Is the risk of drowning in children to be feared?

The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted children's school and extra-curricular activities, preventing them, for example, from learning to swim in the pool. A disastrous consequence for professionals who fear an increase in drownings this summer.

A total of 800,000 students were unable to complete their swimming cycle because of the closed or partially closed pools. Yet for many students, especially those from working-class backgrounds, school was the only place where they learned to swim. In fact, in Seine-Saint-Denis, one in two young people does not have their school certificate to know how to swim (ASSN).

But for a year, this learning has been disrupted, or even completely interrupted because of covid-19.
A closure that is not without consequences. “It's a lost year, which we will hardly be able to make up”, worried about PE teachers at Le Parisien.

Indeed, as the summer vacation approaches, the summer scourge of drowning is worrying. Every year, 1,000 people drown, a figure that has been rising steadily over the past six years. Axel Lamotte, lifeguard in Seine-Saint-Denis and deputy secretary general of the National Professional Union of Lifeguards, indicate: “Since children have not had normal access to aquatic awakening and learning to swim for a year, we are worried about the number of drownings which could increase in 2021”, he explains to the Parisian. “When the 2020/2021 cohorts of students land on the beaches or leisure centers, it will be catastrophic!”, he alarms.

According to a study by Public Health France, there is a 96% increase in drowning deaths among children under 6, and 132% in private family swimming pools.

Alternative solutions

For Axel Lamotte, however, there are solutions to make up for these shortcomings while protecting themselves from the virus. “We know that the strong presence of chlorine in swimming pool water can kill the virus. So, if we think about how to stir less students in the changing rooms, we can reopen the pools and resume swimming ”, he says. In addition, it is possible to do “massage courses”, which consists of swimming 45 minutes to 1 hour every day for 2 weeks, with a Lifeguard. And this, within the limit of a group of 10 children maximum.

For the moment, solutions are still being studied by the Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, with mobile pools in schools for fast and secure learning.

This summer, even more than usual, we will have to be vigilant and careful.

Suruthi SRIKUMAR

Suruthi is a writer for the Aufeminin, Parole de Mamans and Avis de Mamans websites.
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