Covid-19 in France: 47,453 positive students since the start of the school year and 9,202 classes closed

The start of the school year took place on Monday under the threat of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, making parents and teachers fear a month of January disturbed by the risks of contamination. The number of classes closed because of the Covid-19 epidemic exploded this week confirmed, Thursday, January 6, the national education ministry, to stand at 9,202, the highest level since the spring of 2021.

The previous record, which dates from December 16, before the Christmas holidays, was 2,970 closed classes, about a third of the number announced at the start of the year. In total, France has 527,200 classes. By April 2021, before schools closed for several weeks, the number of closed classes had risen to 11,272 on April 2. It had then dropped to 5,110 by the end of May. In detail, according to a press release from the Ministry of Education, “To date, there are 28 closed school structures (20 schools, 6 middle schools and 2 high schools)”.

The start of the school year causes traffic jams in pharmacies, which face an influx of patients and must endure a wave of schoolchildren forced to be massively tested for each positive case detected in a class.

The ministry lists 47,453 declared cases of contamination of pupils (against 50,052 on December 16) and 5,631 cases declared within the staff (against 2,599 on December 16). These figures are communicated at the end of a meeting which took place Thursday afternoon between the ministry and the trade unions.

Ordering masks for staff

The ministry announced to the unions that it has “Ordered 55 million surgical masks to equip the staff of schools and educational establishments, with first deliveries from mid-January”. This follows the words of the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, who had mentioned Thursday morning on BFM-TV the supply of masks to teachers by the end of January.

In addition, teachers will not be obliged to conduct face-to-face and distance training. “The face-to-face / distance teaching conditions will be clarified, taking into account the variety of situations, without imposing on teachers two forms of parallel teaching, but making it possible to ensure the link with absent students by reactivating all of the devices used to ensure pedagogical continuity “, writes the ministry.

The reception of the children of caregivers, when the class or the establishment of their child is closed, concerns “All staff in health establishments”, but also more generally doctors, pharmacists, nurses, laboratory assistants, etc.

Since Monday, the students have returned to their classes under the same health protocol: level 3 (out of 4) is maintained in elementary schools, just like level 2 in middle and high schools, in order to reduce the mixing between classes and levels. On the other hand, there is no longer a class closure as soon as three students are infected, but only “Depending on the situation” and “In the presence for example of a very large number of cases”, according to the ministry. Second development: the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, has now decided to submit students to three tests in four days if a friend is positive in the class.