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Covid-19: the mask is gradually returning to school despite the relaxation of the protocol

2022-03-25T17:34:42.833Z


While it has not been compulsory for two weeks, some directors recommend it “very strongly” due to the resumption of the epidemic.


In Maylis's class, the faces will not remain uncovered for long.

Thursday, March 24, ten days after the reduction of the health protocol, his parents received an email from the CPE of the sixth.

Due to several cases of Covid within the college, we ask students to please wear their mask in class and in the hallways.

Thank you for your understanding.

“An email considered very laconic by these parents surprised and disappointed to see the barrier gestures return so quickly.

The 12-year-old girl says she is "

disgusted

", she who was just beginning "

to enjoy being without a mask and being able to breathe

".

Read alsoCovid-19: does the end of the mask at school risk restarting the epidemic?

Other parents are more resigned.

It will evolve in this direction, it is obliged

”, estimates Agnès, mother of two little girls aged 6 and 8 years old.

For Christophe, it is even “

rather reassuring to see the school take charge of epidemic monitoring

”.

Father of a teenager, he notes “

that the cases are on the rise again.

"

There are some in his class, at work, in judo... If we have to take measures again, we will do it, it's not as if it was the first time.

»

"Highly recommended for high-risk contacts"

Like Maylis, several students, from elementary to high school, have seen the mask reappear in their daily lives.

While it has not been compulsory since March 14, several directors of establishments throughout France have asked their students to wear it again to deal with the resumption of the epidemic.

A measure which, according to the latest health protocol, can only be a recommendation and not an obligation: “

Wearing a mask indoors is strongly recommended for contact persons at risk during the 7 days after the occurrence of the confirmed case as well as for cases confirmed during the 7 days following their period of isolation.

“It is therefore no longer mandatory, and only recommended for contact cases and positives.

Can a director order all his students to wear the mask if he deems it necessary?

“It is not his responsibility,

responds the Ministry of National Education.

He can't impose it just like he can't forbid a child to wear it, it's up to everyone.

Each establishment must comply with national or prefectural measures, it must act under the order of a higher administrative authority.

Rise in cases and concern

We can clearly see that the number of cases is increasing at school

”, worries Guislaine David, spokesperson for SNUipp-FSU, the first union of primary school teachers.

She notes that concern is mounting in some schools over the “

recontamination

” of several students who were already positive last December.

"

For three months, the school has been operating in degraded mode, it's very complicated for students and teachers

," she laments.

Indeed, nationally, the number of cases has almost doubled in one month among 0-19 year olds, as in the general population.

An epidemic resumption driven by the BA.2 variant, a mutation of the Omicron variant.

Incidence rate among 0-19 year olds in France CovidTracker

However, the current health situation is not that of January, when masks were compulsory, recalls the Ministry of National Education.

As of March 25, 12 school structures and 3,080 classes are closed.

Two months earlier, 152 schools and 18,786 classes were closed.

Health situation in schools as of March 25, 2022. Ministry of National Education

Avoid mixing classes and call for dialogue

The two major parent-teacher associations, the PEEP and the FCPE, are not opposed to a return to the old protocol if the health situation so requires.

But this must be discussed together and justified

.

If the local situation requires it, we can make a decision all together and we can decide to put on the mask

”, pleads Laurent Zameckwovski, vice-president of the PEEP, second federation of parents.

The latter, however, deplores an imprecise mode of communication, with emails whose tone leads some parents to feel obliged.

We are all worried about the health of our children,

” he says.

The parents are of good composition but on condition that they find the solutions together.

»

Rodrigo Arenas, representing FCPE, the first parents' association, defends the establishment of real sustainable solutions for the school.

“Two years after the start of the Covid, big problems have not been solved

,

he says.

The number of substitutes, in particular, is still very insufficient according to him, leading students without a teacher to mingle with others.

“We regret that the first gesture, which is to avoid mixing, is not taken into account.

And to add:

The first barrier gesture is the reduction of the workforce.

A point on which Guislaine David agrees, who also believes that "

the issue of CO2 detectors has not been managed

".

As for the mask, the representative of primary school teachers believes that wearing it in closed places "

will necessarily arise again

".

What is certain, conclude Rodrigo Arenas and Laurent Zameckwovski, is that we

"continue to make children wear symbolic measures that weigh on them on a daily basis."

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2022-03-25

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