An elementary school closed in Poissy (Yvelines), only one class at the Blomet school (Paris XV)… "When it comes to President Macron, we strengthen security, we preserve his workspace and the objects he button, pens, pads or files… And when is the space for students and teachers preserved? Worries a mother of a pupil of the Blaise-Cendrars high school in Sevran (Seine-Saint-Denis), where the students of the 12th grade, and only those of the 12th grade, are invited to stay at home for two weeks after the discovery of two cases of coronavirus among them. After seven weeks of spreading the virus, how do you find your way around?
"It is complicated to explain, the situation is completely new, but for as much, we do not act haphazardly luck", assures Aurélien Rousseau, director general of the regional health agency of Ile-de- France which describes the framework of these arbitrations.
The age of the children in question. The answer is proportional to age. "Between a kindergarten child who is difficult to make it clear that he should not kiss his little friend, that he must wash his hands every hour, and a teenager, in high school, who will understand and apply him these precautionary measures, it is not the same ”, indicates the owner of the ARS, which lists all the cases of Covid-19 in Ile-de-France, since it is a reportable disease .
An investigation is carried out to identify the “contact cases”, those who have been in prolonged contact with the confirmed case, to make a sanitary cordon and break the chain of contamination.
Student or minister, same fight. Concretely after the discovery of a positive case in nursery school, the whole school closes. In elementary school, it is the class of the pupil screened positive, the teachers, the AVS and all the interveners in contact with the patient who are invited to leave school. But it can also concern other people if the child eats in the canteen, attends extracurricular workshops, supervised study, etc. If there are several positive cases, the whole school is closed.
In middle or high school, the ARS recommends isolating the class. The best friend, even if he is in another class, may also be subject to isolation. These are called contact cases, which are not necessarily positive.
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"As for situations at school, at work, we are doing an investigation, and it's the same for everyone, like the one we carried out on Monday for Franck Riester (Minister of Culture). We have cross-checked his diary with him since he developed the first symptoms and we have qualified the cases, his family, his collaborators to classify them according to the risk they have of being infected … This is our job, ”explains Aurélien Rousseau.
Assess the risk of contagion. Around forty of them take part in the ARS “situation” cell, at the Millénaire (Paris, 19th century), 7 days a week, to assess the risk of contagion from contact cases. “We call the person diagnosed positive and, if they had lunch with someone, for example, we ask them what the diameter of the table was, how long the meal lasted, if they laughed, if they coughed or sneezed … And we classify the contact cases, which are all then called individually. "
“Negligible or low risk: people are advised to watch for the appearance of any symptoms, but that's it. Moderate to high risk: isolation for 14 days, so that they do not spread the virus if they have caught it. Everything depends on the ability to trace the exchanges of the infected person. "
It is therefore not an administrative decision, but medical recommendations to the general management of the ARS which passes them on to the prefects. Followed by recommendations, such as limiting groups of five people at most to the National Assembly. "Only time will tell if these formulas have been effective, but I consider that we have succeeded in slowing down the epidemic," continues Aurélien Rousseau.
In phase 3, if we cough, we stay at home. Stop transport? "If tomorrow we stop transport, how do the nursing staff go to the hospitals?" Retorts Aurélien Rousseau for whom the solution is elsewhere, and in particular on individual responsibility. “In phase 3, when you are sick and coughing, the question is not even to cough in your elbow, but to stay at home. When we switch to the epidemic phase, our main concern will be to protect the most vulnerable and to preserve the hospital so that we can treat the sick. "
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