In a response sent to the agency Lusa, the municipality states that Legionella “was detected in routine analyses” conducted at the start of the school year in the two educational institutions, adding that the “parents were properly informed.”
According to the municipality, at the Recarei School Center, “bathrooms and the canteen were closed, portable bathrooms were installed, and students began having lunch with disposable tableware.”
Concerning the pavilion of the Basic and Secondary School of Paredes, “physical education classes were suspended and will resume at the end of this week/start of the next, at the Paredes Multiusos Pavilion.”
The municipality adds that “the procedures adopted were coordinated with the Regional Health Delegation.”
In letters sent to both schools and parents, dated Monday, the Paredes Municipality explains that “in the context of implementing the Legionella prevention and control plan, the presence of this bacterium was detected in routine analyses conducted on the water system of the Recarei Basic School,” and in the “water system of the Gymnastics Pavilion of the Paredes Basic and Secondary School.”
In the letters, it is stated that, in coordination with the local Public Health service, the municipality of Paredes adopted the necessary measures at the two educational establishments, adding that these measures will remain “until the analytical results indicate that normal use of the facilities is safe, which is expected to happen soon.”
Legionnaires’ disease, caused by the bacterium ‘Legionella pneumophila’, is contracted by inhaling droplets of contaminated water vapor (aerosols) small enough to carry the bacterium into the lungs and deposit it in the alveoli.
The situation was reported today, in a statement, by the PSD/CDS-PP candidacy for the municipal elections on October 12, led by Mário Rocha, who expressed “concern” about the situation, emphasizing that “they had already warned about the lack of investment in the sector.”
