According to the press release from the Central Epidemic Command Center (hereinafter referred to as the CECC) on January 19, 2021, large-scale gathering activities are conducted frequently at the end of the year. Taking into consideration that these gathering activities are usually crowded with people who maintain close contact for a long time, there is a high risk of transmission. Once there are suspected cases or gathering events, the difficulties of epidemic prevention will be increased.

      The Ministry of Education reminds schools at all levels to pay attention to the  epidemic prevention measures regulations when conducting gathering activities and to comply with the following guidelines:

• In order to prevent the risk of Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) infection in the community, the organizers hosting gathering activities must comply with "Guidelines for large-scale public gatherings in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak" issued by the CECC on November 29, 2020, for evaluating the necessity of hosting the activities and the risk-related levels. If schools decide to host activities, they must stipulate the complete epidemic prevention response planning, and then conduct the related preparation works and measures of epidemic prevention. According to the press release issued by CECC on January 19, 2021, if schools cannot implement the complete risk evaluation strictly before the activities, and there are no well-organized epidemic prevention supporting measures, then the CECC strongly recommends that the activities be canceled or postponed.

When implementing risk-related evaluation, the authorities concerned with the gathering activities and local government health units should all be brought together for discussion. The suggested evaluation indicators are as follows:

(I) Obtaining information about participants in advance: if all of the participants’ epidemic area travel history and confirmed cases contact history can be obtained, then the taking of body temperature measurements and evaluating symptoms of participants can be carried out at the beginning of the event, and the risks appear to be relatively low. On the contrary, if the information mentioned above cannot be obtained, the risks appear to be relatively high.

(II) Air ventilation of activity spaces: outdoor activities come with the lowest risk; indoor spaces with appropriate air ventilation or with open windows for ventilation constitute the second lowest risk; confined indoor spaces with poor ventilation constitute the highest risk.

(III) Distance between the activity participants: where participants maintain an appropriate social distance (1.5 meters for indoors, 1 meter for outdoors), the risks appear to be lower. In principle, the risks appear to be higher if the distance is closer.

(IV) Fixed positions or non-fixed positions for activity participants: the former comes with lower risks, and the latter comes with higher risks.

(V) Activity duration: a longer duration comes with higher risks.

(VI) Implementation of hand hygiene and mask wearing at activities: implementation of these two measures comes with lower risks; non-implementation of the two comes with higher risks.

• During the COVID-19 epidemic, people with chronic lung disease (including asthma), cardiovascular disease, kidney, liver, nerve diseases, blood or metabolic disorders (including diabetes), hemoglobin disease, immune deficiency disease requiring long-term treatment, and pregnant women are advised to avoid participation in gathering activities.

• Schools should promote the fact that anyone who is sick should not participate in gathering activities and should take rest at home. enhanced self-healt

• If the activities include the provision of meals, then the “COVID-19: Guidelines for Social Distancing” issued by the CECC on April 10, 2020, should be followed. During activities, keep adequate social distance when having meals, or maintain separation using partitions or screens. If social distance cannot be maintained at meal times, diners should be seated at different times so distances can be maintained.

• For any questions about this case, please contact the following persons:
  Department of Higher Education: Ruizhi Chen, Officer 02-7736-5883/ a4852501@mail.moe.gov.tw
  Department of Technological and Vocational Education: Zhaoyuan Xu, Officer 02-7736-6072/ a620220@mail.moe.gov.tw
  K-12 Education Administration: Sinyu Lin, Military Instructor 04-3706-1357/ e-3248@mail.k12ea. gov.tw