As the rebound of the Covid-19 epidemic accelerates in France, testimonies from parents whose children have been refused access to school for a simple cold are pouring in.
“My children go to school in Arras.
They caught a cold after a few days of school and the principal asked us for a doctor's certificate so they could [go back].
If with each cold, my children can no longer go to school, they are not likely to go there much, for example regretted Sabrina, on the Facebook page of La Voix du Nord.
"I did not think that the school was going to give me such a protocol for a small cold", also sighed Anaïs in the JDD.
Does a school have the right to refuse your child for a simple cold?
What to do if your offspring wakes up with a runny nose?
Do you have to present a medical certificate?
The Parisian disentangles the true from the false.
What are the differences between the symptoms of nasopharyngitis and those of Covid-19?
There is nothing more commonplace than nasopharyngitis.
"I usually tell my patients that the first five years of his life, the child will probably have around forty nasopharyngitis", summarizes Dr Christian Lehmann, general practitioner in Poissy.
Its main symptoms are "a little fever that does not exceed 38 ° C, a runny nose, sore throat and clean (translucent) or dirty (a little colored) snot", lists the doctor.
She is treated with paracetamol, and especially by drinking lots of water.
But as soon as the child "starts to cough, has more fever and difficulty in breathing, we are in something else", warns Christian Lehmann.
For Covid-19, the most common symptoms are "a fever above 37.8 ° C, cough, loss of taste and smell, digestive disorders, severe fatigue - sometimes even for small everyday actions - and breathing difficulties ”.
With this difficulty: in some patients, "there are no symptoms", recalls the practitioner, who keeps the chronicle "Journal of epidemic" in Liberation.
Can the school refuse a child with a runny nose?
Don't panic if your child wakes up with a cold.
As long as the child does not have a fever, "the school cannot refuse it", insists the Ministry of National Education.
The health protocol is indeed very clear: only children presenting "symptoms evoking Covid-19" or an outbreak of "fever (38 ° C or more)" are asked to stay at home.
If your child is already in school when he declares a fever or other symptoms of Covid-19, then he will be isolated with "a masked adult", until you come to pick him up.
If in doubt, do I have to provide a medical certificate?
As the Ministry of National Education recalls, "legally, no establishment can require a child to undergo a screening test for Covid-19".
On the other hand, "the pupil [who presents symptoms] can return to the school or in the establishment only after medical opinion, or failing this after 14 days", writes the ministry.
Note that this period of isolation will be shortened to seven days "in the days to come", we are confirmed in Rue de Grenelle.
But this instruction caused a stir among liberal doctors, whose practices found themselves congested by the influx of distraught parents claiming the precious sesame, sometimes for simple colds.
Same observation here.
Literally overwhelmed by urgent RV requests for colds and certificates required by nursery, school, college, high school, employer.
A nightmare ... https://t.co/mPC1W37yke
- Michel Arnould (@ michelarnould77) September 11, 2020
Alerted, the National Council of the Order of Physicians recalled, in a press release released Friday, that practitioners “did not have to establish a medical certificate for the return to school”, which “is not based on any legislative obligation or regulatory ”.
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"The medical opinion does not consist in drafting a certificate but in formulating conclusions given orally to the parents at the end of a consultation", underlined the order, asking the National Education "to remind the rectorates, the students and teachers ”.
[Press release] # Covid19: the Order reminds that doctors do not have to establish a medical certificate for the return to school → https://t.co/f8ALDge8zh @MinSoliSante @education_gouv pic.twitter.com/4P7NBefFW6
- Order of Doctors (@ordre_medecins) September 11, 2020
Can the school therefore accommodate a child who has presented symptoms on the basis of a simple oral medical opinion reported by the parents? "Yes", we respond to the Ministry of National Education, confirming information from Franceinfo. “Guidelines have been sent to all academies today. From now on, parents will have to provide a sworn statement stating that their child has been seen by a doctor and that he does not have Covid-19 ”.