To write to school to tell them not to give my 7 year old a LFT

[drspouse]

Letter home from school.
If a child shows symptoms of COVID the school team will administer a LFT and ring us afterwards.
If we want them to ring first we need to tell them by writing in their home school diary.
NO.
If my DD has COVID symptoms she needs isolation and a PCR. Done at home. By me.
This is my (mainly) NT child but she screamed and kicked when she had a PCR test (and turned out to have COVID). So on the one hand... Good luck to them!
But I'm not giving her an LFT with symptoms anyway!

This sound perfectly sensible to me. The teachers/staff will then get an immediate result which if positive means they can take action straight away as being a close contact.

Leaving it down to parents means the information is delayed by days depending on whether the parent goes immediately to a PCR testing location.....or goes home, books for the following day or day after....or requests a postal test......and it can be 24 hours onwards to get the information.......Some parents will not prioritise this because they are busy with work or other commitments. Some parents will not do a LFT at all and prefer to just do the PCR.

I would imagine the child puts the swab in their own nose....so no staff member is doing anything invasive. I would be happy for this to happen at my kids school and happy for staff to administer the tests.

@Mumdiva99

This sound perfectly sensible to me. The teachers/staff will then get an immediate result which if positive means they can take action straight away as being a close contact.

Leaving it down to parents means the information is delayed by days depending on whether the parent goes immediately to a PCR testing location.....or goes home, books for the following day or day after....or requests a postal test......and it can be 24 hours onwards to get the information.......Some parents will not prioritise this because they are busy with work or other commitments. Some parents will not do a LFT at all and prefer to just do the PCR.

I would imagine the child puts the swab in their own nose....so no staff member is doing anything invasive. I would be happy for this to happen at my kids school and happy for staff to administer the tests.

Totally agree. It allows the school to respond far more quickly, and mitigate the chances of spread.

It's highly likely that they would ask a seven year old to swab his nostrils himself. As a pp said, with the new tests it's no more uncomfortable than picking your nose.

I imagine that your DC's reaction in the past was at having it done to him. Which is a much more uncomfortable process both physically and psychologically.

Surely they should get consent each time they do it. As a medical procedure doing this without consent is assault?

You may not wish to do an LFT or PCR and would prefer just to isolate for 10 days. Parental (and child) choice.

@Antsinmypantsneedtodance

Surely they should get consent each time they do it. As a medical procedure doing this without consent is assault?

You may not wish to do an LFT or PCR and would prefer just to isolate for 10 days. Parental (and child) choice.

I think you can get some sort of blanket consent can't you? To avoid having to ask every time. But I may be wrong, it's a few years since my DC were that age!

I agree that the OP should have been asked rather than informed, it sounds like communication was not handled terribly well. But I can't say I'd have a particular problem with the school wanting to administer LFTs.

If my DD has a cough and/or a fever it makes no difference whether her LFT is positive as she'd have to come home for a PCR in either case. You can't put a symptomatic child back in the classroom without a negative PCR! That's even more bonkers.

This goes beyond the guidance from DfE updated yesterday on how to deal with children developing symptoms in primary settings. The guidance states that the child should be sent home asap and kept in a well-ventilated isolated room until they are picked up. Testing remains the responsibility of parents/guardians, no mention of administering LFTs to symptomatic children onsite.

I think OP would be well within her rights to query why the school is acting outside the DfE guidance and under whose advice it is following in doing so. They are increasing the likelihood of staff contracting COVID by increasing close contact with a symptomatic child whilst administering the test for one thing.

Not heard of any primaries around us doing this.

If my DD has a cough and/or a fever it makes no difference whether her LFT is positive as she'd have to come home for a PCR in either case.

What about a sore throat and headache ? (Commonest 2 symptoms) ?

@Neurodiversitydoctor

If my DD has a cough and/or a fever it makes no difference whether her LFT is positive as she'd have to come home for a PCR in either case.

What about a sore throat and headache ? (Commonest 2 symptoms) ?

If I went by the PHE guidance she wouldn't be eligible for a PCR but I'd still be happier to give her a test (having lied on the form). If school think she shouldn't be in the classroom with these, she needs a PCR. If they think they can send her back in with a negative LFT, but these ARE symptoms, they are being reckless.

But we cannot isolate every person with a headache/snottynose/ sore throat and give them a PCR there aren't enough to go round as it is. What harm is an LFT in this case ?

If they think they can send her back in with a negative LFT, but these ARE symptoms, they are being reckless.

