THE Cebu City government and the Department of Education (DepEd) have identified 13 schools as pilot facilities for the resumption of face-to-face classes, which will possibly start this August.City Councilor Joel Garganera, deputy chief implementer of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), revealed Monday that the decision was made during a consultative meeting with the DepEd and USAid ReachHealth at the EOC headquarters.These schools located in the city’s mountain barangays are Sibugay Integrated School, Pamutan Integrated School, Mangabon Elementary School, Cantipla Integrated School, Tabunan Integrated School, Sinsin National High School, Deosis Elementary School (Buot), Lusaran National High School, Tagbao National HighSchool, Taptap Integrated School, Sinsin Elementary School, Adlaon Integrated School and Bitlang Integrated School.Garganera said the schools had been readied for use by March, but these were damaged by Typhoon Odette (Rai) last Dec. 16, prompting school and city government officials to reschedule the resumption of face-to-face classes to school year 2022-2023 in August or September.DepEd 7 Disaster Risk Reduction and Management officer Dr. Theron Aranas, who was at the meeting, said DepEd had issued Memorandum 71, s. 2021 mandating schools to prepare for pilot face-to-face (F2F) classes, expansion and transitioning towards the new normal.USAid representative Dianne Laborte expressed their willingness to help teachers by conducting refresher seminars to prepare them for the reopening of F2F classes.Several aspects were considered before the 13 schools were selected as the pilot areas for the F2F classes.“First, the Covid-19 cases in these areas are few. Second, they are isolated in the sense that the students and teachers are usually coming from one barangay, and third, the barangays are very supportive,” Garganera said.Based on EOC data, these 13 barangays had no reported coronavirus disease (Covid-19) infections as of Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022.Garganera said the EOC and DepEd will inspect the schools before the opening of F2F classes to see if these are prepared.DepEd 7 Director Salustiano Jimenez, for his part, said he is just waiting for the documents or endorsement from the Cebu City School Division.Jimenez said the major requirements for the schools to be given the go signal include the schools safety assessment tool (SSAT), and concurrence or consent from the local government unit and from parents.He reiterated that there is no need for approval from the central office, as regional directors have been given the authority to decide on whether to allow the schools to conduct limited F2F classes.Face-to-face classes have been suspended since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak a pandemic in March 2020.But for the fourth day in a row, Cebu City has logged a Covid-19 positivity rate of under five percent, helping clear the way for the resumption of such classes.On Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022, Cebu City logged a daily positivity rate of 3.21 percent.The city’s positivity rate has been under five percent since Thursday, Feb. 24, the EOC reported.The positivity rate was 4.29 percent on Feb. 24, two percent on Feb. 25, and 2.27 percent on Feb. 26.Sunday’s positivity rate came from 16 of 498 individuals tested whose results came out positive.A positivity rate of under five percent for two weeks is one of the indicators that Covid-19 infections are under control, according to the World Health Organization.Cebu City’s active cases continued to decline to 276 on Sunday, the first time active cases returned to under 300 since the first week of January.The three-digit figure was a far cry from the 7,663 active cases recorded last Jan. 27, the highest since the pandemic began in the city in March 2020.The EOC also reported 47 recoveries and no new fatalities on Sunday.Cebu City’s hospital occupancy rate was still in the safe zone at 20.64 percent as only 141 of 683 beds allocated for Covid-19 patients were occupied. (PAC / TPT, MKG, KAL)