There are indications that Lagos State stands the risk of home and community transmission of the dreaded Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as many students arrive in schools on Monday without wearing the face masks from home.
Many of the students who went to school with face masks put them on their chins as they approached school gates and put them right as they stepped into the schools.
Residents of communities with a large concentration of schools also made brisk businesses as students that resumed without masks purchased them from those made from local fabrics from the traders.
The NEXT EDITION corresponcent that monitored the resumption in some parts of the state discovered that many of the young students after the close of schools, put off the face masks, chatting in groups as they made their way home.
At the Ketu area of Lagos State, students from Ayedere Junior and Senior schools were seen in groups and without observing physical distancing as they returned home without the use of the face masks.
The situation was not different at Agege and within the cluster of schools around the Oshodi/Isolo Local Government as the students, in defiance of the COVID-19 protocols, walked home in groups without the use of the face masks.
Recall that Professor Obinna Onwujekwe, Health Policy Research Group, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), had during a virtual meeting organised by The Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS) called for proper education and orientation as schools reopen.
According to him, students must be properly educated to avoid carrying the virus to their vulnerable family members as they return home.
“They must be properly educated not to carry the virus as they return home. The downside of that is that they will return home to meet their parents or grandparents who may be vulnerable,” he added.
A concerned parent, Mrs. Anita Thomas, urged parents to educate their wards on the proper use of the face masks to avoid home transmission as the children board public buses, buy and pay for sundry items as they approach school and return home.
READ ALSO: Airtel Restores Electricity To Ogun Community 15 Years After Disconnection
“I am tired of the situation. Many of the students are behaving as if nothing is happening in the country. They move around as if they are not concerned and this is dangerous not only to their parents, but also the entire community and the people they come in contact with,” she added.
At the Government Senior College, Agege, a female said she misplaced her face mask in the bus, but got a replacement from the principal of the college.
When approached, a source at the college disclosed that the principal had exhausted a pack of 50 medical face masks, adding that students already at the school gate without face masks were given one each to prevent them from going across the road to buy, thereby reducing the risk of students contracting the disease.
