The outline of exemption from isolation in classrooms will be expanded and will be held in kindergartens and schools in green and yellow authorities.
This is what Prime Minister Naftali Bennett decided last night after a discussion with the Ministries of Health and Education.
The new outline is expected to take effect starting this coming Sunday, October 24th.
Although the Minister of Education, Yifat Shasha Bitton, asked to extend the green class outline to red and orange authorities (as of this morning there are about 30 such), Prime Minister Bennett decided that another orange outline would be formulated by the Ministry of Health, probably in a "protective" format. Education "which will include weekly tests in each grade.
It is possible that the corona financiers in the schools are the ones who will be trained to carry out the sampling.
It was further decided that students in whose class a verified patient was found would not be allowed to participate in the afternoon in activities that require a “green mark” such as events and restaurants.
This is in order to reduce the chances of infection and maintain the health of the students, while keeping the education system open.
Data from the Ministry of Health, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
What are the numbers and figures underlying the decision to expand the outline?
The Ministries of Health and Education presented data collected on approximately 6,000 students from approximately 305 classrooms, 60 of which were in a control group.
During the pilot, which began immediately after Sukkot and lasted about two weeks, about 370 positive students were discovered.
One of the most notable findings found - the antigen test detects very few verified, has not been shown to prevent infection and parents have not been careful to perform a repeat PCR test after the home test.
Of those 370 who were found positive, 83 were detected on a home antigen test after reporting independently.
198 were detected on PCR and did not perform antigen and 42 positive were detected on PCR when antigen testing performed on the same day or the next day was negative.
It was also found that red and orange localities may have an excess morbidity of at least 50% compared to green and yellow localities.
Corona examination in Tel Aviv (photographers have nothing to do with the news), Photo: Coco
Does one positive child in the class cause his friends' infection?
Out of about 97 classes in the pilot in which a verified person was discovered, in 61 classes no more verified people were discovered, in 15 classes one verified person was discovered, in six classes two verified people were discovered, in eight classes three verified people were discovered, in seven classes more than four verified people were discovered (total Five including the first child discovered.) As a result, these classrooms did not begin the green classroom outline.During the pilot, 12 classrooms were closed due to high morbidity.
Conclusion: In a class without verified or with one verified, the chances of success of the outline are higher.
However, due to the fact that only about 35 classes out of the 300 required take part in the outline, there is great uncertainty regarding the data and the chances of success.
The Ministry of Health's pilot also revealed some weaknesses, the main of which is the low response of parents to report the results of antigen tests they did at home.
Less than 25% of parents reported computerized home test results they did, with no manual reports collected at all.
In addition, only half of the children who were in isolation reported the results of a second PCR test before returning to class.
Corona permits at the entrance to the school // Photo: Herzli Shapira,
It also turned out that most parents did not report the results of the antigen test and even among those who did report a positive result in the antigen, only about a third came to perform a PCR test to verify the result.
Meanwhile, most of the verified ones detected in the PCR test, got a negative result in the home test they did earlier that day.
As for the home antigen test, it turned out to be slightly verified and it has not been proven that it can prevent infection in the classroom.
"The pilot was partially performed and therefore it is not possible to determine whether the outline of the green class is safe and under what conditions. During the discussion.
In the current disease state, when the coefficient of infection is lower than 0.8, the Ministry of Health estimated that activating the outline would not lead to an increase in the coefficient of infection to more than 1 (outbreak): "This is not a dizzying success.
