Whole bubble isolating for 10 days despite negative pcr?! Surely wrong!

[Lucy788]

Child had positive lateral flow test but followed up with negative pcr. School have said because that child has a cold/hay-fever they've taken advice from public health England whove said entire bubble still must isolate as could be classed as symptoms.
Wraparound care for entire whole also cancelled for over a week.
Does this sound right!?
Doesn't to me and I've been fairly cautious throughout!

One child with symptoms and then a negative PCR?
I can see no reason why that would lead to bubble closure.

Lots of us unhappy, school keep reiterating Public Health England have advised that's what must happen. Thinking of calling them myself, but not sure what good that will do?!

I'd ring them.... Honestly I would... It just seems wrong. Hopefully you ringing will help school

if a confirmatory PCR test is negative, provided it was taken within 2 days of the positive LFD, it overrides the lateral flow test and close contacts can stop self-isolating

Government publications advice to schools. The school is incorrect.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/schools-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance

Perfect, thank you!

Email even states lateral was yday morning and pcr yday afternoon, with a negative confirmation today. I'll be damned if mine misses another week of education
Thanks again

Thinking about it... the school were saying that the reason is because the child is 'unwell with a cold/hay-fever symptoms' which is why PHE have said stick with isolation. The article above I presume is for if the child is 100% well. Arhhh

That's ridiculous. Kids would never be in school if every school were to follow those 'rules'.

Meanwhile thousands gather to watch the football.

What are we doing to our children?!

So now you know that the lfd doesn't work, will you stop the unnecessary testing and save your bubble from this utter misery?

Gosh, that sounds bonkers... And I'm on the cautious end of the spectrum

The school don't appear to be applying the rules correctly.
A PCR done within a day or two should override an lft result.
That's the whole point of the PCR confirmation.

Can you challenge it?

The symptoms thing sounds nonsense- you have a PCR test if you have symptoms, and if it's negative you don't isolate. I can't see any guidance that says LFT+symptoms outweighs or overrules a PCR test.

I'd be asking the school for written proof

Good idea about the written proof. They've had a lot of backlash today and have refused to back down so far! So frustrating

This is going to be a thing, I think. The school has to follow the guidance by the DfE, the but Public Health officials don't and will be making the decision based on their expertise and knowledge of current local infection rates and infection patterns, including in schools.

Unfortunately we have an increasing issue in schools at the moment. Given that false +ve on an LFT is less likely than a false -ve on a PCR, my guess is that your local public health officials know more than the parents and are trying to cut down the number of cases in the school to avoid it closing completely before the end of term. They probably don't want to take the chance of treating a child that is more likely +ve than -ve as a child without Covid.

Yes to what @RafaIsTheKingOfClay said above. You’d have to be a very brave headteacher to go against PHE advice in this situation, leaving yourself wide open for backlash if someone got seriously ill.

Very fair point, hadn't really considered that side of the argument