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Starting Monday, stricter rules will apply in Lucerne schools. The mask requirement now applies to junior high and junior high schools.
(cza) Given the current situation around the Covid-19 pandemic, the Department of Education and Culture has decided to adapt the protection measures currently in force in schools. As the canton announced on Wednesday, a mask requirement for high school students will apply from next Monday. In kindergarten and elementary school, the mask requirement only applies to teachers and third parties, for example parents.
Now students in lower secondary school and vocational schools must also wear a mask. For the upper classes of primary school, the obligation has been in effect since the beginning of the school year. According to the notification, there is no general mask requirement in schools’ outdoor facilities, but it applies if the distance of 1.5 meters cannot be maintained.
In music lessons, a mask is required even when singing.
Among other things, the following measures were decided for physical education: No contact sports, it is mandatory to wear a mask in the wardrobes. The protection framework concepts for individual grade levels are being updated and will be available online starting Thursday afternoon.
Masks are even more a part of everyday school life in the canton of Lucerne as of Monday.
The canton also announced an innovation regarding contact tracing. In order to be able to inform those affected as quickly as possible and to further optimize processes, the canton’s contact-tracking team now first contacts those who have tested positive, the so-called index people, by SMS.
The automatically sent message is initial information. It contains the instruction to isolate yourself immediately. Furthermore, those affected are asked to inform close contact persons themselves so that they can go into quarantine as a precautionary measure. A member of the contact tracing team will call the index person as soon as possible and discuss the next steps with them.
Automation provides relief
The additional SMS message to all index persons is only used to inform those affected as soon as possible and thus interrupt the chain of infection as soon as possible. Success largely depends on the quality of the data in the lab reports (mobile phone numbers). The wrong mobile phone numbers mean that the people in the index cannot be contacted earlier by SMS. As before, the contact persons will be informed by SMS before the quarantine confirmation is sent to them. Nothing changes in this procedure.
The exponential growth in the number of cases in recent days has surprised many experts. Automated processes are necessary to continue to ensure contact tracing.
Recruitment is in full swing
The contact tracing team will be greatly expanded. Health Director Guido Graf announced it on Monday. In view of the rapid increase in the number of cases, up to 30 people are recruited. Recruitment is in full swing. The seven members of the civil defense are guaranteed to continue working on locating contacts until mid-November. Contact tracing is currently carried out by civil defense, the department of health and sports and the Central Swiss Lung League. The teams from the Lung League and the Sports and Health Service will meet at the end of October.
