Teachers are losing confidence in the Guam Department of Education’s COVID dashboard.
Many say that there are more students sick than the department reports.
Yesterday, GDOE explained this phenomenon. According to GDOE Superintendent Jon Fernandez, part of the reason for the disconnect is that frontline workers–in this case, teachers and school aides–are the ones who send students to the nurse’s office when they notice COVID-like symptoms.
There is a delay, said Fernandez, between taking the test and getting a result.
At the meeting, Fernandez said that there are no plans to shut down the schools, despite climbing cases. He said that they will remain open, so long as PUBLIC HEALTH guidance allows them to stay open.
Relatedly, in today’s PUBLIC HEALTH meetings, Dr. Ann Pubotsky, Guam’s territorial epidemiologist, reported that there has been a steep rise in cases among teenagers–that is, among people aged 12 to 17 years old.
