SCHOOL AND COVID We take stock of the contact-tracing, testing and isolation rules in force in the new school health protocol, as well as the closure of classes and the circulation of the epidemic.
[Mis à jour le 11 janvier 2022 à 15h48] The school is today at the heart of the management of the health crisis. The government adheres to a principle which it does not want to derogate from: everything must be done not to close schools, despite the very active circulation of the epidemic of coronavirus. And the executive took the measure of parents’ dissatisfaction with a demanding health protocol. What are the new isolation rules at work in schools (they have been modified several times since the start of the January school year)? What is the circulation of the Covid at school in France? Where are the class closures? And the health protocol at school as a whole? Linternaute.com summarizes the answers for you on this special page.
Jean Castex has relaxed the health protocol at school twice since the start of the January school year. From now on, the following rules must be retained:
- When a case of contamination is identified in the classroom, the children must all be tested. They must perform three self-tests, on D-0, D + 2 and D + 4.
- Parents can wait for the end of the day of class to pick up their child and perform the first test.
- Parents must return to the school only one sworn statement ensuring that their child is not positive for him to return to class (they do not have to provide a sworn certificate for the following times when their child returns to class).
- If a new positive case is identified in a class within a period of less than 7 days, the contact case students no longer have to repeat the course of the 3 tests in 4 days. Important detail: this screening cycle will only be restarted if the second confirmed case in the class has been in contact with the other students after a delay of D + 7 following the identification of the first case in the class.
At school, considered by scientists as a high place for the transmission of the virus, the usual measures of the health protocol also remain in place: keep the mask, the distances, continue to wash your hands. As for teachers, parent-teacher meetings must now be held remotely, online. Standing coffee in the teachers’ room is also prohibited.
The procedure to follow if the pupil is a contact case within the family sphere
What is the procedure to follow if the pupil is a contact case of a confirmed case within his family sphere? It is then a quarantine of seven days (from the day of confirmation of the Covid case) that must be respected. A self-test must be performed at the end of the seven days, except if the pupil is under 12 years of age or has a complete vaccination schedule. In this case, the student immediately performs a self-test, then self-tests on D + 2 and D + 4, and continues the face-to-face learning if the results are negative.
Here are the incidence rates (number of cases per 100,000) measured over the last rolling week by grade level. The figures below are established by Public Health France and taken from the Data.gouv site. If the automatic screening now in force at school obviously increases the scale of the figures, the latter nevertheless establish that the virus circulates widely in schools, at least as much as in the general population:
The question was widely debated during the holidays. It arises now. How will the school be able to cope with the coronavirus epidemic that is affecting it? The Ministry of National Education unveiled, on January 6, the figures that concern schools and students. Since the start of the school year, four days before this government communication, 25,000 students have tested positive, as well as 4,000 teachers or staff from National Education, according to figures from the ministry. According to the data communicated, 75,000 children were placed in solitary confinement on January 6, as well as 3,000 adults. This makes you dizzy, especially as the government intends to do everything to keep schools open, and keep classes for all children face to face. The Ministry of National Education also said that as of January 6, 10,800 classes were closed, out of the 530,000 in the territory. The government had however changed the rules at the beginning of January concerning the closing of establishments. Previously, a class was closed as soon as three cases of Covid were identified; At the start of the January school year, the general principle became that classes do not close and that children are tested as soon as a case of Covid is identified in the class. But it is clear that the classes are closing … The closures actually occur “depending on the situation”. “In the presence for example of a very large number of cases”, specified the services of the ministry. Note that the health protocol for closing classes has since been modified again, as formalized by the Ministry of Education on the evening of January 6.
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On December 6, in order to strengthen the fight against Covid-19 in France, the health protocol from nursery school to CM2 has gone from level 2 to level 3. Still nationally, middle and high schools have remained at level 2. Main innovations in the fight against Covid in primary school , since December 9: students and staff in primary schools must wear the mask not only indoors, but also outdoors. As for the classes, they no longer close if one or more cases of Covid are observed: face-to-face teaching continues, with the practice of numerous screening tests on students in contact cases. It is also necessary to limit again the mixing by level and by class during the restoration. For sports activities, only those of low intensity, compatible with the wearing of a mask and the rules of distancing, are authorized indoors.