Abstract
Purpose: This study aimed to analyze how a private high school in Seoul developed and executed a “school disinfection strategy” to ensure the students' right to study in a safe environment, and also to analyze the lessons learned from this process.Methods: This was a case study of school health in a community-based school reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study target was a 64-year-old private high school with 12 classes for each grade with a total of 1,100 students.Results: A “school disinfection strategy” was set up at individual and class environment levels to protect students from the risk of infection. In addition, school health activities were carried out with a “personal protection safety belt” and “community protection safety belt” for effective implementation. To ensure a safe educational environment for high school students and to ensure smooth execution of face-to-face classes (in-person teaching), the “prevention safety belt strategy” was introduced in accordance with governmental guidelines to sequentially implement various preventive measures necessary to guarantee environmental safety of schools. Activating personal prevention safety belts by checking the symptoms of students when entering the school and during each class, and providing self-made disinfectants by spraying alcohol on wet-wipes were cost-effective and sustainable methods used in this school to prevent the spread of infection.Conclusions: The experience of developing a prevention safety belt strategy to adapt the guidelines of the local education office to the school situation was presented. Focusing on the school community, as well as individual students and teachers, the concept of prevention safety belts helped to unite and stimulate voluntary participation of students in health promotion activities.
Highlights
On January 30, 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) was declared as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) by the Director General of the World Health Organization [1]
The first COVID19 patient was detected in Korea on the day that PHEIC was declared
Due to the disturbance caused by the outbreak, the academic year which starts at the beginning of March for all educational institutes in Korea, was delayed for a week on February 22, 2020 when the crisis level was raised to “serious.” By the end of February, due to the increase in COVID-19 cases, the Ministry of Education postponed the start of school till March 23
Summary
On January 30, 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) was declared as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) by the Director General of the World Health Organization [1]. The government of the Republic of Korea raised the country’s Crisis Alert Level from “Attention” to “Serious.” Korea’s Crisis Alert Level has four stages, wherein “Attention” refers to observing a new infectious disease outbreak overseas, and “Caution” refers to the outbreak entering the country whereupon the government implements measures for isolation to prevent the spread of infection. The rapid increase in the number of infected patients was due to the improvement of the national infectious disease response system after the outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015. Due to the disturbance caused by the outbreak, the academic year which starts at the beginning of March for all educational institutes in Korea, was delayed for a week on February 22, 2020 when the crisis level was raised to “serious.” By the end of February, due to the increase in COVID-19 cases, the Ministry of Education postponed the start of school till March 23. With the constant rise of the public health crisis, school opening was postponed again, and schools opened on April 6
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
