The majority of Finnish municipalities quarantine an entire class when one student tests positive for coronavirus, but in Helsinki authorities changed their approach to school exposures at the end of November.
City authorities decided that, based on an epidemiological risk assessment, it was not necessary to quarantine entire class groups.
In practice, this means that if a student tests positive for the virus, about half or only a handful of students in the class are quarantined, regardless of whether or not the students have been wearing masks.
In the second week of November, before the policy changed, there were coronavirus exposures in a total of 27 Helsinki primary schools. 631 pupils were placed in quarantine.
In the second week of December, after the policy update, there were exposures in 28 primary schools in Helsinki, but only about half as many students were quarantined.
Policy change based on infection data
According to Sanna Isosomppi, Chief Physician of Epidemiological Operations in Helsinki, the city’s decision in November was based on data collected and analysed during the autumn, which showed that exposed students posed a low risk of further infection in schools.
"The Infectious Diseases Act allows us to make individual judgments on quarantine. When an exposure situation is detected, the people who were found to be in close contact with the infected case are considered on an individual basis, that is, who needs to be quarantined," Isosomppi told Yle.
According to statistics compiled by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), a total of 42,914 people were exposed to coronavirus in schools and nurseries in Finland during the autumn term. Of those, 1.4 percent, or 588 people, became infected with the virus. The figures include exposures to both children and staff.
Story continues after the photo.
Isosomppi compares the school classroom to a train carriage, saying the law does not differentiate schools from other public spaces.
"We use the same legal criteria as, for example, when an infected person travels in a train carriage for six hours, in which case we do not automatically quarantine the whole carriage but only close contacts if the passenger can name them," Isosomppi explained.
"We must take into account the risk of infection when using a means that severely restricts individual freedom. Quarantine is one such example, and therefore must be justified," she added.
Virus variants considered separately
However, the detection of new, potentially more-contagious variants of the coronavirus have led the city authorities to reconsider the policy.
"In our risk assessments, we take into account the more contagious spread of variant strains in relation to previously found strains. In the case of exposure to a confirmed or suspected variant strain, we will quarantine those exposed more extensively," Isosomppi said.
She added that information about a possible virus variant comes from clinical laboratories about a day after the test is taken, and in such a case, authorities will act as if it were a confirmed virus variant.
"All persons will be quarantined for suspected exposure to variants, according to national guidelines, and they will be tested at least twice, regardless of symptoms," she said.
Isosomppi also said she hoped that parents will pay more attention to the encounters between children and young people in their free time and hobbies.
"As a message to parents, I would say that if a child meets schoolmates in his or her free time, then hygiene measures like those taken school environment should not be neglected. For example, if children wear masks at school but do not wear them in their spare time, there is a significantly higher risk of infection than in the school environment," she advised.
You can listen to the full All Points North podcast on the impact of coronavirus on children's hobbies in Finland via the embedded player here or via Yle Areena, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or your usual podcast player using the RSS feed.
