Hundreds of schools infected: ‘The problems are increasing every week’ | Inland

Schools in the big cities are particularly hard hit by the virus. According to the Schoolsmeldpunt, which registers corona cases in the classroom, there are already 23 institutions in The Hague. The number of schools with corona cases is also increasing rapidly in Amsterdam (20) and Groningen (17). “We get so many reports that it is almost impossible to keep up,” said a spokesman for the platform.

The School Reporting Point is part of the Corona Locator Nederland (CLN) data platform. This registers the existing corona clusters in our country. It is striking that, according to CLN, more than half of the current clusters originated in education. “The RIVM keeps saying that children do not play a prominent role in the spread of the virus, but the figures really show a different picture,” says the spokesperson for the Schools Reporting Point.

To care

Because the corona cases in the schools are only registered with the GGD and those figures are not public, it is difficult to determine exactly how big the problems really are. Nevertheless, the first small surveys show that about one in five children has already been at home in the first weeks of the school year. “Because the figures are not public, we fear that we only have the tip of the iceberg in sight. The problems are increasing by the week and that worries us ”, according to the School Hotline.

Figures also show that the existing clusters are expanding. Ten days ago, for example, thirty students were infected at the Amsterdam Spinoza Lyceum. That number has now risen to 46 corona cases. Similar developments can be seen at the Christian College Nassau-Veluwe in Harderwijk (24 infections) and the Jacob van Liesveldtcollege in Hellevoetsluis (20 infections).

The local GGD comes into action when it comes to a corona infection in a school. This can create confusing situations, as the GGD can choose to send a single class home, but sometimes an entire school is immediately locked. That happened, for example, at the Linie College in Den Helder. There, 72 students and 32 employees have to stay at home for ten days due to a corona infection.

Sniffling children

The teachers now have priority for the corona test. This seemed to end the unrest that had long raged among the teaching staff. Yet a new dilemma is emerging. Children under the age of 13 with mild complaints, such as a snot nose, can now go to school as usual. But a poll by the General Education Union (AOb) shows that two thirds of teachers are not interested in this. In addition, an increasing number of schools are calling on parents to keep their sniffling offspring at home anyway.

Ultimately, many teachers fear that classes will be sent home more often because of this decision. Because more students with a cold increases the risk of a teacher having a cold. And he may not appear in front of the class. “The number of infections is increasing and at the same time the measures are being relaxed. That is difficult to explain and gives an unsafe feeling ”, says Eugenie Stolk, chairman of the AOb.

According to the School Hotline, the problems are far from resolved. The platform states that the Netherlands will have to deal with more than 400 schools where the corona virus has been detected within a few days. “And because it is discouraged to have children tested, it is still the question whether we have all the trouble spots in the picture,” says the spokesman for the hotline.

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