National education published a new reinforced health protocol on Monday February 1, applicable in all schools in France.
- A single variant case should now cause the class to close.
- The distance of 2 meters between groups in the canteen and the wearing of a category 1 “general public” mask are now required.
- The ventilation of the rooms must be reinforced.
Since May 11, 2020, schools and educational establishments have gradually reopened as part of a protocol adopted by the health authorities. National Education released new guidelines yesterday, “made necessary by the evolution of the circulation of the virus observed in January 2021 and in particular the context of the emergence of variants”, says a press release. They will apply from February 1, 2021, and are based on the successive opinions of the HCSP.
“The distance of 2 meters between groups in the canteen and the wearing of category 1 “general public” masks are now required; ventilation is enhanced, summarizes the ministry in the preamble. In addition, a single case of a detected variant must now lead to the closure of the class.
Face-to-face teaching for all students maintained
The principle therefore remains that of welcoming all students, at all levels and throughout school time, in compliance with the prescriptions issued by the health authorities. In schools and colleges, the reference scheme is that of face-to-face teaching for all students, subject to specific local situations (such as cluster). In high school, educational continuity plans making it possible to organize teaching methods in “hybrid” are put in place whenever necessary to comply with health constraints.
Children transmit Covid-19 as much as adults
For a long time, children were considered small contaminators of SARS-CoV-2. A new study published on January 18 in the journal The Lancet and conducted on several thousand cases, however, estimated that children transmit Covid-19 as much as adults. “Children are potentially important in the chain of transmission”, even concluded Ramanan Laxminarayan, head of research. Results that confirm those of the review Science : this time, infected young people under the age of 17 represented 8% of the total cases, contaminating 10% of contact cases, when 18-29 year olds constituted 23% of cases and contaminated 23% of contact cases.
These data raise questions about the French vaccination strategy, from which children are currently excluded. “For the moment, it is not on the program”, indicated Olivier Véran to France Inter on January 19, but change in the vaccine strategy could occur “if the situation were to change and the data appear”. Alain Fischer, who coordinates the government’s vaccine strategy against Covid-19, has shown himself to be rather favorable to the vaccination of children.
.
