SCHOOL AND COVID. Protocol rules have changed regarding contact-tracing, isolation, and testing when one or more cases of Covid are discovered in a classroom. The recap ‘.
[Mis à jour le 4 janvier 2021 à 11h12] The contact-tracing rules of the school health protocol changed at the start of the January school year. From now on, classes no longer close for cases of Covid in French schools, from kindergarten to high school. And this, whether the contaminations are due to the Delta or Omicron variant: following a decision made official by the government on January 2, children over 12 years of age benefiting from a complete vaccination can indeed continue to study face-to-face, as well. than all children under 12. The conditions to be fulfilled for this: carry out an immediate PCR or antigen test (and whether it is negative); then two self-tests, distributed free of charge to students, one on D + 2 and the other on D + 4. Note that students who have already contracted the Covid in the past must also carry out these three tests in four days.
For its part, the Order of Pharmacists deplores a decision communicated “in haste”, and a risk of shortage of self-tests. One fear in particular also remains with many parents: finding themselves once again in a position to manage their children’s homeschooling while working. In fact, children over 12 years of age who are in contact without vaccination / with incomplete vaccination must isolate themselves for 7 to 10 days (see infographic below). And children under 12 who are positive for Covid must stay at home for 5 to 7 days (again, see the infographic).
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.
December 6, in order to strengthen the fight against Covid-19 in France, the health protocol of thekindergarten in CM2 went from level 2 to level 3. Also nationally, colleges and high schools have remained at level 2. Main novelty in the fight against Covid in primary school, since December 9: students and staff of primary schools must wear the mask no only indoors, but also outdoors. 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.
Wearing a mask is again compulsory indoors in all primary, middle and high schools, in other words for all children and teenagers from 6 years old, and this since November 15th. Level 3 of the protocol, announced by Jean Castex on December 6, also provides, since December 9, for wearing a mask outdoors. Before mid-November, primary school students had been able to fall into the mask in 40 departments (39 in hexagonal France). Note that the measure of the end of the compulsory mask was not applied to teachers, who had to keep it within the establishment. As for school outings, “a decree makes it again compulsory to wear a mask everywhere indoors” since November 26, in places open to the public, including places where the health pass is requested.
Since mid-November, the health protocol against Covid-19 at school, established by the Ministry of National Education, has been maintained at level 2 in all departments. The Ministry of Education had declined four levels of measures in the summer of 2021, depending on the intensity of circulation of the virus. Until last October 4, level 1 applied in the departments where the incidence rate had been under 50 per 100,000 inhabitants for at least five days.
What precautions should I take before taking my child to school?
In its Questions / Answers page, the Ministry of Education recommends that parents of students take the following precautions before driving their child to school:
- monitor the appearance of any symptoms in the child
- maintain strict hygiene of the hands: wash them when leaving and returning home
What if the child / youth has symptoms? (fever – 38 ° C or more -, unexplained asthenia; unexplained myalgia; headache apart from a known migraine pathology; anosmia or hyposmia without associated rhinitis; ageusia or dysgeusia; deterioration of the general condition; diarrhea. Only rhinitis n ‘not considered to be symptoms suggestive of Covid-19)
He must then stay at home, and this even if he is fully vaccinated or has been infected with Covid-19 for less than two months. The instructions ? Parents must seek advice from the attending physician, who will decide on the measures to be taken.
Here are the other cases in which the child / young person should stay at home:
- if it is tested positive for SARS-Cov2
- if a member of their household has tested positive (unless the student has full immunization coverage or has contracted COVID for less than two months)
- if identified as a risk contact by the CPAM (unless they can justify full vaccination coverage or have contracted COVID for less than two months)
If they do not drive their children to school, it is important that parents inform the school principal or head of the school of the reasons for their absence. If the student is in contact (even vaccinated or immunized by a previous contamination with the virus), it is also better to keep his school informed in order to have a chance to break as much as possible the chains of transmission in the school environment.
In one opinion delivered on April 19 and entitled “Self-tests: a public health opportunity”, the Scientific Council has highlighted screening tests as the best tool to fight against the spread of the coronavirus at school. Scientists estimated in this report that weekly screening of 75% of students was likely to lead to a 50% reduction in contamination. The government followed this advice. While the tests became payable for all French people in mid-October, they also remain free in schools for children and adults, confirmed the Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer from September 13 in Le Parisien.
At the present time, two self-tests per week are recommended in 6th (distributed in college and to be carried out in the family). Self-tests are also offered from 5th to 12th grade (but this time during school time and under the supervision of medical staff), with a different organization in each school. In elementary schools, it is saliva tests that can detect Covid.
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:
Each week, the Ministry of Education provides a weekly report on class and school closures due to Covid. This report also provides figures on cases of contamination among students and school staff. The next school epidemiological assessment on the scale of France is a priori to be found next Friday, January 7 on this page. Enough to visualize the turn taken by the return to school of some 12 million French students, from kindergarten to high school.