"It's like the Chernobyl cloud, we have the impression that the virus will stop at the school door," laments Cynthia, whose daughter is entering third in a college in Rosny-sur-Seine ( Yvelines). Despite the health crisis, there is a further increase in the number of cases identified, this time all students should be back at school next Tuesday. Wednesday, the announcements of the Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer did not necessarily reassure.
Officially, the July health protocol does not change. However, size adjustments have been made: from now on, all adults and children from 11 years old must wear the mask. It is also recommended there "no mixing" between students of different classes, and a new protocol is also planned in the event of intense circulation of the virus.
VIDEO. At school, "adults wear the mask", announces Blanquer
Despite these new measures, many parents are worried about their children. Some people sometimes wonder if it is not better for them to stay, if possible, for a little while at home.
"It is the precautionary principle that prevails"
In this period of epidemic rebound, the risks of transmission are on everyone's mind: “Last January a child in my four-year-old daughter's class had chickenpox… One single day of contact in class, 23 children in the class of 29 had it in their turn ”worries Stéphanie, 35 years old. “It gives an idea of what happens at this age when one of them is sick… What if one of them has Covid-19? ". This nursery assistant in Montbéliard (Doubs) even wonders if she would not do better to keep her two young children at home. Where "to leave the choice until primary school, at least. "
That's kind of what Cynthia plans to do with her daughter. For her, the canteen is too risky an area for children, and she does not understand that schools do not distribute a second mask after eating, "because they have no way of knowing if it will be clean and again. effective, ”she breathes. “For now, I'll pick up my daughter from school at noon, she won't go to the canteen, and since we live far away, she won't be going back to class in the afternoon. We cannot be serene, it is the precautionary principle that prevails. "
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In these particular conditions, Mélodie and her husband are also reluctant to have their 2-year-old daughter make her first return to school. This Parisian couple is still evaluating "the benefit of socialization compared to the risk generated by the virus". “At that age, children can put toys and any object in their mouths and pass them on to each other,” the mother worries. "We have gone from the discourse" no more contact, the children in boxes, even in recess no contact, we remove the dinette / book corners "to" all is well, 28 students can return to a class you are small we can do it like that, ”says Stéphanie indignantly.
"It is high time to resume a normal life"
Some parents are also afraid of having their children tested without their agreements. "We are totally against the fact that our child is tested without being asked beforehand" explains Mélodie. Same story for Cynthia, who wonders "who will carry out these tests, and under what conditions".
For Angélique, 41, the fear is not so much the return to school, but more that of having to keep them again as during confinement. Indeed, in the event of "intense" circulation of the virus, the protocol provides that establishments can close again. At the start of the year, this couple of business leaders had organized themselves to be teleworking and babysit the three children aged 4, 9 and 13. “I think this time, we would try to take a nanny,” she explains. For her part, Cynthia wonders "how long in advance the parents will be notified", stressing that, on this point, "difficult for adults to improvise".
On the support groups between parents on social networks, they are also numerous to point out that "it is high time to resume a normal life" and confide "to be tired of seeing fear circulating everywhere".