How is it going in terms of COVID infections in schools here in the Netherlands? Secondary schools reopened here in the Netherlands at the beginning of March. In general terms, we are firmly in the claws of a third COVID-19 wave, with infections rising rapidly, as predicted back in February by the RIVM. In fact, it’s going so brilliantly (that’s sarcasm by the way) intensive bed numbers in Dutch hospitals are being scaled back up. That rise in infections in the general population is reflected in secondary schools too.
Measures in Dutch Secondary Schools – The Theory
So, as I mentioned, secondary schools reopened their physical doors on the 1st March. The idea is that schools implement measures to contain the number of COVID infections in schools. So, speaking from our own experience, the measures are:
- Each pupil should be in school physically at least once a week. That means a reduction of the amount of children in school at any one time. In our school, this has been translated into year groups.
- The hand sanitisers are still present.
- The children sit in couples, socially distanced from other couples and those couples do not change.
- The pupils wear face masks as they walk though the hallways but take them off once they sit down in the classroom. Teachers keep theirs on.
- Teachers keep 1.5 m away from the pupils, and from other teachers.
I actually cannot, top of my head, think of anything else that has been put in place.
So this is the theory. What about the practice?
Measures in Dutch Secondary Schools – The Reality
Here are a few observations about the reality of life in school during this pandemic for my son.
The couples that children sit in are changing each lesson. So, there is close contact with far more than just one child in the class.
Fewer children are currently wearing face masks in school than a few weeks back.
There are sometimes more than 100 children sitting together in the canteen for breaks and lunch. Let that sink in.
The class walks from class to class together as a group, all within 1.5m of each other.
There’s a feeling that the measures were strictly enforced in the beginning but that’s loosened as the weeks have gone by.
COVID Infections in the Class
On day one my son came home with the message that the other half of his couple had had to go home half way through the morning because of a positive test for a family member. Day one. Off to a great start.
We heard nothing from school. My son had to flag the situation with his tutor. A negative test later for the other half of his couple and back to a semblance of normality. (Little did we know then that there would later be a positive test come back at the end of the quarantine period for his classmate). By the end of that week my son also had symptoms fitting with a potential COVID infection. So he was tested. Negative. Possibly the flu, as his brothers at junior school probably had.
And then to last week. I received a message from my son during his first lesson. All the girls had been sent home to quarantine because of a positive test for one of the girls. The ‘changing partners in the lessons’, and the ‘all sitting together within 1.5 meters during the breaks’ meant that school deemed the girls to be close contacts. Because, of course, the reality is that COVID infections in schools spread as they do anywhere else – despite what you may hear from so called experts trying to placate parents.
Since then there are certainly three positive tests in the class.
The Role of the GGD (Health Authority)
In the absence of any communication whatsoever, we contacted the school. The school is waiting for the GGD. Once the GGD has done contact tracing they will issue the school with a case number and the rest of the class can then get themselves tested on the basis of this case number. As of last Friday, the school had not heard from the GGD. Five days after the first confirmed case.
And so we are still awaiting any kind of communication from school. Three positive tests confirmed amongst 18 children. And to date not a single word from school. Nor the GGD.
What Should Happen if There is a COVID Infection in the Class?
Those in close contact with an infected pupil/teacher must quarantine and are classed as category 2 contacts. In my son’s class this has happened as it should have.
The rest of the class (including any teachers that been physically in the class with them) is classified as category 3 contacts. Here is what should have happened for the rest of the class in the events of COVID infections in schools:
“De overige contacten (categorie 3) mogen wel naar school komen en hoeven conform het BCO-protocol niet in quarantaine. Deze contacten krijgen het advies om zich op of rond dag 5 na het laatste contactmoment met de besmettelijke persoon te laten testen, ook als zij geen klachten hebben (zie ook het BCO-protocol). Daarnaast is het dringende advies om bij het ontstaan van klachten tijdens de 10 dagen na het contact met de besmettelijke persoon zich te laten testen, ook als een eerdere test negatief was.”
RIVM’s Own Guidelines
For those of you who are still learning Dutch it basically says this: category 3 contacts can go to school and do not need to go in quarantine. The advice is to get tested around day 5 after the last contact with the infected person, even if they are not experiencing any symptoms. If there are symptoms, and even after an earlier negative test, another test should be taken within ten days after contact.
Aside from the obvious flaws in this policy, none of this has been communicated by school nor the GGD. The ‘5 days after contact’ point for my son was last week. Therefore the communication needed to be immediate for this ‘advice’ to be followed by the rest of the class, classified as category 3 contacts.
And Now?
We are now on day 8 following the confirmation of the first COVID infection in my son’s class. After his initial bout of symptoms during the first week back physically in school my son has had a constant wave of symptoms. And last week was no different. Back with a vengeance was the sore throat, headache, blocked nose, nausea and diarrhoea. So he was again tested, again negative. But he still has symptoms, and according to the advice above should be tested for a second time this week.
Is he having fun yet?
No he’s not.
On top of this 12 lessons were dropped from his timetable last week alone. Sick and quarantining teachers. This bit he minds less than the infection risk. However, his parents mind a lot.
Infections in the school last week were six times the number they were the week before.
Don’t get me wrong, I know school are up against it. Schools were already struggling. And a pandemic hasn’t made things easier. However, our own personal experience is not positive. Not even remotely positive.
What worries more is that this may just be the tip of the iceberg we are about to hit.
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