Education minister says Bucharest schools could go online in about a month

Students in Bucharest could return to online learning from mid-October if the COVID-19 infection rate continues to rise, education minister Sorin Cimpeanu told Digi24.

Currently, schools are open in the localities where the 14-day COVID-19 incidence rate is below 6 per thousand inhabitants. If this threshold is exceeded, students move to online learning in that locality.

According to the education minister, 13 localities had infection rates of over 6 per thousand on Friday, which means that the students will move to online learning as of Monday. Schools will remain closed until the infection rate drops below 6 per thousand.

Bucharest's COVID-19 incidence rate went up to 2.44 per thousand on Sunday, September 19, from 2.33 the day before. Thus, minister Cimpeanu expects the capital to exceed the 6 per thousand infection rate around mid-October, which would lead to the closing of schools.

“[…] It’s possible to hit the 6 per thousand threshold in Bucharest in mid-October, which means that schools will go online until the infection rate drops. I have the numbers right here, and I would have liked to see a slower advance of the infection rate, but unfortunately, the numbers have not confirmed this desire,” Sorin Cimpeanu said.

COVID-19 cases have been growing fast in Romania in the past week, with the country reporting 5,388 new cases on Saturday, September 18. For comparison, one week before, on September 11, Romania confirmed 2,648 cases in 24 hours.

(Photo source: Facebook/Ministerul Educatiei)