French students have taken over the university benches. Only two weeks after the start of the school year, major French cities such as Toulouse, Lille, Montpellier or Bordeaux have seen an increase in contamination. In question, the evenings and weekends of integration outside the higher establishment.
Back to university
This academic year welcomed 2.8 million students, facing an increase of 2.1% compared to last year. Vigilance is therefore particularly heightened in the face of a potential increase in the COVID-19 epidemic. Social distancing must be respected in amphitheatres. Sports activities have been stopped. Distance education has been introduced again. It is forbidden to park in the corridors. Despite everything, outbreaks of contagion have been identified in the large cities of France. These are not causes internal to higher education but external with integration evenings and weekends.
Contamination during parties
- In Toulouse, 127 students were infected during parties, the director of the Institute of Applied Sciences denounced “irresponsible behavior”.
- After an integration weekend, the Montpellier medical school saw 60 cases appear out of 200 students in early September.
- In Lille, 99 cases appeared during parties outside the University of Lille.
- Rennes has 43 identified cases, contaminated during “evenings in drinking establishments, while the University of Rennes-1 has strictly prohibited any integration evening” reveals the prefecture.
- In Reims, 23 students tested positive, leading to the closure of Science Po.
- The University of Clermont-Auvergne after only 2 weeks of course has about fifty positive cases.
A call for vigilance
Faced with this increase in contamination of the coronavirus, Frédérique Vidal, the Minister of Higher Education denounces a relaxation in the face of health instructions. As barrier gestures are not respected outside the school framework, she calls out to students and calls for “collective commitment, [la] individual responsibility ”.
