In the event of Covid, when do you decide to close a class or a school?

The Milton school. In Paris, September 1, 2020. -

• With the active resumption of the coronavirus in many regions, cases of Covid-19 are likely to multiply in schools.

• The closures of establishments will depend on several parameters: number of Covid-19 cases, contact cases, respect for barrier gestures in the establishment, etc.

This is the scenario that all parents fear this new school year: that their child's class or school close due to coronavirus cases.

Because with 22 departments classified in the red zone concerning the circulation of the virus, some establishments could not reopen Tuesday and others will undoubtedly close the next weeks.

On Tuesday, a school was closed near Lyon after a teacher tested positive for Covid-19, and a class from another institution quarantined due to a case of coronavirus in a student, according to the rectorate of Lyon.

According to our information, the Ministry of Education will take stock of these closures at the end of the week.

In the meantime,

 has retraced the decision chain.

What happens if a student exhibits symptoms of Covid?

A student who has a fever, coughs, experiences fatigue or unexplained muscle pain, headaches, loss of taste… And it's the action.

"Our goal is to be able to react within 48 hours whenever symptoms are reported," said the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, during his press conference on August 26.

"The school evicts the suspected case while awaiting a test", tells us the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of Ile-de-France.

Parents must inform the head of the establishment of the result of the test.

"In the absence of information, the pupil or the staff can return to the establishment only after a period of 14 days", tells us the Ministry of Education.

While waiting for the test result, his classmates continue to come to school.

What happens when a student tests positive?

His class is first disinfected and the student must stay at home.

"He must not go to school before the deadline defined by his doctor (at the earliest 10 days after the test)", explains National Education.

And the parents of the other pupils of the establishment are warned of the situation.

For its part, “the ARS contacts the establishment and carries out the epidemiological investigation with the school doctor.

This survey makes it possible to establish the list of contact subjects and to recommend, if necessary, specific management measures (such as class or school closures).

This investigation often takes one to two days, depending on the complexity of the situation, ”says the ARS of Ile-de-France.

The contact cases are not the comrades that the pupil has passed in a corridor, but those whom he has approached within two meters for a prolonged period.

So generally all the students in his class.

They are placed in fourteen and invited to be tested.

“The decision to close a school, college or high school is not taken according to the same criteria everywhere.

This is left to the discretion of the ARS, the prefect and the local rectoral, ”

rue de Grenelle

told

.

Difficult, therefore, to say from how many positive cases it is decided: "Our whole strategy is to ensure that an entire establishment does not close", assured the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, during a trip in Châteauroux.

"The decision will be taken according to the number of proven cases and contact cases, the date of onset of symptoms, compliance with barrier measures",

according to the ARS of Ile-de-France.

“From 3 or 4 cases in a school, we can imagine that it will close.

Even if this threshold will not be the same from one academy to another, ”predicts the general secretary of the SNUIpp-FSU teachers' union, Guislaine David.

What happens if the classroom or school is closed?

Once the decision to close has been taken by the competent administrative authorities (prefect and ARS), distance learning is set up.

In order not to penalize the parents of the little ones too much, the government will put in place a device allowing, under conditions, a parent to stop working in the event of the closure of his child's class.

Or a kind of sick child leave, a priori.

What happens if a student's parent tests positive?

Her child, who is a contact case, is necessarily at risk for others.

"Parents undertake not to put their child (ren) in school (…) within a period prescribed by the doctor (at most 14 days)", specifies the National Education.

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