Covid school: mask, vaccination, level 3 protocol

What are the new measures announced at the school?

[Mise à jour du 6 décembre à 19h57]. Following a health defense council that took place on December 6, the government decided to strengthen the health protocol in schools from level 2 to level 3 at primary school. “Our priority since the start of the crisis remains to preserve the education of our children. It is with this objective that we have already reinforced the barrier gestures within schools with the wearing a mask in the classroom“, Jean Castex said on December 6 during a press conference. “For elementary school children, we will ask for an additional effort until the holidays. From next Thursday, the wearing of the mask will also be required in the playgrounds and team sports with contact will be restricted ” added the Prime Minister.

“From next Monday (December 13, editor’s note), catering conditions will be adjusted in conjunction with local elected officials to limit mixing as much as possible“, explains the Prime Minister. In addition, the systematic screening of all students remains maintained if there is a positive case in the class. Classes will close from 3 positive Covid-19 cases.

A first opinion from the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS) makes it possible to vaccination of children aged 5 to 11, especially for overweight children with risky pathologies, from December 15. Subject to scientific advice and bodies and the National Ethics Council, the government plans to “be able to open vaccination to all children on a voluntary basis, if possible by the end of the year”, specifies Jean Castex .

As of November 2 at 1 p.m., the Ministry of National Education recorded 4,578 closed classes and 38 school structures (36 primary schools and 2 closed colleges). The previous week, there were 74 school structures and 8,890 closed classes in France. This figure has thus decreased since Monday, November 29, since a primary class no longer closes from the first case of Covid-19. Indeed, students who test negative can now return to school, while other students return to class after 7 days, and continue home schooling. “There will no longer be systematic class closings from the first case of Covid-19, but systematic screening of the whole class. In other words, only students who test negative will be able to return to class. These tests can be carried out by the legal representatives.“Jean-Michel Blanquer said on November 25.

In primary schools, students who test negative will be able to return to class after a confirmed case. “Families are invited to carry out a new screening after 7 days “ specifies the Ministry of National Education. As to middle and high school students : high-risk contact students without full vaccination continue for 7 days with distance learning, while vaccinated students can continue face-to-face lessons. The Minister of National Education also announced that 6th year college students, who are not yet old enough to be vaccinated, will carry out two self-tests per week.

Systematic tests and screening at school: how to do it?

“For this to work, all children will have to be tested. No student will be able to return to class if they do not have a negative test. It is the educational teams who will have to check the tests provided by the parents: these tests do not fall under medical confidentiality.“said Jean-Michel Blanquer on France Inter this Friday, November 26.

Where to take a back-to-school test? RT-PCR tests on nasopharyngeal or salivary sample, RT-LAMP or antigen on nasopharyngeal sample. can be carried out with authorized city professionals, medical biology laboratories and pharmaceutical pharmacies in particular. Supervised self-tests are not recognized for this type of situation, as regulations do not allow them in contacts of a confirmed case. Finally, regardless of the type of test performed, the tests are free for minors.

The latest news on Covid at school

• Level 3 health protocol, which changes: lThe children will therefore have to wear the mask inside and out. The mixing of students will also be limited, especially in the canteen so that the classes do not mix. Sports activities can be practiced outdoors, “as well as indoors for low-intensity activities”, with the wearing of a mask and respect for distancing, specifies the health protocol at the school.
• Europe’s recommendations on distance education. Meeting on November 29 at the Council of the European Union, the Ministers of Education and Youth adopted a recommendation concerning hybrid teaching approaches. In particular, they recommend that Member States support pupils in order to overcome the loss of learning caused by partial school closures and to stimulate the development of their digital skills and those of their families. They also invite members to invest in connected tools, as well as in resources and pedagogy in the digital age, in particular by using available European funding.
• People living with children more exposed to Covid. According to a study by the Institut Pasteur published on November 25 in the journal The Lancet, and carried out with parents over 40, the risk of being infected increases by 30% when a college student lives in the home. The figure increases when children are in primary school.
• Two self-tests per week for 6th year students. To “keep a maximum number of schools open, while maintaining the same level of protection for students”, Jean-Michel Blanquer wants children not yet old enough to be vaccinated to be able to perform two self-tests per week, and this from next week, said the minister on France Inter this Friday, November 26. The 6th grade pupils “are a special case because the children are under 12 years old and are not vaccinated. We will give a box of 10 self-tests valid for five weeks. The school principals will spread the word to the parents” a-t -he explains. From Monday, these self-tests will be carried out with the family.
• The students of CP and CE1 made up for the delay due to confinement. The Ministry of National Education unveiled on November 15 the results of national assessments carried out in September, which focused in CP and CE1 on skills in French and mathematics, and in sixth on all skills acquired in primary. They reveal that the delays observed in French and in mathematics after the first confinement in 2020 have been made up, but that the progress made by the students of the most disadvantaged schools was less important in French. Thus, the black point remains the mastery of oral reading in 6th called the fluency test: a third of students entering 6th have only CE2 level.
• Children’s mental health weakened by the crisis. The results of the Defender of Rights’ annual report, published on November 17, are worrying about the children’s mental health. According to Claire Hédon, “it has been shown that the first confinement led to a general increase in depressive syndromes and even to a doubling among 15-24 year olds (10% of them presented with a depressive syndrome in 2019, compared to more than 20% in 2020)“. The closure of schools, colleges and high schools and distance education have also increased the risk of screen addiction. “(Professionals) challenged us on the difficulties of circadian rhythms, eating disorders, sleep in children, who were exhausted in schools, who suffer from attention problems. Teachers find it difficult to mobilize them on projects“, thus explained the Defender of the children Eric Delemar, this November 16. Faced with this observation, Claire Hédon proposes 29 recommendations such as allowing each child to access devices of reception of the young child, developing the” support for the parenting “and open” adolescent houses “in each department. She also insists on the fact that children’s mental health must become a public priority and that they must be taken care of quickly in case of a problem.”A child who is not doing well will become an adult who is doing badly (and who will live in) a bad society. “, she insists.
• Access to the vaccination status of students affected. On November 9, members of the Constitutional Council censored highly criticized access by school directors to the vaccination status of pupils of the “health vigilance” bill passed by the deputies on November 5. The National Assembly had however accepted that school principals and heads of secondary schools could have access to it, until the end of the 2022 school year against the advice of the senators. But the wise considered that the school component of the bill “health vigilance” carried a “disproportionate infringement of the right to respect for private life“. On the other hand, they validated the extension of the health pass until the end of July 2022.

• No health pass at school. The minister also reaffirmed that there would be no health pass within schools.. “We cannot exclude a pupil” which would not be vaccinated, but the objective is to keep the classes open in the second degree. Unvaccinated students should take distance education when a positive case is detected in a classroom. “This measure has undoubtedly made it possible to have many children vaccinated between 12 and 17 years old,” he declared on October 25 on Europe 1. “It is also thanks to this that since the beginning of September, very few classes have been closed in middle school and high school “.

• Harmonization of compensation rules for parents. In the event of a class closure, and if the child is positive for Covid, one of the parents who cannot telework may benefit from the derogatory daily allowances, without waiting period, with an employer supplement, and whether he is vaccinated or no.