Covid-19: more than 14,000 closed classes, a unpublished level since spring of 2020

The fall of the classes took place under the threat of the Omicron variant: 331 775 cases of contamination have been confirmed among cumulative students over the last seven days.

Le Monde

The number of classes closed due to the CIVID-19 epidemic settled on Friday, January 14, at 14,380, compared with 9,202 last week, the highest level since the spring of 2020, announced The Ministry of National Education.

This figure groups the classes that are closed due to cases of contamination by SAR-COV-2, despite the removal of the rule of a class closure for three cases, and those that are due to ‘absence of teachers. This represents 2.73% of the 527,200 classes of the country.

Before the Christmas holidays, only 2,970 classes were closed, then this figure was reassembled quickly after the return under the effect of the Omicron wave. By comparison, last April, the number of closed classes had increased to more than 11,000 (11,272 classes on April 2) before the closing of schools for several weeks. The ministry specifies in its statement that 226 school structures are closed (0.38% of the total), including 194 schools, 21 colleges and 11 high schools.

Concerning contaminations, some 331,775 infections have been confirmed among students, and 25,571 among accumulated staff over the last seven days, has added the department. Cases have multiplied since September.

Sanitary protocol softened

The Assoupli Sanitary Protocol announced by Prime Minister, Jean Castex, Monday now calls for students Case contacts to produce three negative autototes, without antigenic testing or PCR, to continue going to class.

But, exasperated in particular by the waltz of protocols in the face of the health situation, teachers and other national education staff have led a wide strike on Thursday, at the end of which the government promised them masks FFP2 and replacements. After these announcements he considered insufficient, the South Education union called for a new strike on January 20th. This union requires “immediate recruitment”, the postponement of the specialty tests of the bac planned in March and “a budget collective to give ways to education”.

For his part, the government promised that there will be no shortage of autototes in France. “Inventories [autototes] arrive, they are in number, 11 million have been delivered this week and they will continue to be delivered” in pharmacies, affirmed the government spokesman, Gabriel Attal, during a Visit Friday in a health distribution warehouse in Saint-Ouen, while recognizing “difficulties” at the beginning of the Omicron wave.

To respond to the request, while a new record of 12 million tests per week was reached last week, “the public health stock France of autototes was destock”, A-T -He announced to the press. According to Gabriel Attal, the government maintains the “Cape” against the epidemic of COVID-19: “keep the country open”, “keep the schools open”, despite the multiplication of contamination.

/Media reports.