By Benoît Lasserre
Jean Castex, who was the guest of the 20 hours newspaper of France 2, announced this Monday, January 10, a relaxation of the protocol at school, despite the galloping spread of the Covid-19 epidemic
It is the Prime Minister in person who came this Monday evening on the set of 20 hours of France 2 of Anne-Sophie Lapix to try to defuse the anger which is mounting on the part of teachers, parents of students and directors of establishments. “I heard the concerns”, specifies Jean Castex who, imposed figure, pays tribute “to the tremendous work accomplished over the past two years” by the staff of National Education and local communities, in charge for example of school catering.
But the head of government remains inflexible: we are not closing schools. “We are one of the countries in the world which has left its schools open the longest, we must continue, in the interests of children. And Jean Castex to put the number of classes currently closed in perspective. “Today there are 10,453. It is certainly a lot, but it only represents 2%. “According to him, if we close a class from the first case,” in a few days all the classes will be closed “, given the contagiousness of Omicron.
The Prime Minister also assured that lightening the tests, as demanded by many unions, “it would not be reasonable. Jean Castex, however, announced to Anne-Sophie Lapix three simplification measures which, he suspected, should not be enough to put an end to the strike movement announced for this Thursday.
Only self-tests
First measure, parents will not be obliged to come and collect their child immediately if a positive case is detected in a class. The exit will be at the scheduled time, without panic.
Second measurement, if a child was in contact, he had to perform three tests. One PCR or one antigen, then two self-tests, the first after two days, the next after four. It will now be three self-tests, qualified as “less invasive for the child” by the head of government. Small problem raised by the presenter of the 8 pm, where to find the self-tests? They are robbed in pharmacies and supermarkets.
Jean Castex has therefore announced that eleven million self-tests will be delivered to pharmacies. But not in schools. “Because some would not really need it while others would need it more” replies the Prime Minister who, one suspects it, does not wish to open a new front of discontent and specified that these self-tests would be entirely free.
Finally, the last simplification measure, it will now suffice a single certificate of negativity which will be valid for the three tests. “We adapt, we have to be pragmatic in the face of an unprecedented epidemic,” explains Jean Castex to Anne-Sophie Lapix. Everyone gives us lessons, we stayed true to our strategy: test, vaccinate, support. “
Asked about the growing violence against elected officials, of which the LREM deputy of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon is one of the latest victims, Jean Castex refused to admit that Emmanuel Macron’s little sentence to the respect for the unvaccinated may have added fuel to the fire. “This violence is unacceptable” he concluded.