Teachers have responded to a survey and the results have shown that 46% of the 130,000 teachers who participated in the survey are living with multiple diseases and are at risk of dying from the coronavirus pandemic according to eNCA.
The survey was carried out to better understand the risk that teachers face as schools have just opened as covid-19 cases are increasing.
Teachers with comorbidities are at risk of dying with covid-19
Comorbidity is the state of having multiple medical conditions at the same time, especially when they interact with each other in some way. Teachers with comorbidities (are at risk of dying from contracting Covid-19. Surveys across the world and in South Africa has shown that over 90% of coronavirus related deaths are as a result of commodities.
Teachers have hypertension
25% of the teachers who participated in the survey have hypertension. The SADTU Secretary General Mugwena Maluleke said said it is important to provide teachers with information to enable them to work without panicking and also so they can protect themselves. He said only 5,3% of the teachers with hypertension have serious hypertension. “We need to live with the virus and we should not believe everything that we read. I urge teachers to arm themselves with information and to be emotionally strong to create a good environment for learners to learn,” Mr Maluleke said.
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Covid-19 is the new normal for South African teachers
The SADTU leader urged teachers to see Covid-19 as the new normal in South Africa as schools will remain open. We will go through this particular stage. We got to live with the virus. The issue of comorbidities is scary but we need to dig deeper for facts. Facts are important at this stage.
NAPTOSA executive Director Basil Manuel said the teachers unions should use information such as the prevalence off diseases among teachers for their programs and the department of education should use it for staffing planning to enable schools to remain open during the coronavirus pandemic. “We need to put our heads together to find a way to assist teachers so we can solve problem ahead of us,” he added.
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