- As of 1 January 2023, the Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County is responsible for organising health and social services. The services can be found in the same locations as before.
- You can find up-to-date information on the website of the Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County at www.luvn.fi/en.(external link, opens in a new window)
Questions and answers on exposure situations in schools
A person who has been infected with the coronavirus disease COVID-19 (i.e. a person whose disease has been confirmed with a positive laboratory test and who usually also has symptoms of the disease) may expose and infect others.
Exposed persons are those who have been in close, unprotected contact with the infected person while he or she is infectious.
Read more: What to do if you have the coronavirus.
We can no longer curb the epidemic through contact tracing because the coronavirus is spreading faster than ever before. This has resulted in major backlogs in contact tracing. It is no longer possible to give individual advice to people who live in the same household as or have otherwise been in close contact with an infected person or to place these individuals in quarantine under the Communicable Diseases Act. As of 10 January 2022, authorities will gradually limit contact tracing to housing units for high-risk groups, nursing homes and health care units. People exposed in other situations, for example at home, workplaces, school and day care units, will no longer be placed in quarantine under the Communicable Diseases Act.
According to the City of Espoo’s Infectious Disease Unit, an asymptomatic child who has not tested positive can go to school or day care. A child or a young person can go to school or day care even if their family member has been diagnosed with coronavirus through an official test or a home test.
If a child has symptoms but is able to do schoolwork, the school will decide how the pupil’s work at home is guided during this period. The school will mainly be in contact with the pupil through Wilma and may, for example, give assignments to do at home. The school is responsible for giving assignments and related guidance to the pupil.
We ask guardians to inform the school of their child’s coronavirus infection as the health care authorities do not have the capacity for contact tracing.
Other guardians and staff are informed that there has been an exposure situation at school. The exact location or time of exposure will not be disclosed to protect the privacy of the children and adults.
According to the City of Espoo’s Infectious Disease Unit, an asymptomatic child who has not tested positive can go to school or day care. A child or a young person can go to school or day care even if their family member has been diagnosed with coronavirus through an official test or a home test.
If a child or a young person gets a positive test result (home or official test), they must stay at home as instructed by the Infectious Disease Unit.
Guardians should inform the school if a child or a young person tests positive (based on a home test or an official test). The school will inform guardians of possible exposures after receiving the information.
You must not come to school if you are ill. An asymptomatic child who has not tested positive can go to school or day care.
We ask guardians to inform the school of their child’s coronavirus infection as the health care authorities do not have the capacity for contact tracing. The school will inform guardians of possible exposures after receiving the information.
Other guardians and staff are informed that there has been an exposure situation at school. The exact location or time of exposure will not be disclosed to protect the privacy of the children and adults.
Not necessarily. The children may have contracted the virus in a hobby group, or they could be siblings who have been infected at home and who attend different grades at the same school. The two cases could also be entirely separate.
According to the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), face masks should be worn in all situations where it is difficult to avoid close contact with other people and which may involve a high risk of infection.
The risk of infection depends on various factors, such as the number of infections among the population, wintertime, the amount of time spent in the situation, the number of people in the space, vaccination coverage among the people in the space, the airing of the indoor space and the effectiveness of ventilation. The risk of infection is considerably higher indoors than outdoors.
Schools provide masks for their pupils and give advice on how to use them. Pupils can also use their own masks.
On 11 January 2022, the coronavirus coordination group for the Helsinki metropolitan area stated that national guidelines and instructions are expected for school-related testing and FFP2 masks.
The capital region municipalities have decided to stop organising distance learning because the infectious disease authorities, as a rule, no longer issue isolation decisions based on which distance learning decisions concerning individual pupils are made. Absences related to the coronavirus will be handled by schools in accordance with their normal practices concerning absences.
Decisions on distance learning may still be made, if necessary, if a pupil or their family member belongs to a risk group and in a situation where the city’s infectious disease doctor has made a decision on placing a pupil in isolation. Exceptional teaching arrangements may still be used in basic education if it is necessary for an entire class or classes to switch to distance learning.