"There are localized places - but it was quite planned - where we see that children and staff have the virus", explained this Friday, on the air everything is going very well, the Prime Minister , Jean Castex, on the sidelines of a trip to Châlons-en-Champagne (Marne).
" Planned?
You laugh?
At 6:00 p.m., when I was told at the day center that I would have to keep my son at home for two weeks, the only thing I was told, in essence, was
get out of the way
”, s 'strangles Hélène
(the first name has been changed)
, whose 5-year-old boy completes two weeks of confinement, after having rubbed shoulders with a daycare friend infected with Covid-19.
For this little Parisian, the start of the school year will only take place on Monday, and in the meantime, the days are stretched out at home, face to face with a mother distressed at having to put aside her self-employed work - and the income that go with it.
“I called my town hall, the regional health agency, the prefecture, even the government's toll-free number.
I was told that apart from the D system, there is no solution, ”she says.
A hundred classes and 22 establishments already closed
"If there were to be large phenomena in the future, that is to say a significant number of closings of schools, colleges or high schools, we would trigger a protocol to help families", promised this Friday morning, at the microphone of Europe 1, the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer.
Still, the problem already exists, and will concern more and more parents from next week.
According to figures from the ministry, this Friday, a hundred classes and 22 school structures were already closed, four days after the start of the school year.
On average 250 alerts for suspected infection are launched daily in schools, colleges and high schools.
At stake: a puzzle for all parents asked to juggle again between telework - when possible - and home schooling.
In single-parent families, hell is looming.
Céline (the first name has been changed), who is raising two girls aged 7 and 3 alone, has already exhausted her annual quota of three days off for sick children.
The reason?
Her younger daughter declared a fever the day before the start of the school year.
A small 38 degrees: the banal symptom (which turned out to be an ear infection) in the context of the health crisis, completely upset the fragile family balance.
“We had to verify with a PCR test that it was not the Covid, and during these three days, I had to stay at home.
"And this researcher to worry:" I have just started a CDD with the possibility of being hired ... But what will my employer think if the problem is repeated?
"
"We are more isolated than ever"
“For us, the slightest grain of sand brings down an organization that is always very complicated when you are alone.
There, it is no longer a grain of sand.
It is a dune that we have opposite, ”summarizes Hélène.
"The Covid also means that we can no longer count as much as before on grandparents, because we must also protect them.
We are more isolated than ever, ”says Sarah Lebailly, president of La collective, a very young association that brings together single mothers from Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis) and the surrounding area.
Elsie Huboux, also a member of the Collective, can breathe: the negative test of her 3-year-old boy fell the day before the start of the school year.
“He started school… but I don't know for how long.
I have already looked for a babysitter who I can call if the school closes, but it is a huge cost, ”explains this independent consultant.
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During confinement, she saw her job interviews turn into a puddle, while her son was standing next to her, in front of the video conference webcam.
"Ten days ago," she says, "an employer explained to me that he was looking for
someone reliable, including in this health context.
"
She was not contacted again.