“The watchword is a classic return to school for all students, without half-groups, or gauges and with simplified protocols.
The collegiate government of New Caledonia announced on Monday a simplified health protocol for the start of the school year on February 14, despite a peak in the epidemic expected at this time, taking into account the lesser danger of the Omicron variant.
Some 65,890 pupils from kindergarten to high school will return to class on this date, at the end of the long southern summer holidays.
Among the main relief measures, wearing a mask will not be compulsory for indoor kindergarten and primary school students, but only for middle and high school students as well as for all staff.
Omicron "(did not cause) serious cases in children", justifies this Monday Isabelle Champmoreau, in charge of teaching within the college government.
Affected by the Omicron variant, the archipelago, where the central government triggered a state of health emergency last week, is experiencing an epidemic wave of Covid-19, the peak of which should be reached at the same time, mid-February, according to the Department of Health Affairs (DAS).
The incidence rate is currently 2,792 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, with no increase in hospital pressure.
"We made it simple"
“In terms of screening, we have made it as simple as possible for the parents and especially for the children.
(…) Parents are advised to only test children when they are symptomatic,” says Isabelle Champmoreau.
It also recommends that there are “no more class closure thresholds, the general principle being the maintenance of public service”.
Long spared by Covid, New Caledonia was brutally hit between September and November 2021 by the epidemic, which is experiencing a new wave under the effect of the contagious Omicron variant.
A total of 284 people died of Covid on the South Pacific archipelago, whose vaccination rate amounts to 65.56% of the total population (270,000 inhabitants), or 76.78% of the vaccinable population. .
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that Omicron remained "a dangerous virus", even though it causes "less severe symptoms than Delta", hitherto dominant.