weekly test for school teachers? Anyone know?

[Summerhope1]

Does school teacher have access to weekly test? I know university offer their teaching staff who offer face to face lessons regular test, but I don't hear about school teachers.

@Ivalueloyaltyaboveallelse

There is a trial out in a certain area as a family member is a teacher. All teachers along with all children are tested every week.

Is this primary or secondary do you mind me asking? I’m just wondering if it is for all staff and pupils of a large 1000+ secondary school or a small primary school.

The newspapers are all reporting about how mass testing is now seen as the way out of problems. The pilot is due to be launched in Liverpool on Friday involving the army. I'm slightly dubious about this because its being pitched as a new trial the original trial in Manchester although declared a success was abandoned to help efforts of lack of testing - and crucially - it was still low on number of tests it was performing.

The Liverpool Echo is tonight reporting on this new plan and has a list of groups to be priortised in the scheme.

The same document states that a number of specific groups of people will be prioritised first for the quickfire testing programme.
These groups would be:
1. Front-line NHS staff (including trainees and trainers), to protect health services and save lives, including non-COVID-19 related conditions where there is already a significant risk of harm.
2. Front-line social care staff, including domiciliary care and affiliated visiting professionals
3. Emergency service staff
4. Education staff at schools, colleges and higher education institutions
5. University students
6. Key workers, to maintain essential services, in particular prison staff
7. School pupils
8. Workers in hospitality/leisure/at-risk sectors
9. Contacts of those identified by the NHS Test and Trace system

Source

Testing teachers would not be an appropriate use of limited testing capacity at all. Capacity needs to be focused on protecting the most vulnerable- particularly care homes.

I also think testing teachers would result in the unions kicking off and parents withdrawing D.C. This would not help us keep schools open.

Hopefully we will soon begin to see the benefits of the herd immunity gained from schools and universities returning.

Nope. But school have paired up with a private testing company, teachers can pay £75 for a private test if they want to.

No test.
No flu jab.
No PPE.

And Johnson has worded things carefully, but has basically said that schools aren't safe, so staff should be on the list for regular tests. He's close to admitting that 'covid-secure schools' is a bullshit phrase.

Hopefully we will soon begin to see the benefits of the herd immunity

This is not a thing. HTH

They're offering antibody tests to teachers and other school staff in Scotland for research purposes...

Yes, and the website offering that will accept applications from teachers in England and Wales, but as yet won't send out the actual tests. I just put myself on a list.

@ohthegoats

T-cell immunity is certainly a thing and has just today been shown to last for at least 6 months.

@ohthegoats I did mines last week just because I was curious really. Interesting to see what they do with the results though

Well, not really:

Scientists have found evidence of immune cells responding to Covid-19 six months after people were infected.

In a study of 100 people with the virus, those with symptoms had a much higher T-cell reaction.

But it is still not clear whether this leads to better protection against re-infection.

The UK research team says the findings are "just one piece of the puzzle" on immunity and there is still a lot to learn.

Yep, it’s ‘not clear’ because we’re less than a year in to this virus @ohthegoats.

It will certainly be bad news for the lockdown fanatics though if it is true like many scientists suspect.

Actually I'm in Liverpool and have just read the news that the whole city is going to be tested, not sure if that's regularly or as a one off...... I'm really hoping that it's not my job to get all the children in my class tested. That could be an exciting day
Otherwise I think it's great news!

Only 100 people in that research test?!

They at least tested more than 365,000 people in England which showed that the antibody response to the virus that causes COVID-19 wanes over time.

And that study only mentions those with symptoms. Far too many with no symptoms. In Cyprus, they do regular testing in schools and it’s amazing how many with no symptoms are picked up this way and who can then self isolate safely. Compare the cases and deaths in Cyprus with the U.K. and it is something to consider at least.

My sister, who is also a teacher, has just tested positive for the second time within 6 .months, as have her family.

Herd immunity is bullshit.

I taught at least 10 positive students just before half term. A weekly test for staff would be great... But no.

Nothing yet. Agree with others though it would be a great idea if it was done. I’m not holding my breath though...

No, because teaching staff are expendable.

Didn’t you know that anyone can teach? So if loads of get sick long term there is a horde of unemployed people just waiting to take our place and teach better than we do.

Of course they’d have to suspend CRB checks and any kind of training to get them into posts quickly. But that’s fine with everyone here, right?

If herd immunity worked the way people seem to imagine it will, no-one would get chicken pox. You can't get herd immunity without vaccination.

I also can't see teaching unions 'kicking off' about this at all. The only reason they would 'kick off' is if students or staff who tested positive were allowed to remain in school or contacts were not isolated.

I think that the government is desperate to avoid mass testing in schools because they are worried about what will show up.

Recently, there was a factory outbreak near me and they tested all staff. They found over 100 asymptomatic cases (or at least cases not showing the big 3 symptoms at the time). We've just had one case in school and I would love to know what mass testing of that year group would show.

Sorry, to clarify, I am pretty convinced mass testing would effectively close a lot of schools, which is why they won't do it.

Nope, can't get my flu jab either. Regular testing of teachers and a functioning track and trace system (such as the one Germany offered us for FREE) should have been in place before schools went back in September.

I'm interested to see how this pans out in Liverpool then, I suspect that testing the whole population will initially have the effect of closing many places, schools included so it could be an interesting few weeks.
I wonder if the pilot will be quietly dropped if it caused too much disruption? Hopefully not.

@ChloeDecker it’s primary school but they are also testing two other primary schools that work in partnership with my family members school.

I also think testing teachers would result in the unions kicking off and parents withdrawing D.C.
Unions "kicking off" why?
Parents are already withdrawing kids because they know schools aren't safe.