t the holiday. the number of children tested : the children are in general much less detected than adults. This can make moving around the positivity rate more quickly. screening and fewer preventative in children than in adults : most often, the screenings of the Covid-19 carried out on children are in suspected contamination (symptoms and case contact), which also explains that they are more often positive. the rate of positivity as an indicator to relativize : a flag alone does not allow to analyze large thing. The “incidence rate”, which corresponds, for example, the number of cases per 100 000 inhabitants in seven days, is “only” 43 for at least ten years, versus 163,5 for the general population. Therefore, it is much lower among children. And it is also a little lower than the average for 10-19 years. At the hospital, the numbers are also stable (some sixty teens and thirty children hospitalized in mid-January because of the Covid-19), but a delay of 10-15 days is spread out between the infection and possible hospitalization. the spread of the variant in the british Covid-19 in France : it is not yet known if the increase in the rate of positivity among young people is related to the greater circulation of the virus among them. If the variant british the coronavirus is globally established, the more contagious that is at least 50% of the Covid-19 base, there is not yet evidence that this variant is even more contagious in children. hospitalizations, the indicator “most reliable” : according to the Pr Robert Cohen from Paris on January 11 (a pediatrician infectiologist at the hospital intercommunal of Créteil and president of the national Council of pediatrics), “hospitalizations are the most reliable indicator and, until now, there has been no increase in the pediatric population. But we’re going to watch it very closely these next few days”. the contagion of The children : even if the children are less severe than adults, remains that they can transmit the virus to their loved ones of all ages. What do they think of the specialists ?
The epidemiologists and experts from the medical world in general are, like the government, for the most reluctant to closure of the schools. They see this measure as a last resort. Like Alain Fischer, a paediatrician, immunologist and chairman of the board of direction of the vaccine strategy against the Covid-19, which was recognized on the 12th of January on France Inter : “If the numbers were increasing, this could justify stronger measures, which really would be eminently regrettable elsewhere”. The “mr. vaccine from the government” adds that this option “has rather dramatic consequences for children, including the children’s fragile, as we saw last spring. After, it is a question of analysis advantages-disadvantages . If, at a given moment, it turned out that the circulation of the virus in the children is such that they become truly dangerous, it should resolve. But this really would not gaiety of heart.”
In Paris, the brothers share a similar view : “It is said all that it would be a mistake. It is very important that they continue their education,” analysis, for example, the pediatrician Georges Thiebault. Same story with Christophe Batard, a member of the French Association of paediatric ambulatory care : “During the first confinement, the dropout rate has significantly increased, such as family violence, it should not be repeated”. The epidemiologist Antoine Flahault, probed by Le Figaro at the end of December, is to remember that “school holidays are a very powerful brake on the disease to respiratory viruses, and the Covid-19 should not be an exception. The question of the role of schools in the transmission, still deserves to be asked “.
What other countries are doing ?
in the Face of a second wave harder than in France, several european countries decided to close their schools. For some, this has been made as of mid-December, such as the netherlands, Austria or Denmark. Other countries have decided not to reopen schools with the start of January, as in Germany, a country in which the containment part is reinforced and extended until at least 31 January. In England, the doors of the schools are closed until the end of February at least. Children also remain at home in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. It is important to keep in mind, noted the “mr. vaccine” French Alain Fischer on 12 January, that the circulation of the virus is “higher” in Germany and the United Kingdom “than it is in France today.
in mid-January, France still seemed to benefit from the positive effects of the containment n°2, more strict than in european neighbours. For all that, if the reversal of the epidemic was accelerating at the end of January, the authorities could rely on the results of a swiss study (see here) to close the schools. This study reveals that close the schools in the spring of 2020 was part of the most effective measures for the reduction of the circulation of Sars-CoV-2 .
Closing schools : what is the government strategy ?
During his press conference of 14 January, the government announced closure of schools was not on the agenda. At its press conference on 7 January on the situation épidémiq
