Ridiculous isolation rules for school kids

[Vargas]

So my friend's dd was playing football outside at school with a child who subsequently had a positive lateral flow test. My friend's dd now has to isolate for 10 days which now means no school until after Easter after only 1 week at school. This is even if she has a negative PCR test. Both children asymptomatic of course. Surely this is completely ridiculous??

Another way to think is
The masks stop transmission in school a bit
But
That child then
Goes to the park and playd football unmasked
Or Goes home and infects his family and younger primary sibling
Or goes to scouts/soft play /a shop umasked etc

Also they are likely removing masks to eat or drink at school.

So we need testing to stop the kid and family spreading it elsewhere.

Anyway the more infected people and families staying home the less likely the rest of us are all locked down again.
Complaining about missing 10d is missing the point when many have missed 9/12m school in a year.

We can only hope vax for kids is signed off soon so an infected child or adult is less likely to cause an outbreak

@HSHorror many DCs have missed so much school that it's important that they don't miss more unless it's justified. DC has positive PCR test - absolutely isolate close contacts for the period - DC has positive lateral flow test followed by negative PCR, well which test do we trust then?

how exactly would you get that PCR test? The only way would be to log on the NHS booking system and claim your child had symptoms

There is also another option to choose where it asks if you have been asked to take a test which in the instance of a positive lft without symptoms would apply

It wouldn't though, would it. As no one would have asked you to do it

@Abraxan that's really interesting what you are saying re: no Covid tests for 90 days after positive LFT/negative PCR combo potentially leading to a child later unwittingly spreading Covid while asymptomatic - sounds like a proper loophole for this virus to leap through doesn't it? I wonder how many cases of this we will see before the end of this school year?

@twinkletoesimnot

It wouldn't though, would it. As no one would have asked you to do it

The school ask you to do a PCR to confirm the positive LFT

@Wellbythebloodyhell

I don't think they do.... anything I have read says there is no need for a confirmatory test. Happy to be corrected though.

The first version of the guidance said that in-school tests, if positive, should be confirmed by PCR. Some schools wrote their procedures at this point.

The second version said they should not be confirmed by PCR. Other schools wrote their procedures at this point.

When the issue was brought to the attention of the Government in the final few days before return, they said the non-confirmation was correct. However, that doesn't mean that every school has re-written their procedures to match - especially as the policy ONLY applies to the very short window (ending this coming week) when testing is being done in school.

@twinkletoesimnot

It wouldn't though, would it. As no one would have asked you to do it

The rules for 'at home' LFT is that you have to have it confirmed by a PCR, so that would come under 'being asked to.' And tbh 'lying' about it is just a click - PCR testing isn't under pressure now, there are lots of availability and results are coming back very quickly. No one will check on this when you go for a test,

[quote Busygoingblah]@Vargas please go and do a bit of Googling. False positives for lateral flows are way under 1% whereas false negatives for PCRs are over 10%. Even with a negative PCR the positive lateral flow test means there’s a very high likelihood your son has been into contact with covid. He needs to isolate.[/quote]
FYI it was friends DD. Girls play football too!

This system is an absolute joke. My nephew had a test in school yesterday, This morning his parents received 3 emails, all with different test references 2 saying he was negative and 1 saying he was positive. Theyre teachers so they immediately did another LFT at home which was negative. They spoke to the schools head who said that he was definitely negative and to send their 3 boys in on Monday. They also spoke to test and trace who told them they ALL had to isolate in spite of the obvious mix up and the negative tests. They even suggested having the PCR and were told not to, but to all isolate. Cut a very long story short, my brother phoned T&T several times and managed to speak to a few people 'higher up'. He explained and showed all the emails - and also explained that there would be up to 30 kids missing school as a result PLUS the fact that him and his wife are also teachers! Eventually a senior person told them it was obviously an error and they would let the school have the final decision as they actually held the tests. What an absolute farce. And only because my brother is even more beligerant than me those kids can go to school and another school has 2 teachers back in. How often is this happening? Their eldest is in Y11 too and could have missed yet another 2 weeks.

I agree with you OP. DS can sit near someone in class who tests positive and has to be sent home for ten days, despite both wearing masks. Yet I as an NHS worker have been in close contact with Covid positive patients for lengthy periods, but am ok to stay in work because I was wearing the same paper mask, even thought the patient was not!
Bonkers double standards.