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 Sao Paulo, Brazil. Moreover, it also investigates the association between the incidence of covid-19 among education professionals and the sociospacial properties in which the based education units (UEs) are located. The analyses were conducted with data from the public institutions of Sao 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.