to in-person classes will not be mandatory at this first moment. “We have made the decision that in the month of August, the return to school will not yet be mandatory. Families will still be allowed to choose in the month of August. During the month of July and until the beginning of August we will discuss and review this,” said State Secretary of Education Rossieli Soares.

Tests and vaccines

The São Paulo government said it will purchase 3 million Covid-19 tests exclusively intended for education staff and students. Tests will be used in symptomatic cases.

Cases must be notified to a Basic Health Unit (BHU) and registered in the São Paulo Education Secretary’s monitoring system, SIMED, and updated with the medical record.

Since April 10, education professionals aged over 47 have been vaccinated in the state. On June 9, the vaccination of education professionals aged between 45 and 46 began, and since June 11, all Basic Education professionals in the state over the age of 18 have also begun to be immunized.

Higher Education

The São Paulo government also announced today that it will expand the number of university courses allowed to restart in-person activities. Therefore, in addition to medical courses, public health, collective health, and veterinary medicine courses will be permitted to operate entirely in person.

“We have a protocol that says that health courses may take place fully in-person, for example, the medicine course. The course itself defines what its protocol will be, how it will work. And we are including some courses that were not on the decree’s list that will now abide by the same rules, which are collective health, public health, and veterinary medicine courses,” the Secretary said.