France 24
Covid-19: Jean Castex recommends not to send children to school Thursday and Friday
French Prime Minister Jean Castex urged Tuesday not to send children to school Thursday and Friday and advised the French to self-confine a week before the Christmas holidays. He thus follows the advice of the Scientific Council. Jean Castex suggested Tuesday, December 15 that children who can do not go to school Thursday and Friday in order to limit the risk of contamination at Christmas. While France is deconfining itself in stages, the French Prime Minister takes over a recommendation from the Scientific Council. “Whenever possible, especially if we have to receive vulnerable people at Christmas, the Scientific Council (… ) said (…) if you can not take your children to school Thursday and Friday (…), you do, “said the Prime Minister on Europe 1, also recommending self-confine one week before the family and friends reunions at the end of the year. The measurement is therefore not compulsory. It will also not be accompanied by financial assistance for parents who wish to keep their children at home one week before the Christmas holidays. It therefore risks not being applied by some of the French, forced to go to work despite the health risks.Schools must be warnedTo try to limit the risk of the third wave of Covid-19 in January, the Scientific Council recommends, in a “scientific background note” published Monday, “self-containment” for a week to those who wish to spend family holidays and the use of tests before New Years Eve. A “tolerance” will also be applied Thursday and Friday for the absences of students who self-confine before the holidays, following the advice of the Scientific Council, the office of the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer told AFP. A note should be sent Tuesday to rectors. Parents must, however, notify schools. Scientists are also calling on schoolchildren and high school students to strengthen barrier gestures in this last week before the holidays. Inconsistency of the discourse? “We were very surprised by this position of the government because since September, we have been told that children are not contaminants and there, ultimately, that amounts to saying that there is a risk that children could contaminate, “responded Guislaine David, co-secretary general of SNUIPP-FSU, the first primary union. it also creates “a breach of equality between families: those who will be able to arrange to keep their children with a view to protecting the grandparents in particular, and the others, who will not be able to keep them these two days because they work. ”Guislaine David mentions the start of the January school year. “If we consider that children are now contaminators, then we will have to anticipate the return to school in three weeks with a reinforced health protocol,” she said. With AFP
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