Mask at school: the return of the mask in the classroom?

Back to the mask at school?

On March 24 at 11 a.m., the Ministry of National Education recorded 12 schools and 3080 classes closed in France. Among the students are 81,424 positive cases for Covid-19 and 10,201 among teachers. A figure up 54% over one week. Faced with this surge in Covid-19 cases, Emmanuel Macron could consider making the port of the mask mandatory as he announced on March 23 on M6. “I had a compass: to protect our compatriots. And do it each time in a proportionate way”. “We kept the mask in transport because we are packed, we even kept the health pass in the hospital, we launched a recall campaign. If things were to deteriorate, the president that I am would take responsibility to protect”he said.

For several weeks, some school principals and educational establishments have already taken the lead, recommending that parents do wear the mask to their children. However, the new protocol at Level 1 school no longer makes it mandatory to wear a mask from elementary to high school, and since March 14, students no longer need to wear it in class. However, the protocol recommends that students wear the mask when a positive case is detected in the class. This initiative has been reported in Antibes in the Alpes-Maritimes, in Finistère, Essonne, Val-d’Oise and Yvelines in recent days. “Even if it is not yet very visible, because there is no obligation and no class closure, the return of the mask to school this week is clear (…) Children are again recommended to wear the mask, but if the parents refuse, it is impossible to oblige them“, confirms, this March 24 at Parisian, Guislaine David, General Secretary at Snuipp-FSU. Jean-Michel Blanquer’s cabinet also clarified to the newspaper that only a prefectural decision could, on a case-by-case basis, impose the wearing of a mask in schools, in the event of a local cluster for example.

In secondary, middle and high school, students must submit to new rules. In effect, whether they are vaccinated or not, they are now all considered contact cases “if they shared a class with the confirmed case (common core class, specialty groups, options, languages…)” . They will therefore all have to carry out a test on D+2. The Ministry of National Education also recommends “strongly the wearing the mask indoors for 7 days after the occurrence of the confirmed case“.

Mask and sport at school

Remember that since the start of the school year, according to zones A, B and C, students no longer have the obligation to wear the mask outdoors, especially in the playground. With the transition to level 1 of the health protocol at school from March 14, students can also practice indoor physical and sporting activities without wearing a mask.

Who should wear the mask at school, in which cases?

• According to level 1 health protocol, only students or teachers who wish can wear the mask at school, indoors or outdoors, where it is no longer compulsory from March 14. Remember that wearing a mask is prohibited in kindergarten, regardless of the level of the health protocol at school. In contrast, Wearing a mask remains compulsory on public transport as well as on school transport for all children over the age of 6.
• In addition, the mask is strongly recommended, from the age of 6, for at-risk contact persons during the 7 days after the occurrence of the confirmed case as well as for confirmed cases during the 7 days following their period of isolation.
• Finally, wearing a mask may be recommended on medical advice.

Wearing a mask according to the protocol levels at school

• At level 1, wearing a mask is no longer mandatory outdoors or indoors from March 14.
• At level 2, the mask is mandatory indoors
• At level 3 and 4, it is mandatory for all students in enclosed and outdoor spaces.
• National education personnel must wear masks in enclosed spaces on levels 1 and 2 and also outside on levels 3 and 4.
• Remember that kindergarten students, regardless of level, do not wear a mask.