Corona – – Children are not likely to infect others

It shows figures from the Icelandic health authorities. They have chosen to keep younger children in kindergarten and at school throughout the epidemic. On Monday, the Norwegian children will return to the nursery.

The purpose of being open in Iceland was to ensure that adults with important occupations were put to work, writes Iceland’s Assistant Director of Health, Kjartan Hreinn Njálsson, in an email to Dagbladet.

– Keeping schools open also leads to less absenteeism among essential workers and maintenance of important routines for children, writes Njálsson.

According to figures that Dagbladet received from local authorities in Iceland’s capital Reykjavík, 0.1 percent of kindergarten children and 0.3 percent of primary school students are infected with the virus by 14 of April.

On April 14, 1.6 percent of kindergarten employees and 0.7 percent of elementary school employees were infected with the virus.

Don’t think that children are infecting others

Four weeks ago, the Norwegian government introduced the most radical measures in peacetime. They closed large parts of the country to fight the infection.

Schools and kindergartens will now gradually reopen.

– The way each country introduces measures to stop the spread of Covid-19 is different, writes Njálsson.

In Iceland, young children have been to school and kindergarten all the time.

“Although children can definitely be infected by the virus, it is unlikely, in our estimation, that they will infect others,” writes Njalsson.

– Write simple and direct because children tend to be asymptomatic or have a very mild illness.

droplet infection

The coronavirus infects mainly through infection by drops, that is, by coughing, sneezing, or the like. Therefore, since children generally have mild symptoms and therefore little cough, Iceland believes that keeping them in school was justifiable.

– It was considered appropriate to keep schools open with restrictions on, for example, group size, and to ensure that different groups do not mix, writes Njálsson.

Teachers have also been instructed to maintain good personal hygiene.

Divide the nursery

In a letter from health authorities to the schools Dagbladet has accessed, they write that there can be a maximum of 20 children in each classroom, and additional washing of toys, door handles and the like must be provided.

Helgi Grimsson, director of school and leisure in Reykjavik Municipality, writes in an email to Dagbladet that they do not include parents or others in kindergarten buildings, and that not all children go to school every days.

– Only about half of the children are in kindergarten at all times. Each class is divided into two groups, Group A and Group B. Group A comes three days a week and Group B two days, and then they change the following week, Grimsson writes.

He also claims that elementary school classes make sure to use only one classroom per class, and works to minimize contact between different classes.

The school day is also significantly reduced, and for 1st – 4th class, the school day lasts two to four hours. To compensate for this, students have more homework.

The reason they have shorter school days is that cleaners need more time to do their laundry properly.

They have no arts and crafts classes or gym, and the dining rooms are closed.

Try many

Iceland is among the countries that have evaluated the most people per capita.

Out of a population of around 350,000 people, they have now tested approximately 36,339 people, or about 10 percent of the population.

On Wednesday, 130,216 were screened for the virus in Norway, for a population of just under 5.4 million. This corresponds to about 2.4 percent.