To think this is ridiculous (School & PCR)

[ffscovid]

So I've woken this morning to an email from school saying that due to the current situation, they'd like every child to take a PCR test and will only be allowed back to school this week if negative.
Even if we all rushed to the test centre this morning (450+ kids in the school!), it's bordering on unlikely that the results would be back before school tomorrow, meaning most families will now have to take short-notice leave as it's a primary school so childcare will be an issue if we can't send the kids in.
We're actually away for the weekend which makes this more complicated as I need to find a test centre near to where I'm staying and probably mess up our plans for the day (or do one when we're home which would be tomorrow now as we're not due back until late, delaying our likely return to school as it will probably be Tuesday before the results would come back).
Are school even allowed to do this?

I would just do LFTs

Makes sense. Lots of cases

Dd4 has had a few pcr due to coughing

The other week 15/30 of class got calls to collect for pcr as all coughing

So yes you may be inconvienced for a day or so why wait for results

Often back within 24hrs tho obv some are later

@Senmumm2021

I would just do LFTs

Our school asks for email proof

And must be pcr

Schools really can't win can they? Damn those head teachers trying to keep your children and their staff safe.

@Beseen22

If the kids are all asymptomatic and its for outbreak control/public health request would all the children need to isolate until the results? We have an outbreak on our ward and all staff have been tested but we just tested on shift and then only isolated if positive.

No, children are allowed back in whilst waiting for results. It was chaotic in our school when their results came back and so many were positive we had a room full of positive children waiting to be collected

Do the test, but as it is just community testing you should be able to still attend school while waiting on results, as this is not due to symptoms.

Yes they are allowed to do this in outbreak situations (DH works for UKHSA looking after schools with Covid outbreaks)

Wouldn’t bother me. Better than a messed up Christmas.

Used to be Public Health England but they’ve changed their name to UK Health Security Agency or something like that. But anyway that’s his job and when there is onsite transmission this is what they are telling schools to do.

@Blondeshavemorefun I would be refusing and pursuing it higher

What I think is ridiculous is that anyone would think it was ridiculous. What a strong, proactive move for the school to be taking. I’m sure they’re following advice.

[quote Senmumm2021]@Blondeshavemorefun I would be refusing and pursuing it higher[/quote]
@Senmumm2021 refusing testing and complaint

Why ?

@BarefootHippieChick

No wonder results are taking so bloody long to come back for those who actually need them, when tons of people are doing them who don't need them 🙄

Is that why they take so long then? Sheer volume of tests? I just thought the testing process takes ages regardless.

They do if schools hitting 20% positive cases.

Dear Secretary Of State For Education

I wish to formally complain that my child’s school is attempting to instigate a circuit break, to stall the rapid increase in cases of Covid-19 in the school.

It is extremely unreasonable that the school authorities wish to protect the community in which they serve.

My suspicion is that the staff wish to have a Christmas party, and this is a poorly veiled attempt to empty the school.

I cannot arrange childcare for one day, whilst waiting for test results. I demand to exercise my right to potentially have to isolate over Christmas and/or provide childcare for ten days.

Please intervene on my behalf

Yours faithfully,

A N Idiot

musicalfrog yes, they're genuinely struggling with the amount of tests, especially in areas with more people testing. There should be some way of ensuring those who have symptoms or are actually ill get their results before those doing tests 'just because'. Last lot we did took over 3 days to come back, and that was only after a phonecall which escalated it.

What do you think @Senmumm2021? Is this the sort of thing you had in mind?

Our school sent home a whole class for PCR's a few weeks ago, saying they would not be allowed in without doing so. Dd who had no symptoms came back positive. This was PHE advice as the class had been on a residential and there was a positive case.

We had an email on Friday again asking to take PCR tests over the weekend as one class has a few cases and the dc have been doing their Christmas performances together.

They will have been advised to do this by PHE. It could save yours and others Christmas if they test positive now.

Thanks @BarefootHippieChick I hope we don't get to a point again where tests are hard to find. That was a real low point.

I suppose it's whether schools shut for ages again or they try and genuinely break the circuit to try and reset back to zero.
(Not foolproof due to incubation period as said up thread, but still)

We had a whole school of 450 pupils asked to do this - there were outbreaks throughout the school and close contacts are asked to do pcr rather than lft. This is a totally normal request.

Surely it’s better schools do this than close completely? It’s public health advise they’ve probably got cases throughout the school and surely it’s better to do so now before Christmas than everyone catching covid and isolating over the Christmas period!

This is a pointless waste of resources. A family member of mine has been testing negative for the past few days and had 5 lft and one pcr and only retested because she had been a close contact and had symptoms. The second pcr was positive and she wasn't surprised. My point is the children could test negative and still have it, you absolutely cannot rely on these tests to pick it up.

Had all our drive in results back within 12-15 hours this week but I appreciates this isn't the same for everyone.