Coronavirus: Despite the pandemic, Sweden has kept its schools open

Text by: RFI Follow

When should schools be reopened and under what conditions? The debate is raging in most European countries, which have chosen to close them. These questions do not arise in Sweden, which is more affected than the other Nordic countries with nearly 2,300 deaths since the start of the epidemic, but much less than France, Italy or Belgium. Here, however, the nurseries but also the schools and colleges remained open. And all children under the age of sixteen continue to visit their institutions.

Publicity

with our correspondent in Stockholm, Frédéric Faux

In this school in the Swedish capital, precautions have been taken. We wash our hands. Children are in small groups. Alix, who takes care of extracurricular activities, remains vigilant: “  If we see children with symptoms, we send them home. We are less close to children. We are less in "calinou" mode. Unless they hurt each other obviously, we will console them, we will take care of them. But there is a distance that is established a little bit, both on our part and on their part.  "

No one, however, wears a mask . All children are accepted.
As for the schoolyard, it remains a schoolyard. "  We cannot place them two meters apart from each other permanently,  " Alix explains. We can no longer play in this case, otherwise it is putting them in a row and waiting.  "

Marginal contamination

According to the Swedish Health Agency, which is based on studies done in China or Iceland, not only do children have very few symptoms, but they also have a reduced viral load. If they can contaminate adults, then it is only marginally.

"  With all this information, " said Anders Tegnell , chief epidemiologist, " it became clear to us that children were not the main driver of the epidemic." And we can confirm this today: our schools have been open from the start and have not become hotbeds of the epidemic.  "

The only closed educational institutions are high schools and universities. But it is because those who frequent them often come from far away, and have to take public transport.

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