More than 300,000 students are currently said to be in quarantine.
More than 300,000 students are said to be in quarantine at the moment. More and more schools have to close because of infection cases. What role does schools really play as a driver of the corona pandemic?
What role do children play in the spread of the coronavirus and how safe are schools? What corona measures are necessary in schools? Should schools generally be closed again? What plans are there in politics?
Schools in Germany were closed for months due to the corona pandemic, children were taught at home, and summer holidays were extended. For some time now, face-to-face lessons have been taking place again, sometimes with a general mask requirement.
Nevertheless, according to the German Teachers’ Association in the "image"Newspaper, more than 300,000 students and around 30,000 teachers are currently in quarantine. According to a report in the newspapers of the Funke Mediengruppe, at least 3,240 of the total of around 40,000 schools in Germany have already given up regular operations nationwide. What is in store for the eleven million students and around 800,000 teachers in Germany’s schools in the Corona winter?
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What role do children play in the spread of the coronavirus?
Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been discussion about whether children are possibly less infectious than adults and whether schools could therefore not be relevant drivers of the pandemic. But there are now increasing indications that schools could also play a key role in spreading the virus.
When asked by t-online, the Australian epidemiologist Zoë Hyde explains that the partial lockdown in Germany is likely to contain the number of infections. But it is unlikely that he "maximally effective" is when schools and daycare centers stay open.
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The researcher from the Western Australian Center for Health and Aging also refers to a study that looked at the reopening of schools in 131 countries. Accordingly, the opening of schools was associated with the second largest increase in the R-value. "This suggests schools have a role to play in fighting the pandemic and shouldn’t be overlooked" stresses Hyde.
Children could be just as contagious as adults
Hyde believes that children are far less likely to become seriously ill than adults. But she warns: "High school age children seem to be just as contagious as adults. Younger children may be a little less contagious." Hyde’s conclusion: It remains impossible to control the pandemic if the role of children is not taken into account.
This is the opinion of Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute: "We know that after puberty, children can shed just as much virus as adults" said Wieler at a press conference of the RKI on November 12th. He could only appeal to the schools to consistently implement their hygiene concepts. Students would also expect it to be enforced.
A representative study by German scientists led by virologist Sandra Ciesek points in a different direction. The director of the Institute for Medical Virology at the University Hospital Frankfurt and her research colleagues had examined the smears from 825 children in day-care centers and 372 employees in Hesse for several weeks.
Result: Only two subjects tested positive – two teachers. Among the children was found in the study with the title "Safe kids" not a single positive test. "In the twelve-week observation period, none of the more than 800 children examined was probably infected" said study director Ciesek the "time". The likelihood of infecting children seems extremely small.
How safe are the schools?
Although no exact figures on the infection rate in schools are currently published, the Robert Koch Institute points out in its current status report of November 10th that there are also increasing infections in "Community facilities" gives. A graph on the age distribution clearly shows that the number of infections among the youngest has also increased in recent weeks. It remains unclear whether they were infected in daycare centers and schools or in their private lives.
(Source: Robert Koch Institute / Situation Report November 10, 2020)
Of the "Daily mirror" reports that seven of the 15 urban and rural districts with the highest infection rates are also citing school outbreaks in connection with the increasing numbers. The newspaper cites the districts of adultfriendfindder Rosenheim or Hagen as examples.
When asked by t-online, the chairman of the German Teachers’ Association, Heinz-Peter Meidinger, explains that other measures apply to schools in the partial lockdown than in the "other social life". "From the AHA rule, only hand hygiene is often left in the classroom and instead of two households, up to 30 households meet there. In addition, the hygiene level plans recommended by the Robert Koch Institute are no longer implemented in almost all federal states. Specifically, this means that if there is an increased or even explosive increase in infection rates in the respective region at the schools, everything will continue as before" he emphasizes.
It will only respond with quarantine protection measures if infections occur in schools themselves. "One can no longer speak of safety or adequate health protection. In schools, the principle of precaution and caution is being replaced by the principle of aftercare. The sick are treated, but the healthy and vulnerable are no longer protected. It almost looks like they’ve given up on avoiding outbreaks of infection in schools and keeping them controllable."
