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How the spread of infection can be kept as low as possible when children and young people are reunited in their classrooms is currently a hot topic in Germany. Most of the nation’s schools have been conducting distance learning since December, but now schools in several states have reopened. Others plan to do so in the coming weeks. The spread of the infection in the country has slowed since the turn of the year, and demands to reopen schools come from more and more places.
Several research groups have recently put forward proposals for methods and guidelines that will help reduce the risk of spreading the infection when students return. Johannes Hübner, a physician and head of the infection department at the LMU University Hospital Munich, belongs to the group of epidemiologists, virologists and pediatricians who developed the so-called “Lollipop method”.
– This is a quick and easy method, which can be done without doctors or nurses on site, he tells DN.
The test strategy is based on have saliva samples from all students in a class collected and mixed. Then a single PCR test is performed on the entire class of samples, and only if it is positive are the students examined one by one.
In March, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that schools would be closed to reduce the risk of infection. During the fall, most of the schools were open and then closed again in December.
Photo: Sven Hoppe / TT
During the test, students will chew on cotton balls that the researchers compare to candy canes, which has given the strategy the name “Lollipop method.” To date, it has been tested on 3,500 schoolchildren and teachers in Cologne. Test subjects found to be infected with COVID-19 were sent home from school, and the others were able to continue learning at the site.
The research group behind the method belongs to one of the 13 networks that have received support from the German education and research authority, BMBF, to conduct studies on covid-19. The initiative, valued at 150 million euros, was presented by the Minister of Research, Anja Karliczek, in October last year.
– We need effective methods to be able to treat patients with covid in the best way. And we need to find the best possible strategies to prevent the spread of the infection, he said then.
Read more: Amina Manzoor: That’s why schools are open despite a second wave
If so, how often, the tests that will be used are not determined, in part because it is an expensive method. According to the researchers’ calculations, the cost of testing 10 percent of students twice a week would be equivalent to SEK 1.1 million per week, for a city with 1 million inhabitants.
Johannes Hübner says that the tests will not be able to be comprehensive and that it is also a logistical challenge to get schools to start using them.
– It is not enough to demand proof, you have to make sure that there is staff and money for the strategy to work.
Recently, another research group, made up of epidemiologists, doctors and teachers, also released a series of guidelines on how schools should be able to open in the most infectious way possible. Eva Rehfuess, a professor of public health and one of the project leaders, says she and her colleagues propose a number of measures.
– The most important thing is to be careful with hygiene, keep your distance, ventilate and use mouth guards.
Read more: “This virus feeds on injustices in society”
The research group also recommends teaching in small groups and the least possible contact between the different classes. Students should preferably be divided into smaller groups, which take turns teaching at a distance and at school.
Eva Rehfuess says that the guidelines can serve as a guide for decision-makers, but that responsible politicians must decide whether or not they should be followed.
– In Germany, states are responsible for how schools handle the corona pandemic. However, it is important that the schools themselves have room to decide how they implement the rules, for example, if they want to teach one group of students a whole week before they host the next group, or if they want to change every day. .
Read more: “Here is chaos”: German families are struggling with distance education
