The test raised many questions. Friday September 11, 2020, the parents of students at Henry-Genestal school, whose children had to be placed in solitary confinement following a Covid case in the school (our edition of September 8), learned by email that a negative test would be mandatory for their child to return to class on Monday, September 21.
Alerted, parents looked for solutions to carry out these tests over the weekend before learning Monday that the school ultimately did not ask for a test. « It would be redundant to ask for fourteen days of isolation and then a test, even if there are no symptoms », annoys Paul, father of a concerned pupil. On Friday, he feared that getting the result on time would be mission impossible. ” The laboratories are saturated, even at the town hall you have to wait 2 or 3 hours, and the results are transmitted 5 days later. Some parents may be able to get their results on time, but the overwhelming majority will not. ! » The father expected the organization of a collective screening for all students, the document sent to parents indicating : « The Cpam will contact you to suggest a nasopharyngeal swab screening test for your child. » Contacted, the Cpam (Primary Health Insurance Fund) specifies that collective tests are decided by the Regional Health Agency (ARS) and this was not the case here.
The wait time for test results should not have been a problem. The deadlines for results are extended to five days in Le Havre, but in an emergency, they can be shortened to three. Symptomatic people, those with a medical prescription and those considered to be contact cases by the Cpam are considered urgent cases. The pupils of the two classes of the Genestal school fit well in this last category, since the children remained more than 15 minutes in a closed place with the sick pupil during lunch, then in class. Problem: the Cpam never contacted the families, due to a lack of coordination with the ARS list. The parents therefore have no support to show during the test and cannot obtain the results urgently, in time for the return to class on Monday.
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Barrier gestures within
of the family home
According to the protocol, in the event of a sick student confirmed to be Covid-19, a list of risky contact cases is determined by the school, validated by the ARS and then sent to the Cpam. Health Insurance then calls each family to indicate the procedure to follow: isolate the child and respect barrier gestures, including within the home. This until the 7th day, marking the end of the incubation period and the time to perform a test. In case of negative test, the constraints can be alleviated, but the period of isolation continues until the 14th day. At the end of this period, the school can resume. If there are symptoms, a test can be done right away. However, the families were never contacted. This week, the deadlines were shortened, but they were still in place during the isolation of the students of Henry-Genestal school.
Following the request of parents’ associations, a meeting was organized Monday evening to clarify the communication problems between the school and the families while some parents learned the situation by reading our pages on Tuesday. It seems very necessary to take stock in the event that another situation arises.
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