"
Children in primary, nursery, and nursery are unlikely to contaminate each other and infect adults
."
This is the observation made Thursday by the Minister of Health Olivier Véran, with one consequence: class closures will soon be less automatic than at present.
To avoid a surge in teaching stoppages?
According to the Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer, 81 schools and more than 2,100 classes were closed on Wednesday due to cases of Covid-19, against 28 establishments and 262 classes on September 7.
Read also: Restrictions in Nice and Lyon, screening: the latest announcements from Olivier Véran on the Covid-19
"
Young children are little at risk of serious forms and not very active in the chain of transmission of the coronavirus
", argued the Minister of Health during his press conference, to then take up the recommendations of the High Council for Health public.
In its opinion made public Thursday evening, the HCSP notes in fact that "
transmissions occur especially in intra-family or during social groups with high density of people outside schools
" and that the consequences of contamination are less serious than for the adults.
This is why the authority recommends several measures, which will be applied "
in the next few days
" by the Ministry of Education.
The precise measures adopted by the government should be announced this Friday in the day by Jean-Michel Blanquer, as the Ministry of Education specified in
Le Figaro
.
According to the first announcements from Olivier Véran, when a child tests positive, he will be isolated for seven days at home, but the other children in the class can normally continue to go to school.
Previously, the “contact cases” of the child were sought, as for contaminations between adults.
The situation will nevertheless be
"different if several children of the same class are positive and if there is a manifest chain of transmission",
tempered Olivier Véran.
Currently, classes are closed from three cases of concomitant contamination, as Jean-Michel Blanquer indicated on Wednesday.
The HCSP also recommends authorizing the return of a Covid-19 positive child after an eviction for 7 days and stopping the signs if the child was symptomatic.
Likewise, a child could return, without a PCR test, after a period of eviction "
corresponding to the disappearance of banal clinical signs
(sic)
suggesting a usual fall-winter infection
", that is to say a cold or a angina.
To avoid contamination, the executive has nevertheless taken some measures.
Thus, while in nurseries, childminders should only wear a mask in the presence of parents, "
wearing a mask will now be compulsory for all nursery professionals, including in the presence of children,
" he said. he announced, however considering "
exemptions
" for example "
with children with behavioral disorders
".
Read also: Covid-19: the great unknown of pulmonary sequelae
"
The risk for teachers is not negligible
"
The government's decisions have been met with cold reception by teachers.
At the microphone of Franceinfo, Ghislaine David, of Snuipp-Fsu (first primary union) thus evoked a decision "
catastrophic for the school
", worrying about the cases of contacts without symptoms which will remain in progress: "
Everywhere else we strengthen measures.
The risk is that the contamination spreads in a class or in the school without our knowing it since we know that some pupils are asymptomatic,
”she said.
The trade unionist regretted that the “
educational continuity plan
” of July, which provided for class reductions, was not applied.
And what about contamination from child to adult?
The risk for teachers is not negligible according to Ghislaine David: “
There is great concern [...].
We have schools in Marseille where all the teachers are sick, ”
she said.
Evaluations launched to measure the consequences of months without school
From CP to high school, assessments in French and mathematics also started Monday in schools, to measure "
the extent of the damage
" of confinement and long months without school.
These national assessments, set up by the Ministry of Education two years ago to measure children's level in French and mathematics, are carried out at the entrance to so-called “
pivotal
”
classes
(CP and CE1, 6th and second).
After nearly six months without school for some students between confinement and summer vacation, they take on a whole new dimension this year.
