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France sees 70 new COVID-19 cases after schools reopened
Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer, in an interview with French radio station RTL on Monday, May 18, confirmed that these cases are “inevitable” but stressed that “almost all” of these were traced from outside the schools. Blanquer, however, said that 70 is a just a small proportion or a “minority” of the whole population of schoolchildren that started coming back to school. (Pexels photo)
About 40,000 preschools and primary schools in France were reopened on May 11, but 70 new cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were recorded in that same week as announced by the government.
Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer, in an interview with French radio station RTL on Monday, May 18, confirmed that these cases are “inevitable” but stressed that “almost all” of these were traced from outside the schools. Blanquer, however, said that 70 is a just a small proportion or a “minority” of the whole population of schoolchildren that started coming back to school.
On the same day of the education minister’s announcements, several educational institutions have also reopened its doors for the students.
France has been in a two-month lockdown since March 17 but it is one of the European countries that started to transition to what is called as the “new normal.” Just like the Czech Republic and Poland, Denmark, Germany, and Norway, France began the shift to what is promised to be a slow and closely-supervised process.
In line with this, the country has decided to ease its restrictions which included the reopening of some shops and the return of 1.4 million children to school with physical distancing strictly implemented. Classes have a cap of 10 students each in preschools, while 15 students for others.
The schools with infected students were immediately closed. For Blanquer, this move showcases that the educational institutions are complying strictly to the protocols and guidelines of the government.
As of writing, the number of COVID-19 cases in France are at 180,809, with a total of 28,022 deaths, and 62,563 recoveries
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