Miscommunication keeps Guinea students from Ebola-free schools

While the World Health Organization confirmed the lowest weekly total of new Ebola cases in five months last week, rumors that health workers are spreading the disease are keeping Guinean society from returning to normal.

Masked health workers sanitized schools with chlorine solutions to guarantee a safe return to classes. But many students stayed home when schools reopened on Monday.

A spokesperson for a local parents association in Guinea’s capital, Conakry, told the Associated Press that parents were never told how the schools would be cleaned and would therefore would not be sending children to school.

Meanwhile, schools in Conakry are open with school employees continuing to take temperatures of attendees.

While significant progress has been made in Guinea and other West African countries stricken with the disease, the risk has not been completely eliminated.

At least five vaccines are under development and clinical trials in West Africa will take place as soon as early 2015. But global health officials guard against relying on a vaccine. In the interim, officials suggest incorporating “best practices” like officiating safe burial practices and educating communities about how the disease spreads.