Covid-19: a new health protocol for primary schools soon to be tested in “ten departments”

The Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, announced Tuesday, September 28 on Franceinfo, that a new health protocol was going to be tested in primary schools in around ten departments. It consists of testing all the students in a class if there is a case of Covid-19 and isolating only the positive cases.

In an opinion delivered in mid-September, the scientific council recommended that screening for Covid-19 be systematic and weekly in primary school and lead to isolate only positive cases in middle and high school. “We are obviously very attentive to what the scientific council says, and therefore we will take this advice into account, by launching an experiment in around ten departments. The experiment consists, each time there is a positive case, to test the whole class and to send home only those who are positive ”, said the Minister of Education. And to add: “We’ll see if this really changes the game. But, therefore, it won’t make a huge difference to what we’re doing now. “

Currently, the protocol retained by the ministry provides that a case of Covid in a primary school class leads to a closure. In the event of contamination at college or high school, students with unvaccinated contact cases must isolate themselves for one week.

Less than 2,000 closed classes

This experiment will be launched “Probably from the beginning of next week”, specified the minister. “In any case, we have already been hard at work with the Ministry of Health for many days. “ It will start “In various departments to be able to compare”, he clarified. In the context of this experiment, if the parents refuse the test, the child “Will be considered positive precisely for not having accepted the test”, said Jean-Michel Blanquer, before noting: “This is typically one of the problems posed by this type of experimentation. But we’re going to do it anyway. “

Regarding the closure of classes due to the Covid-19 epidemic, the minister said that their number was “Dropped below 2000 closed classes, which is obviously a fairly good figure since we had risen above 3000, even 3500”.

In addition, while the obligation to wear a mask in primary school will be lifted from October 4 in the departments least affected by the epidemic, Mr. Blanquer said that the ministry would give “The complete list of the departments concerned Thursday with the ministry of health, so that it is valid for Monday”. “The order of magnitude is undoubtedly between a third and half of the departments”, he clarified.