A story from the Black Sea region, which has the highest rate of weekly coronavirus cases in the country, highlights the cost of disregarding rules amid the outbreak. Five children using the same flute were behind positive tests for 14 people in their families in a province in the region whose name was not disclosed.

Asuman Birinci, who heads the clinical microbiology department of Ondokuzmayıs University in the Black Sea province of Samsun, which has the highest rate of cases with about 586 per 100,000 people, related the story to Demirören News Agency (DHA). Birinci underlined that the children have been very influential in spreading the virus and they needed to be educated on how to exert caution during the pandemic.

Birinci says one of the factors in the rise of coronavirus cases since last month was the reopening of schools, first partially on Feb. 15 for village schools and then for schools elsewhere on Mar.1 all across the country. "In the flute case, the child who shared the flute with his/her classmates said he/she wiped the flute clean but it was found out that the cases stemmed from this act of sharing. People protect themselves from the virus but they still stay close with their children, grandchildren, if they live in separate houses. We should bear in mind that everyone who does not live in the same house is a risk to each other,” she said.

Birinci gave another example of risk from children. "We have two grandparents who tested positive who were confined to home during the pandemic and never admitted any guests, except their daughter and son. It was found out that the grandfather was infected when his grandson, sitting on his lap, sneezed,” she recounted. Birinci warned that children should be made more aware of infection risks as long as schools remain open and all teachers should be vaccinated as soon as possible.