Sending unvaccinated staff home

[wishingyouwell]

Hello All,
My workplace is sending unvaccinated staff who are close contacts (but test negative) home to isolate which as you can imagine feels unsustainable as we work in a school and we are extremely short staffed.
I have heard other schools are not doing this with unvaccinated staff and everyone is treated the same. I have raised this with management who have said this is government regulation therefore my question is, how are other schools ignoring this? I will add that many unvaccinated staff are irritated at having to isolate when they have chosen to take a risk by not being vaccinated. Likewise vaccinated staff are irritated as they are having to do the bulk of the work. Any advice greatly appreciated :)

Is it a legal requirement to isolate if an unvaccinated person tests negative?

If you are based in England, it is currently the law that you have to isolate for 10 days as a close contact, regardless of whether you test negative. What is classed as a close contact is another matter, and I thought for a while pre-Omricon they were being much less strict about it, but have returned to much stricter classifications of close contact again I think. So yes, your school are right to be doing this, it is a legal requirement. Those staff that are irritated have, as you say, taken a risk by choosing not to be vaccinated, and that risk includes not only catching and being ill from covid, but also having to isolate everytime they're in contact with someone who has covid.

@wishingyouwell

Is it a legal requirement to isolate if an unvaccinated person tests negative?

Yes!

Unvaccinated people have to isolate for 10 days as contacts (according to 22 Dec announcement, the shortening to 7 does not apply to them, but I've not checked against the 5 day rules) unless

a) they are under 18
b) there is a medical reason why they cannot be safely vaccinatedat all with any of the vaccines
c) they are a participant in an approved clinical trial

So it sounds like your school is doing the right thing

Latest version I could find (update 17/01/22)
www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

Thank you all for all the advice. I think we could work with 'close contacts' then and try and reduce likelihood of that, very tricky in a school!

It's possible that other schools are saying that hte unvaccinated person is not a close contact eg. they haven't been within 2m of the person who tested positive etc.

@Comefromaway yes that is possible though very difficult to argue in a school setting

Technically speaking since whatever date the rules changed last summer it should be Test & Trace giving the dictat to isolate, not the school. My husband's school has it's own rules eg when ds tested positive dh had to stay home until he had a PCR but he was under no obligation to isolate, just requested to not go into work.

My (non education) employer has until this week been sending anyone home, vaccinated or not, who has been a contact

It’s a legal requirement if contacted by Test and Trace but in the spirit of I would expect them to be sent home / not allowed in if they disclosed that.

@Comefromaway interesting, other schools in the vicinity appear to be totally ignoring this advice then. I think the part we can have discussion on then is what constitutes a 'close contact', this must be what other schools/workplaces are doing
@ENoeuf No test and trace involved here, people are just being sent home if in close contact but good point, thank you