When times were still normal, more than two years ago, parents would let their children go out of the house in the morning and could be pretty sure that they would be left alone until noon. Then Corona came and first homeschooling and since then the certainty has been over. Because even now that face-to-face teaching is being held despite incidence values of well over a thousand – a year ago one would have had to seek shelter in the basement with such numbers – a nasty surprise looms every day. Does the phone ring shortly after eight and does the school announce that the daughter’s rapid test has turned out positive? Or does she have to be in quarantine because the bank neighbor has Corona? And does the positive pool test result for the whole class come with the plop on the smartphone in the evening? This much is certain: this feeling of security is a thing of the past.
This week, in the morning, a Whatsapp came from the older ones from school: “Five people from our class are positive. What should I do?” The first reaction: pack your school bag and goodbye. Then the prudent answer: stay calm, leave the mask on, keep your distance. You’re vaccinated, even boosted, everything under control. But the bad feeling remains: Not so long ago, when the super-contagious variant Omicron did not yet exist, didn’t all the children in a class have to be quarantined if only one was positive? At least later, if the second Corona also had it? And currently, after all, the immediate contact persons, the seat neighbors? And if five out of 25 children are positive – how many are left or to put it another way: when does your own daughter get infected despite triple vaccination?
The doubts do not diminish when the high school student comes home in the afternoon and describes the details: The test of the friend with whom she sits was also positive. But the line can only be seen faintly. There was a control test immediately, reports the daughter. Positive again, faint to see again. The teacher had the friend do a third one. The same result: two strokes, although the second one is again only faint. So positive? The teacher does not believe this and has the student take a fourth test in the secretary’s office. It turns out negative. The result: she stays in the class until the end of the lesson.
The next morning Whatsapp from the girlfriend: The PCR control test is positive. The classmate stays at home. Your daughter goes to school. The anxious wait goes on.