So many corona cases had occurred at schools in Bavaria before the autumn holidays that the state government again ordered a mask requirement in the classrooms from next week on Wednesday. The virus also caught numerous children and young people in the Munich district this autumn. How many schools are currently affected by quarantine measures, apparently nobody in the district office knows exactly.
In any case, the figures published daily on the agency’s website do not match the reality. The district office admits that too. A spokeswoman said: “The list published on the website can, as also described there, only give a rough impression of quarantine measures at schools and daycare centers. It does not claim to be complete and cannot have this at all.” Clarifying cases and informing those affected always have the highest priority.
A whole class in quarantine – but it does not appear in the statistics
A mother from Ottobrunn is therefore probably not alone in her amazement at the numbers listed there. She was irritated that her child’s primary school never appeared on this list, although initially individual students as contact persons and finally, after several children tested positive, the entire class had to be quarantined.
Sometimes there are seven schools with quarantine measures, temporarily also 14 on the homepage of the district office, shortly before the holidays then only two, currently three. At first glance, that sounds manageable and not very dramatic. But it is obviously not at all.
The district office explains the numbers as follows: “This includes all schools at which students are currently close contacts in the minimum period of quarantine.” Five days so far, seven days since October 29. However, the isolated infected people themselves are not recorded. As long as there are no quarantine measures for the school environment, a school will not be listed on the website, since the mere infection of a student or a teacher without contact persons has no effect on school operations. “The infection must then be treated like any other,” the authority continued.
In practice, the free test after five days very often meant that there was very little time between the detection of an infection and the end of the quarantine for close contact persons in schools, the spokeswoman explains the discrepancy between the ordered quarantine and listing in the list . A large proportion of the students took advantage of the opportunity to have their free time, but not all of them. The latter also no longer appear in the statistics after five days, because they are based on the minimum duration of the quarantine. However, the district office makes it clear: “Anyone who is affected will be contacted directly.” The fact that a school does not appear in the list does not mean that the health department has not taken any measures to isolate an infected person or to quarantine contact persons.
According to the requirements of the Ministry of Culture, the results of PCR pool tests in elementary and special schools should be available by 7 p.m. on the same day. If such a test turns out positive, the individual samples taken at the same time must be evaluated overnight, the results of which should be available by 6 a.m. in order to quarantine the child in good time before the start of classes. However, the people sitting next to you may not yet have any idea that they are contact persons. “How long it takes until all contact persons have been identified varies from case to case, as many factors play a role here,” the District Office remains vague in its statement and admits: “It is often the case that parents and school get the message have received the positive PCR results a little earlier than the public health department. “
In practice, the schools would usually inform the health department in advance of the result and discuss how to proceed. The schools usually already actively steer the next steps, the students are either sent home in the morning or informed before they go to school. This is different with positive rapid tests that are used in secondary schools. Here, the people sitting next to you are only considered to be a close contact person after a positive PCR result has been submitted, usually the next day. Only then can the health department take action and order the quarantine. So the people sitting next to you stay in class for the time being. In the future, in the event of an infection in a class, all students will be tested every school day for a week.