This time, it is false positives that send the school system into a tailspin. The new anti-Covid health protocol (governed by the Ministry of Education on 8 November) provides in fact “a swab to be carried out as soon as possible from the moment in which the contact is informed (” zero time “T0)”. Thus in the 411 Roman high schools, for a total of 187 thousand students, the race for rapid tampons has begun. The result? The increase in false positives that triggered quarantines and remote learning for entire sections. So, lost hours of face-to-face lessons and chaos for teachers and principals.

Covid, positive teacher: class in quarantine indeed n. The mother: “Race to tampons, ASL and pediatrician, my odyssey”

THE NUMBERS
“The problem is related to the type of evidence. To restore order and give precise directions to students, we need to go back to the old system and molecular swabs. There is no other solution »explains Cristina Costarelli, president of Assopresidi and head teacher of the Isacco Newton scientific high school in viale Manzoni. In fact, in the last week in the capital, out of about 800 classes that returned to distance learning, 150 returned after two days because the false quarantine was triggered for a positive. A situation that has spread patchily from Newton high school, to Aristotle, to the Virginia Woolf technical institute. Where, in essence, a student who was infected with Covid with a quick test instead tested negative with a molecular exam. Meanwhile, for two days the boys went home: «As soon as we understand that it is an error in the test, we call everyone back. In the last week – underlines the president of Assopresidi – it has been complicated to reorganize the system. We can’t go on like this for the whole year. ” Pending further changes, if they are approved, I update the lessons in fits and starts.

LESSONS AT HOME
While for students distance ones accumulate: 1,500 those lost in the last ten days. Once again, the numbers collected by school leaders explain what is happening in Roman schools: the average of false positives is 3 out of 10.

Therefore, a definitive solution has not yet been found for the management of cases in schools which resumed 100% in attendance last September. When principals and teachers, they had to deal with a new system of rules that took into account different times for returns. Because, after an ascertained positive contact, the return to the classroom was in dribs and drabs: after 7 days (for those who are vaccinated with negative swabs), 10 days (for those who are vaccinated with negative swabs), 14 days (without swabs). That is why the new rules were then activated. “But in order for them to be effective – Costarelli reiterates – it is necessary to request a molecular examination for a certain result”.