The number of students and educators who passed a positive corona test continues to rise. Most of the infections would take place outside the school walls.
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“The extended autumn holiday comes at the right time,” says Flemish Minister of Education Ben Weyts (N-VA). ‘The increase in the numbers in schools reflects what is happening in the wider society. We are creating a time-out for the schools with the extended autumn break. ‘
The contact survey of the Pupil Guidance Centers (CLBs) shows that in the period between 12 and 25 October, 4,964 (0.41 percent) students and 1,612 (0.98 percent) teaching staff members had a positive covid test. In the previous two weeks, this involved 1,795 students and 411 staff. 24,698 students (2.06 percent) of all students and 1,975 staff (1.2 percent) were quarantined.
The fact that most infections occur outside school walls is confirmed by the finding that the main reasons for initiating testing are close family contact or the display of covid-19 symptoms. The CLBs indicate that relatively few clusters are still found within schools. So people mainly infect each other outside of school.
According to Weyts, these figures prove that schools are not an island. ‘If the epidemic spreads wildly in society at large, teachers and students will also be infected,’ he says.
These figures will be updated in two weeks. ‘We can only keep our finger on the pulse thanks to the thorough contact investigation of the CLBs’, says Weyts.
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