Covid at school: childcare, screening of students with contact cases ... what changes for parents

More than forty changes in health protocol: at school, since March 2020, the rules have changed according to the rebounds and slackening of the coronavirus epidemic.

It changes again this Monday, in elementary school!

On the program: no more systematic class closures as soon as a positive case is detected, as was the case since the start of the school year, but the isolation of the student concerned and the immediate (or almost) screening of his class.

Note that this concerns kindergarten and elementary school.

Objective stated by Jean-Michel Blanquer, Minister of National Education: reduce the number of closed classes (almost 9,000 Friday) and therefore reduce the pressure on families required to keep their flocks at home.

At the end of last week, nearly 200,000 families were affected by forced home care of children with contact cases.

No massive screening of school personnel

Concretely, what does that change for parents? Until now, the occurrence of a positive case among the students resulted in the isolation of the students, all contact cases, for seven days, and ten for the infected student. As of Monday, children with contact cases, in the same class or who may have contracted the virus on other occasions, can return to class as soon as possible on presentation of a negative screening result, not just a certificate from the parents on the honor. Are accepted: nasopharyngeal and salivary PCR tests carried out in laboratories, as well as antigenic tests carried out in pharmacies. On the other hand, the self-tests are not valid in this context.

It is up to the parents to carry out the test in a laboratory in town or in a pharmacy, and it is up to them to keep their child at home while awaiting the result of the screening, which can sometimes take more than 24 hours depending on the laboratory.

The “hassle” of finding a childcare solution is therefore not completely over, but reducing it to one or two days instead of a week should already help families.

Read alsoThe end of the automatic closing of classes, a risky bet?

Mobile laboratory teams can move within 24 to 48 hours within the establishment to detect possible cases of Covid.

Important detail: school staff are not affected by this massive screening, and the class can reopen the next day, even if only one or two students have a negative test.

Remember also that antigenic tests take much less time in pharmacies.

And for parents who cannot or do not want to carry out a contact test for their child?

He is isolated for 7 days at home, as in the previous protocol, then he can return to class on D + 7 after his last contact with the infected pupil.

And this, even without presenting a negative result to a test.