In accordance with the amendment, pre-school institutions, general education schools, and vocational training institutions will receive information from the Estonian Health Board about students or children going to kindergarten who have tested positive for COVID-19 in a PCR test to identify people who were in contact with them at school or kindergarten.
The Estonian Health Board will send the relevant information only to the head of the educational institution or a person appointed by them and, in the case of a vocational education institution or general education school, also to the health care provider of the school. Based on this information, the head of the educational institution or a person appointed by them can inform the Estonian Health Board about people who have come into contact with the infected child and the board will then identify the close contacts.
Pursuant to the current order, the Estonian Health Board only notifies schools and kindergartens if someone has received a positive test result in a class or group. As the identities of infected persons are not publicly known, schools are currently unable to identify the people who have been in contact with them. The only option is to hope that the infected person or their legal representative will notify the school themselves. If the circle of close contacts is not identified, the virus may spread in the school. On the other hand, if the circle of close contacts includes too many people, the restrictions also apply to those who have not had any contact with the infected person.
The order issued by the government today will enter into force on 15 November. The order together with the explanatory memorandum will be published in Riigi Teataja and on the website kriis.ee.
