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Tuesday, September 29, 2020
It is not yet clear what role schools will play in the corona pandemic. Charité’s virologist, Drosten, warns that they “watch” the situation. However, in the case of corona cases in schools, the entire facility should not be shut down immediately. Instead, Drosten advises specific measures.
How will the wave of corona infections affect school operations? And what role do schools play in the pandemic? Christian Drosten, head of virology at the Berlin Charité, points out in the NDR’s Corona podcast that figures from other countries such as France or Canada “show very clearly that there are outbreaks everywhere in schools.” The situation in German schools must also be “taken into account”, especially since the autumn holidays.
For Germany, he demands, there must be transparent data. Because he critically highlighted two observations: On the one hand, schools would be partially or completely closed if students or teachers tested positive for Sars-CoV-2, but this was not absolutely necessary. Because it could also be infections that “entered from outside”, that is, those affected were infected outside of school. “Then he might react too quickly, “says Drosten.
On the other hand, Drosten complains that little is known about the contagion process in schools because people are already there before summer break. in some federal states about him I have determined the interpretation “that there is no case in the schools ”. However, the fact that many studies on schools came from the time during or shortly after closure was ignored, which was the case in Germany, “there is simply no incidence, “Drosten said.
It is important, the NDR researcher emphasizes, to recognize outbreaks in schools at an early stage, which is quite possible, because “a school outbreak that sways for weeks” means that there is enough time to react. If this is unsuccessful, Drosten warns, there is a risk that children and youth will bring infections home from schools, where their parents could become infected. This age group would then have a high incidence, which is problematic because “these age groups also have patients at risk.”
“Test better and faster”
But how can outbreaks in schools be quickly controlled without shutting down facilities? Drosten suggests that antigen testing be used in schools as well. They are much easier to use than PCR tests and often provide a result in a short time. “In autumn we have to adjust to the fact that tests are done better and faster, and that should also apply to teachers and students,” said the virologist.
To prevent school leaks from occurring, Drosten also put into play the idea of a combination of brief quarantine and isolation for affected groups, which he describes as a “cool down.” This would only take a few days to apply to “allow emerging clusters to shrink.” This could avoid having to close schools.
On the NDR podcast, Drosten also commented on the debate over the reliability of PCR tests for the corona virus. In view of claims on social media that the tests are often false positives and sometimes only found fragments of the virus, the virologist said: “Without a complete virus genome, there is no virus residue.” There is also no confusion with other viruses like other cold viruses and coronaviruses, he added. “The PCR is simply out of the question.”
