Clarity on when primary school pupils will have to quarantine after a high-risk contact
Late on Saturday clarity was given on the issue of whether primary schoolchildren need to quarantine after having had a high-risk contact with a member of their own family. The answer is yet. Primary school children that have had a high-risk contact with a member of their own family will not be allowed to break their quarantine to attend school after all.
With term set to start tomorrow (Monday 10 January) new quarantine regulations with come into force in the country’s schools. Initially the rules had stated that a child could leave quarantine after having had a high-risk contact providing that they are asymptomatic. However, the Pupil Guidance Centres (CLBs) expressed concerns and asked for the rule to be modified.
On Saturday, Stefan Grielens of the Free CLB Network requested that the measure be tightened and a distiction made between family members and others.
On Saturday evening Belgium’s various health and education ministers issued a clarification. A child will only be allowed to break quarantine if the high-risk contact took place outside the family.
In an interview with the press agency Belga the Flemish Education Minister Ben Weyts (nationalist) said “When a pupil has a high-risk contact outside the family, that pupil can still go to school – because the right to learn is essential,” Flemish Education Minister. Of course, the risk is too high when the high-risk contact is within the family”.