Latest Communications

Cartagena De Indias, D.T. y C. March 11, 2020

Dear COJOWA Community,

At Colegio Jorge Washington with the support of the administrative direction, Infirmary, and Health and Security at Work Team, we are alert to worldwide cases of biological risk that may affect the health and wellbeing of our students, personnel and families. For this reason, we will be following the measures shared by the Colombian Ministry of Health in their bulletin (Boletín No. 057 del 11 de Marzo de 2020) to avoid spreading the virus, as well as to ask all to remain calm and exercise self-care.

Colombia has moved from a Moderate to a High risk state, since there are currently nine (9) confirmed cases of COVID-19 Coronavirus, and one (1) confirmed case in Cartagena, we invite you to keep in mind the following practices to keep a healthy school environment, as well as implementing these measure in your homes, please remain calm and act in a responsible manner.

As of last week, our School has been taking different preventive measures that have been increasing based on the guidelines communicated by the Colombian Ministry of Health and Social Protection, to guarantee the wellbeing of our entire community.

Prevention is key in these situations, for this reason we invite you to follow the guidelines below which are preventive measures and actions that have been implemented at our school.

Guidelines

If any student, staff member, parent or visitor is experiencing flu symptoms, he/she must not visit school to avoid spreading a virus to the rest of the educational community. We also highly suggest that your doctor practices the necessary tests to certify that you’re in optimum state, or for him/her to evaluate the need of “self-isolation”, which consists of socially distancing oneself for around 14 days.
If you have the aforementioned symptoms, and need to drive yourself someplace, when doing-so, please wear a surgical mask, avoid massive transportation if possible, and cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing.
It is fundamental to present a written medical leave certificate if staff or a student needs to be in “self-isolation” or out of school.
Please report to the school what your doctor’s medical leave certificate says and his/her diagnosis.
If you have travelled during the last 14 days to a country or city with an active outbreak, we suggest visiting your doctor.

Recommendations for Prevention

Frequently wash your hands with soap and water for at least 40-60 seconds.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and face.
Use disposable tissues.
Keep a healthy diet and drink plenty of liquids.
Sneeze into your elbow or upper sleeve.
Do not share food, drinks, utensils such as forks, spoons, water bottles, among others.
Disinfect personal items and work tools on a daily basis, such as: phones, desktops, handles, railings, etc. Use alcohol-based disinfectant.
Wear a surgical mask if you’re feeling sick.
Ventilate spaces: home, classrooms, offices.
Avoid close contact with other people such as handshaking, hugging or kissing when greeting.

Actions implemented by the School

Communication campaign to effectively and frequently wash one’s hands with adults and children, practical information has also been placed in all bathrooms.
Just as it is instructed in the Ministry’s letter, we ask all school members to wash their hands frequently and implement routines for students to sanitize their hands throughout the day.
Communication to our staff about this situation and sharing our risk matrix about this virus, its characteristics and its respective preventive measures.
Sanitation meetings with the operative team.
We reinforced our cleaning and disinfection plan to include deeper cleaning of our school grounds and buses.
Today we will install antibacterial gel in both campuses, in all classrooms and key meeting points.
Starting today, if a student is identified with flu symptoms at school, he/she will be sent to the infirmary to be picked up by a parent/guardian.

The School Administration is vigilant to communications sent by health entities to know about the development of this situation, to be able to take the best course of action and academic strategies that will guarantee our student’s continuous development.

Colegio Jorge Washington will continue to keep the community informed about this topic, if you wish to have more detailed information, we invite you to visit directly the official Ministry of Health and Social Protection website and the National Health Institute.

Cordially,
COJOWA Administration