Microbiologist Herman Goossens: ‘New testing strategy in schools is an absolute necessity’ – Belgium

Professor of clinical biology Herman Goossens hopes that the extended autumn holiday will be used to think about a new testing strategy in the schools. “That’s the only chance we can make sure we can keep the schools open, but we’re still going to have three to six extremely tough months ahead anyway.”

According to Goossens, it is a good idea to extend the autumn holidays until 11 November. ‘No one can predict what the impact of this will be, but it’s a good thing to take a break anyway. That breather will be good for both children and teachers, although it will be extra difficult for the parents. ‘

The microbiologist, who is coordinating the coronavirus outbreak in Europe, argues that the pause should be used to review the current testing strategy in schools and to consider a new strategy. ‘We have the same problem all over Europe: everyone wants to keep schools open, but the virus is catching up with us at the moment,’ says Goossens. ‘The CLBs in our country are currently monitoring the situation. If a child is showing symptoms and an outbreak is suspected, testing is performed and high-risk contacts are quarantined. But if the infections continue to increase, the CLBs will soon no longer be able to cope with that. ‘

Rapid tests

‘We scientists must therefore develop a new testing strategy that ensures that infected children are recognized more quickly’, Goossens continues. ‘Using quick tests, for example, you can see more quickly whether a child is infected and the school can respond immediately. In this way, a lot of valuable time is saved. I am absolutely in favor of keeping schools open, but it is crucial that something changes in the testing strategy. But it is up to the politicians to decide whether this is feasible, because this is complex. ‘

If that does not happen and if the virus continues to spread among the population in this way, the microbiologist says there is little else to do but close the schools again. ‘I hope this will not happen, but we must not beat about the bush: the next three to six months will be extremely tough. So we really have to make every effort to tackle infections in schools more quickly, ‘Goossens concludes. (Belgian)

According to Goossens, it is a good idea to extend the autumn holidays until 11 November. ‘No one can predict what the impact of this will be, but it’s a good thing to take a break anyway. That breather will be good for both children and teachers, although it will be extra difficult for the parents. ‘ The microbiologist, who is coordinating the coronavirus outbreak in Europe, argues that the pause should be used to review the current testing strategy in schools and to consider a new strategy. ‘We have the same problem all over Europe: everyone wants to keep schools open, but the virus is catching up with us at the moment,’ says Goossens. ‘The CLBs in our country are currently monitoring the situation. If a child is showing symptoms and an outbreak is suspected, testing is performed and high-risk contacts are quarantined. But if the infections continue to increase, the CLBs will soon no longer be able to cope with that. ”“ We scientists must therefore develop a new test strategy that ensures that infected children are recognized more quickly, ”Goossens continues. ‘Using quick tests, for example, you can see more quickly whether a child is infected and the school can respond immediately. In this way, a lot of valuable time is saved. I am absolutely in favor of keeping schools open, but it is crucial that something changes in the testing strategy. But it is up to the politicians to decide whether this is feasible, because this is complex. ‘If that does not happen and if the virus continues to spread among the population in this way, the microbiologist says that there is little else to do but the schools again to close. ‘I hope this will not happen, but we must not beat about the bush: the next three to six months will be extremely tough. So we really have to make every effort to tackle infections in schools more quickly, ‘Goossens concludes. (Belga)

– .