Education Minister Director General Dalit Stauber has admitted that there is no way to enforce the new plan to have parents test their children twice a week, while eliminating quarantine for anyone who tests negative.
In an interview with 103 FM Radio, Stauber acknowledged that the responsibility for pandemic control has been turned over to the public.
She explained that the school coronavirus supervisors "will randomly check....the reports that the parents sent in, and if someone in the class is found to have coronavirus and the parents did not report the test, the child will immediately be sent to quarantine."
"It's important to emphasize and explain that the 700,000 parents who reported, are parents who last week their children were not tested and came to school as usual. As a result of yesterday's test, 21,000 children were found to have coronavirus and prevented from unknowingly infecting others," she emphasized to 103 FM.
When asked if she trusts the parents to follow the guidelines, Stauber responded, "We are the same as the rest of the public. The State has given the weight of responsibility over to the public."
"We have no means of enforcing parents' cooperation. We are operating on faith, and we are supervising. We believe that most people want to protect their health and the health of their children."
When asked what percentage of the tests had been distributed to parents, Stauber said, "As of last night, there were 75% tests on the ground, and today more and more are coming in. We distribute it in two ways - in middle and high schools, it comes straight to the school. The principal hands it out to the students. In elementary schools and preschools it comes to the local authority, which hands it out. It's a procedure that has logistics, since there are 30 million tests that by the end of the day must reach the authorities and the schools, and the distribution is ongoing."
"In my estimation, in another two days everyone will receive the tests, because there are more planes landing tomorrow. By the end of the day, 75% of people will have the tests in their hands. Those who do not have tests are obligated to operate according to the previous plan. Not only does the new plan not have any additional risks, the opposite is true: It provides another layer of security, since children are being tested who were not tested last week."