Topics: covid-19, school, Sweden, Finland

After moving from Sweden to Finland with my family in 2020, I still get messages from both schools: my kids' school in Sweden and their school in Finland. How they are handling the situation is very different.

Thread.

Finland: If a child or a staff member has symptoms, they get tested. If it's positive, the tracers contact the school and place the exposed in quarantine and distance learning for two weeks. The families and the public are informed.

For example, where I live in Turku, you can read about the exposures here: https://www.turku.fi/en/news/2021-03-22_infections-and-exposures-detected-city-turku-units

When you quarantine the exposed, the new cases are often in quarantine already and less likely to infect any others. According to the newest report, 42% of the new cases were people who were already quarantined.

Finland's situation reports (in FIN/SWE): https://thl.fi/sv/web/infektionssjukdomar-och-vaccinationer/aktuellt/aktuellt-om-coronaviruset-covid-19/lagesoversikt-om-coronaviruset/uppfoljning-av-coronaviruslaget

Some measures the school in Finland has in place to reduce the risk: masks, avoid mixing groups or rotating staff, ventilation, sports outside, no singing. These don't apply to all schools in Finland, but many of them are general recommendations. https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1383123289665642500

During the pandemic, our school in Finland has had 3-4 cases. Here's a (machine-translated) screenshot of one of the messages I received (my child was not among the exposed): a quarantine for the exposed pupils and teachers. The cases haven't led to spread in the school.

Can't say the same about the school in Sweden. They are not to blame - they're following the rules. Until Dec 2020, the rules instructed that children must go to school even when their family has covid. School attendance is compulsory in Sweden even during he pandemic.

In spring, before we moved, people weren't even tested in Sweden if they weren't admitted to hospital for covid. Sweden told the world covid-19 didn't spread in Swedish schools although they were open, but the truth is they didn't test and still don't keep track.

I publish this thread already so as not to lose it if my browser crashes *again*. I'll soon continue on the school in Sweden: how it handles the cases - following the rules - and what the result has been so far, according to the messages that the school has sent to us parents.

The messages are machine-translations.

March: Some staff members were sick. No "new confirmed cases of covid so far". This would imply there were earlier cases, and I think I've read about them but I can't find any mention of them now.

The school in Sweden: "If you have covid in the family, please inform the school." In Finland, the school wouldn't need to ask families to do this. The contact tracers would tell the school and order quarantines.

I found the earlier message from two weeks back: A confirmed case. There is tracing but it's done by families. The school promises to help the parents in contacting the exposed. What happens when the family hears their child has been exposed? It doesn't say.

So, a confirmed case. Two weeks later, several staff members sick. Then, confirmed case among the staff and lots of people sick at school. All the school can do is to ask the families to watch for symptoms, test their children and inform the school.

Soon: So many teachers sick that the school can't function normally. They fix it by rotating teachers and closing earlier. But it's still "working very well", and the situation is "calm and stable".

In the area, several schools have had to close completely due to lack of staff.

Three weeks from the first reported case:
- another confirmed case among the staff
- "a few isolated cases" among the pupils
- cases among families

They still can't do more than ask families to pay attention to symptoms, take the test and inform the school.

More confirmed cases among the pupils. "Pay extra attention to symptoms."

A week from now: covid among the pupils and their families. "Pay extra attention to symptoms."

The school has been the neighbourhood's corona hub for two months getting staff, pupils and families sick, and all that can be done is to pay extra attention to symptoms.

I'm ending this thread now (as of now), but I have a feeling this is not the end of the infections at the school. This is why we moved to Finland last summer and why I'm not keen on returning before Swedish school children are better protected. https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1343974423502716930

Finland: Some recent examples of school or daycare exposures and quarantines.

These are published on each municipality's website and often in the media, too.

An example from Sweden: Child has been exposed to covid-19 but still has to go to school - no quarantines. So if the kid didn't get sick earlier, they might get it from another exposed pupil. Watch for symptoms. It's very mild. Kids aren't very infectious. https://twitter.com/JeremyVyska/status/1389115710144720896