In the past week, for the first time in months, the most infections were reported in children between the ages of 10 and 14. There are also relatively many corona cases in the age of 5 to 9 years; according to the latest RIVM figures, the two groups account for more than 20 percent of all infections. There is also a lot of testing among these age groups.
The numbers will come one day following the advice of the Outbreak Management Team to no longer quarantine primary school classes from September 20 if a student is infected. Only students who had close contact with the infected child should stay at home. How logical is that, now that there are relatively many infections among primary school children?
‘It’s about vaccination coverage’
Pediatrician and OMT member Károly Illy, who released the advice yesterday, immediately wants to make something clear: “The advice is not so much about children who can become infected. It is more about increasing the vaccination coverage of adults later this month. is so high that you can say goodbye to an extreme measure like the class quarantine.”
In other words: the shield around vulnerable people and adults is expected to be so strong that sending an entire class home is no longer necessary, according to the OMT. “Because that has an incredible amount of consequences for children, both for their education and for their social contacts.”
It can lead to more children getting the coronavirus and thus developing antibodies, says Illy. That is also what can now be seen in the RIVM figures. “The only thing we are no longer afraid of is that this will put the care in a bind. That children pass the virus on to each other a little more than before, that’s how they are.”
That the class quarantine may disappear is a relief for one school director, others see objections:
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