The Minister of Health of Chile, Ximena Aguilera, announced that starting June 14, the use of masks in school establishments will be mandatory until the end of the health alert due to the increase in cases of respiratory viruses. At the same time, she warned about the high occupancy of pediatric beds.
"We maintain the mandatory use of masks in all healthcare centers and we strongly recommend it in crowded places and on public transportation," said the minister in the Chilean Congress, in statements cited by the Télam agency .
The measure of mandatory use of masks in schools will be for children over five years old and will extend at least until August 31.
Other preventive strategies analyzed by government authorities and experts were the right to telework and leave for mothers due to illness of children under one year of age.
In addition, the Health Minister announced that a bill on "hybrid" work will be introduced, which had been announced by President Gabriel Boric in the Public Account.
The initiative seeks to modify the Labor Code, with the aim of permanently regulating both teleworking and hybrid work, which will allow parents to make work life compatible with childcare, they explained.
However, the announcement of the mandatory use of masks in schoolchildren brought reactions, where the president of the College of Teachers of Chile, Carlos Díaz, stated, in a video published by the union, that "the real solution to the problem that we have is the extension of the (winter) holidays".
"It is the only way in which the students will not all be gathered in the same place, they will not continue to infect and we must also remember that there are many officials, many workers who today have their children sick and who, undoubtedly, in front of to this situation, they cannot attend to them properly" Díaz added.
Since last week, the Chilean health portfolio has been questioned due to the high occupancy rate of critical pediatric beds, the few places available for care that left four children dead from respiratory viruses due to not receiving timely care.
