On Tuesday the holiday fun is over and the seriousness of life begins again for thousands of schoolchildren in the district. And the situation is serious, because the number of infections is rising steeply again – and the virus is rampant among children and adolescents. In the midst of this tense situation, the state government lacks the necessary willingness to act, shows no sense of responsibility and leaves the municipal level in the lurch – once again.
In the future, the health authorities should decide which students should be considered as “close contact persons” in a class or group in the school in the event of a corona case and consequently also have to be in quarantine. Only how these contact persons are to be identified is left completely open by the CSU and Free Voters, masters of both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health. Only this much reveals Minister of Education Michael Piazolo of the Free: The health authorities would make individual decisions on site with “a sense of proportion and expertise” – just as if their employees were constantly checking who is there in the classroom, the sports hall, the schoolyard or the art room got too close to a potential sniff or a cough. And just incidentally, with this remark, Piazolo is acting as if the employees of the health authorities would otherwise make their decisions at their own discretion and without too much deliberation – the minister would do well with a little more sensitivity and a sense of proportion.
It is not clear to those responsible when a student will become a contact person. How they should make technically well-founded decisions that are understandable for all those involved on this basis is not revealed. The previous regulation of sending entire classes or groups into isolation was tough, but it did not fail to serve its purpose. Perhaps the state government should have stayed with it – combined with the sensible shortening of the quarantine to five days.