Systematically screen and isolate only positive cases, this is the advice given by the Scientific Council in a note unveiled by the newspaper Le Monde.
Screening for Covid-19 should be "weekly in elementary school" and lead to "only isolating positive cases in college and high school", according to its members.
Recommendations that differ from the protocol adopted by the Ministry of Education and which provides that a case of Covid leads to the closure of the primary class.
In the event of contamination at college or high school, students with unvaccinated contact cases must isolate themselves for a week.
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The opinion of the Scientific Council, which dates from September 13 and which has not been made public, calls for “systematic and weekly” screening.
Thanks to which "only children detected positive would then be sent home".
In middle and high school, screen all students at the same level
“In middle and high schools, the opinion recommends screening, the day after the appearance of a proven case, all students of the same level (and not just students of the same class, given the large mixing of adolescents among themselves).
But, then, it would suffice to isolate only the positive pupils, ”indicates Le Monde.
"A win-win strategy supposed to avoid class closures in primary, and sorting between vaccinated and unvaccinated students in secondary", often from more disadvantaged backgrounds, continues the newspaper.
This opinion is also concerned about the consequences of the Delta variant, which is more contagious and which "raises the fear of a pediatric epidemic at the start of the school year, in a context of non-vaccination in children under 12 and partial vaccination coverage in 12-17 years old. », According to an excerpt quoted by Le Monde.