Education and health protection are important
Marlis Tepe, chairwoman of the education and science union (GEW), emphasized in an interview with t-online that the situation is different at the individual school locations.
Tepe criticizes the fact that the RKI requirements to comply with the AHA-L rules from a seven-day incidence of more than 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants are not implemented everywhere. "This means, for example, that the groups have to be divided in order to be able to keep the distances." In view of the increasing numbers of infections, health and safety should now take precedence. "This is also the expectation that most parents and teachers have."
An important point for the GEW chairman is how to deal with infected people in schools: It is completely unfathomable that there are cases in which only those sitting next to infected children or adolescents are informed and sent to quarantine. "Why do we form cohorts if we do not ensure that, in the event of infection, the entire school class is quarantined and tested? Or that at least the teachers who teach in several cohorts are tested. That is incomprehensible to me – I find that irresponsible."
Which corona measures are necessary in schools?
The epidemiologist Hyde advises additional measures if the schools are to remain open. "This must include, at a minimum, the use of face masks by staff and students (including elementary school students), improving ventilation, hand hygiene, and reducing class size."
For the German Teachers’ Association, the corona measures in schools do not go far enough either. Heinz-Peter Meidinger said to t-online: "I consider full face-to-face teaching to be irresponsible if the number of infected people in the respective region goes through the roof and at the same time insufficient health protection is offered at the school, i.e. no distance is maintained in the classroom and, for example, no room air filter systems are available, although sufficient cross ventilation is not possible."
Meidinger therefore suggests "to temporarily return to hybrid lessons in a number of municipalities and regions, i.e. to halve the study groups in order to be able to maintain a distance. If politicians oppose this, they accept that the infection process in schools in some areas will become completely uncontrollable and that schools are threatened with complete closings."
Mask requirement also required in elementary schools
Almost half of Germans are in favor of compulsory masking in primary schools across Germany. In a representative YouGov poll published on Wednesday, 48 percent of respondents voted in favor. 37 percent were against it.
Schoolchildren with masks: Children could play a bigger role in the spread of the corona pandemic than previously thought. (Source: Patrick Scheiber / imago images)
Marlis Tepe sees another problem – one cannot estimate how high the number of infected children and teachers in schools is: "This data must be collected and disclosed so that society can assess the situation."
At this point, Tepe sees the ministries of culture on the one hand, and the health authorities on the other hand being responsible. "The problem, however, is that the health departments, especially in city-states and large cities, are not responsible for a school, but for the children according to their place of residence" she explains. A school has to do with various health authorities, depending on where the students come from. "It is an imposition and not affordable for school administrators to have to communicate with all possible health authorities when individual children are infected."
In order to be able to divide the classes at all, Tepe suggests looking for alternative rooms. "That will be more difficult in the city-states and easier in the country. These are additional burdens, but they offer more security." In order to finally be able to teach the divided classes, more staff are required.
Should schools generally be closed again?
Study results like those of Sandra Ciesek’s study also play a role in this question. It is surprising that most infectious diseases such as colds or the seasonal flu spread very quickly in daycare centers and schools. "But that does not seem to be the case with SARS-CoV-2, of all places" Ciesek is quoted as saying. Ciesek recommends weighing the risk: "If the numbers don’t start going down soon, I’d recommend sending the high school students to homeschooling first. Because age plays a big role in whether someone spreads the virus."
Marlis Tepe also sees complete school closings as a last resort: "Partial closings must be possible as an interim solution." Halving classes and keeping the distances between them are the most important steps to prevent a complete closure.
And Meidinger also emphasizes that nobody wants new school closings. "We have seen the negative effects of school closings, starting with groups of students left behind, through poor learning success, the loss of an orderly daily routine and psychological and social damage." But he has the impression "that politicians are mistaken when they believe that the vast majority of parents want schools to be kept open" so Meidinger.