I very much doubt that they're put her straight back into class with symptoms, even if she was negative. I suspect that they want to react as quickly as they can should it be positive. Either that, or they've had parents claiming a negative LFT, when they haven't actually done one.

@Neurodiversitydoctor

But we cannot isolate every person with a headache/snottynose/ sore throat and give them a PCR there aren't enough to go round as it is. What harm is an LFT in this case ?

It seems pointless to rely on it, though. Either under-11s need regular LFTs whether or not they have a cold/sore throat/headache OR they only need them if they have a cough or a fever (or are off chocolate which would be VERY serious in my DD case).

And if I'm doing the test, I'd rather I did a PCR once to be sure (DD is pretty OK with a day of home learning).

And honestly we'd rather the teachers weren't bitten or kicked...

Either under-11s need regular LFTs whether or not they have a cold/sore throat/headache OR they only need them if they have a cough or a fever (or are off chocolate which would be VERY serious in my DD case)

Why do you say this ?

No teachers should be bitten or kicked. Most NT 7os are capable of doing a nose swab without this happening.

Why do you say this ?
It's PHE advice (and my LA advice) and I'd rather follow that than the school (not medically qualified) or someone on the internet.

Can you link where it says that ?
I do think that all school children should be doing LFTs TBH, but aware this is not policy.

Most responsible parents and people would do an (extra) LFT if they had cold symptoms, I think not to is socially irresponsible.

@Neurodiversitydoctor

Can you link where it says that ? I do think that all school children should be doing LFTs TBH, but aware this is not policy.

The advice at assets.publishing.service.gov.uk › ...PDF Schools COVID-19 operational guidance - GOV.UK says only secondary pupils should do asymptomatic testing. PCR tests and an immediate return home are required for pupils of any age who show symptoms, and the NHS say the symptoms are cough, fever and loss of taste/smell

www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/symptoms/coronavirus-in-children/

I'm not sure why you think this has changed, this has been the advice for ages.

I'm happy to do a PCR test on DD, but I'm not giving school free rein to do what they feel like (including putting their staff at risk!)
I have a job that involves getting people's consent including for things like using their data. I can't just decide I can not bother getting consent if it's easier not to.

I don't think the school will be wanting to do it with regard to your dc as such, but so they have advance warning that a Covid positive pupil was in the class. They might not find out from the parent for days (if at all).

@dementedpixie

Because with the false negative rate of LFT a negative result couldn't be trusted to be a true result.

90-95% accuracy. Very few false positives so it makes sense to take lft. If positive no need to get PCR. Just isolate. Government says this now

@turnaroundtime that only applies to asymptomatic cases

@Drunkpanda

I don't think the school will be wanting to do it with regard to your dc as such, but so they have advance warning that a Covid positive pupil was in the class. They might not find out from the parent for days (if at all).

They have specifically said they will administer it. Did you read my OP?

Anyway the note is sent, no reply though.

[quote Thebig3]@saraclara

It may seem sensible to some people but where does it stop? What about parents who have to go to work still and now can't because their children aren't at school? If my husband tested positive I could still go to work as I'm fully vaccinated but my kids could go to school?[/quote]
What would you do if your child has symptoms then? It's exactly the same. So are you saying we should ignore symptoms and send them in regardless to spread it to the other children and parents? Because the selfish parents who are doing exactly this are a big part of the problem and the reason why many schools will close by stealth due to staff shortages.

OP while I wish Primary schools could do this because it would stop a great deal of spread, they can't, as they need explicit consent from parents.

@Thebig3

This is appalling! There seems to be many cases of things like this happening in schools etc seems many schools are going against government guidelines and making up their own rules.

Our school (primary) has just brought in a rule that if anyone tests positive for covid in the house then no child can attend school for 5 days and must have a negative pcr before they return. This is not in the gov guidelines at all!

This one I agree with, despite household isolation (chn / fully vacc'd) not being in the guidelines for England and Wales. I am a contact tracer and have seen how covid spreads through households. We kept DD1 off when DD2 tested positive. With primary children in particular where there is no social distancing it can rip through a class very easily.

@luckylavender the advice is that a positive LFT is so highly likely to be a true positive there is no requirement to follow up with PCR.

LFTs are not, and never have been, 'green light tests' because they are not as sensitive as PCR. They are useful for screening, but are not accurate enough to rule out covid if you have symptoms.

LFTs are not, and never have been, 'green light tests' because they are not as sensitive as PCR. They are useful for screening, but are not accurate enough to rule out covid if you have symptoms.

This is what makes the school policy extra crazy. What are they going to do with a symptomatic child who has a negative LFT? They have to send them home. Same as if it was positive.