The wave of Omicron infections has strongly impacted school life in recent weeks, and the potential for children to develop Long Covid is of particular concern to some parents.
Our colleagues from RTL spoke to Alain Massen, president of the National Parent Council, about the difficulties of easing concerns.
In the case of Covid, explained Massen, the direct effects on people’s health should not be forgotten, but the long-term consequences of restrictions on children’s mental wellbeing must also be taken into account.
A balance between caution and freedom is needed, he argued: “We cannot live in fear all the time and risk passing this anxiety on to our children. If parents are worried, children are worried! I therefore think that we need nuance when setting up reasonable measures to have a better impact. After all, children tend not to get very sick.”
Nevertheless, parents still have concerns over complications and the potential for developing Long Covid. A group of five parents met via Facebook last week and have now issued an open letter with questions addressed at Minister of Education Claude Meisch and Minister of Health Paulette Lenert.
Marthe Schmit, one of the authors, has long been active on the Luxembourg City Parent Council and had already expressed a desire for stricter measures in December last year. Her position has remained unchanged since: “We still don’t know a lot about the effects of Long Covid in children, but current indicators are not very promising. People are worried.”
Massen does not share this position, stressing that there are several measures in place and that the virus is omnipresent: “It is difficult to assess whether children contract the virus in schools or at home. I therefore think it is not right to label schools as infection hotspots.”
Air purifiers remain a point of contention. Some towns have introduced them in their schools without the support of the government, including Bertrange, Koerich, and Luxembourg City.
Schmit believes that there should be a level playing field for all and argues that air purifiers increase safety: “It is clearly an important factor, otherwise we would not have to open windows all the time. The advantage of purifiers is that they are always working, there is no need to wait for a CO2 indicator to tell you to open a window.”
The National Parent Council is in favour of purifiers, but they should be installed everywhere to give everyone the same standard.
Open letter to the Ministries of Education and Health of Luxembourg
Luxembourg, 25-01-2022
The current situation in schools in our country is very worrying, due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. The number of positive cases is increasing daily. However, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health do not seem to have taken into consideration the following two important parameters:
a) the risk of serious illness for children and teachers, as well as their families, and the potential consequences of Long COVID;
b) the fact that, due to the high number of new cases, there are a lot of absences among teachers and other members of the staff at schools, and this poses a risk to the quality of education offered to students.
So, we believe that it is time to react, unite with other parents and teachers, and go public with a letter that the government cannot, and should not, ignore.
Marthe Schmit
Marie Parlevliet
Irene Schildbach
Laurent Kneip
Ida Gyurian
Philippe Kirsch
