Face-to-face class activities during the covid-19 syndemic: reasons to celebrate?

Abstract

The term syndemic has been used to designate how biological and social interactions influence the behavior of a particular disease. The resumption of face-to-face school activities amidst the covid-19 syndemic sparks considerable controversy: while supporters claim that returning to school would mitigate social, health, and educational vulnerabilities, critics say that such a decision would help to spread the virus. In this scenario, this study analyzes the dynamics of hospital admissions and deaths related to covid-19 among elementary students in terms of the resumption of face-to-face school activities in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Moreover, it also investigates the association between the incidence of covid-19 among education professionals and the socio-spacial properties in which the based education units (UEs) are located. The analyses were conducted with data from the public institutions of São Paulo. The results indicate that in-person activities resumption coincided with an increase in admissions and deaths from covid-19 among students, peaking 15 days after the beginning of the classes. UEs located in territories with lower human development indices registered the highest SARS-Cov-2 infection rates. Thus, resuming in-person classes without mitigating contamination risks poses a threat for the population, especially for those from vulnerable territories.