Collection of children from school on the last day of class after the closure of schools and universities in March 2020.


© Unidad Editorial, SA
Collection of children from school on the last day of class after the closure of schools and universities in March 2020.

This Monday is the return to school for the children after the Christmas holidays. The indications of the Ministry of Health for the return they are: prioritizing presence, the use of masks also at recess, bubble groups, classroom ventilation, hand hygiene … so far so good. Pero the most questioned measure arrived last Friday, just two days before the start of classes, with a flexible quarantine protocol. Only when five or more positive cases are reported in a classroom, within a seven-day period, should students in that group stay home and quarantine. Or, where appropriate, with 20% of the students in the group who have tested positive. The recommendation of Health on quarantines has not liked pediatrics, or school nursing and not several autonomous communities, that throughout this weekend, they have expressed their objections. “There is no scientific evidence to make this decision”, has valued for this newspaper Quique Bassat, coordinator of the working group of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP) for the reopening of schooling. What’s more, if a parent has been relieved with the possibility of their child being released from confinement by raising up to five children who must be positive to close the classroom, Bassat cautions: “People should be aware that they will not have the child isolated at home, but they will have the infected child, a few days later, at home. That will be the clear consequence of this decision “. “The change in the rules for isolating index cases for schools is a bit surprising. It is striking that five positives are needed for the entire bubble group to be isolated, when we had already gone from two to three. Three positives seemed to me more than reasonable for the isolation of an entire class, because it would be a great coincidence if the three cases arrived externally and there had been no intra-transmission, what do we want to avoid with these regulations “, the expert has pointed out to this newspaper. In this way, Bassat interprets the Health decision as “a concession to the pressure of some autonomous communities to abolish the confinements of bubble groups and It does not seem to me that it is endorsed by Science“And, in addition, he points out:” Nor would anything have happened to wait a few weeks, when we would already have higher vaccination percentages and children correctly vaccinated, and they would not need to be isolated. “Ultimately and clearly, Bassat states that” this is not the best possible decision. “In the same way, he points out that” the transmission that may occur in classes is obvious, because even reach five cases there may already have been substantial transmission and, therefore, I would not be in favor of changing it “. But nevertheless, the expert considers it a success that a face-to-face return to the classroom has been chosen, “with more benefits for the students that the risks that may exist “. And he has warned families that they must “adhere to the protocols well and should not relax or send sick children to schools.” In addition, he insisted that “third doses should be vaccinated for teaching staff and, in general, those who work in schools” and “continue to immunize children.” In a similar tone, but with some different conclusions, Natividad López Langa expresses herself, President of the National and International Association of School Nursing (Amece), which consider that increase the limits to dictate quarantine among all students and the reduction of isolations is behind more economic and conciliation reasons than health reasons, according to Nuria Monsó. In addition, López Langa is critical of the return to the return one hundred percent face-to-face “with this high rate of infections and another 15 days more that will be of continuous increase “. Although he recognizes that the delay of the classes “would have been very complicated without other additional measures”.

Reactions from Madrid, Galicia and Catalonia

Of the decision of Public Health also the Community of Madrid has been unmarked. The Executive of Isabel Díaz Ayuso has defended “a greater control” to the possible transmission of the virus within the classrooms, with an autonomic protocol that contemplates the action of the General Directorate of Public Health from the three cases in the same classroom. Then, it will be the aforementioned general direction that decides what to do, including the possibility of quarantine. In Galicia and Catalonia criticism has focused on the hasty change of protocol, just two days from the start of classes. “We would like to have had it a few days before to be able to inform the different levels of the educational community”, confessed this Saturday Román Rodríguez, Minister of Culture, Education and Universities of the Xunta de Galicia, in a radio interview. In the same line, sources of the Department of Health of the Generalitat have expressed their disagreement with the adoption of this decision “two days before the resumption of school, taking into account the change in protocol that it entails and due to the need to adequately inform the public in general and, in particular, professionals in the field of the health and educational community “. In addition, Catalonia has announced this Sunday that it will continue to carry out free tests for students who are in close contact with a positive, an indication that does not have the endorsement of the Public Health Commission. The opening of the classrooms occurs with 14-day incidence data in the national territory of over 2,700 cases. While 32.1% of children between 5 and 11 years are immunized with a first dose of the vaccine. According to Health, 3,349,276 minors between the ages of 5 and 11 have to be vaccinated. The childhood vaccination campaign against covid began on December 15 and 1,076,522 have received the first puncture.