To InfiniTier and beyond ....

[dancemom]

Tiers, tiers and more tears ....

Great. So our local authority's 45/100k 7!" day rate tier 1 in old money will stay in perpetual lockdown.

We are now 6 months on from the increased restrictions imposed on Glasgow and surrounds last September which have only got increasing stricter.

Rangers fans behavior yesterday- cause or effect?!

Yeah I can see that @fluffyugg but also, the collective benefit is huge if we can rapidly remove infectious people from circulation. If we want to open up again this is how it'll happen.

I can see them being useful for staff (I'm doing them) and the oldest years but the 12 year olds not so much

How come? (genuinely, no sarkiness here!)

@GirlLovesWorld After I wrote that I thought, why?! Think it's a bit of panic from me with an already anxious S1 and trying to avoid anything else at all that will make her feel worse.

Ha ha I get that!

If the testing gets my kids back to school and keeps the schools open, I’m all for it!
My only concerns are the potential for false positives that will see children and families self isolating unnecessarily.

@Drive unfortunately they wouldn't give any further details and we have to sit and wait for the documentation and information to be released on how the new areas will be defined.

But basically if in a city = good news as tier thresholds rates will be brought down by surrounding area
If in a more rural area = rubbish news as tier thresholds brought up!

But this is again speculation reading between the lines but there has been several strong hints that's its unlikely to be on LA for a lot of places (and people!)

so NHS GGC is now counting positive government tests in the admission to hospital criteria as being positive as well as positive point of care, which I think in the past would only have been recorded as a positive cases if it was followed up by a positive NHS PCR test.

I sure as hell will be reading the document when they release it as there are some big questions about what you do with certain areas. So my LA for instance now has targeted testing at food processing places.... But this is then finding asystomatic cases and the numbers are then high for these spots whereas the rest of the area is showing as white. Do you hold an entire LA/NHS trust/geographical area based on very small pockets or not?!

Either way its going to be a lot stricter and highlights that Scotland is going to be held under restrictions for a lot longer to achieve the in achievable elimination......

Which the SG seems to be changing wording on in the last few days in relation to last summer to maximum suppression rather than stating elimination BTW! Wonder why....... 🙄

@Jodhpurs46 if you get a positive from a lateral flow test you are told to go take an actual Covid test. If that's negative you can return to school as normal. And there's no tracking of contacts from LF testing.

I would guess they might @Scottishskifun because they'll be considering people travelling to and from those workplaces that are 'hot spots'?

[quote dancemom]@Jodhpurs46 if you get a positive from a lateral flow test you are told to go take an actual Covid test. If that's negative you can return to school as normal. And there's no tracking of contacts from LF testing. [/quote]
That's not the case in our area dancemom

The info we've had from the school (which looks like a national document) says that a positive report in from Lateral flow WILL trigger test and trace, requiring isolation of close contacts.

Not only that, and more worryingly, it also says that if the subsequent PCR test is negative "contact tracers will consider via risk assessment whether to rescind self-isolation advice issue to close contacts, and whether the positive case can leave self-isolation". So your child could have a negative PCR test (so potentially a false positive through LF) and still have to isolate for 10 days.

I'm afraid, for me, having considered the above, and the number of cases currently locally (suppressed) and the vaccination roll-out I do not see the benefit of enrolling my DCs for this programme.

@Scottishskifun

Oh crikey hint that tier system is being examined at bigger than LA area and possibly geographical area.... If they take Central belt as a whole I feel very bad for Edinburgh!

I wish I could say I don't believe this Scottishskifun but I'll believe anything these days. My LA borders (and shares NHS) with a city - the LAs average is around the national average but when you drill into the area data all of the cases are in the areas that border the other (city) LA - the rest of the LA is suppressed. It just highlights the lack of sensitivity of the LA or Health Board based system.

What are the rates of false positives for the lateral flow tests? If they are low then I'll encourage my DC to take the tests. If they are high though I may rethink the position.

My understanding is that about 0.1% of LF tests result in false positives. The lower the incidence of covid in the community the higher the chance of getting a false positive. But I think false negatives are much more likely. I think the LF tests will give a negative result if not done correctly.

I think that commuter belt areas should largely be linked to their cities, especially where hospitals are fully shared. Which does argue for the central belt being treated as a whole because of the level of commuting across the whole area, and families living in Falkirk/Stirling and commuting to both Glasgow and Edinburgh. However linking restrictions should also allow people to travel within the area they're linked to, the current situation is particularly crap if you live in East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde or Clackmannanshire or in an area where your main amenities and shopping options (including decent sized supermarkets) are in a separate authority (like Aberdeenshire).

I'm assuming people living in Strathblane are still shopping in Milgnavie/ Bearsden rather than finding their nearest big shop in Stirling...

Wow @TeenTraumaTrials that's completely not the guidance we have been issues with.
Additionally we have been told that as there is to be 2m distancing in schools even the younger years who are not LF testing will not be invoking contact tracing if they test positive.

Vastly different rules going on

@TeenTraumaTrials I heard that this was happening in England-pupils and families having to isolate after positive LF but negative PCR test. That doesn’t make much sense to me.
My children are in P7 and S3 so I haven’t received any info about how it is working in Scotland.

We've been told pcr test after lft positive.
Pupils may be 2m apart in lessons but I'm going to bet they aren't in breaks or on the way to and from school.

I have a problem with the lateral flow tests as they are unreliable and will result in much more disruption and people needing to self-isolate. I also think that we need to live with Covid now and constantly looking for cases when the NHS is no longer in danger of being overwhelmed is a slippery slope to restrictions never being lifted or testing then being introduced for flu and other illness that can also cause chronic illness or death in some cases.

Also I feel strongly teachers and other front line workers should get the vaccine in front of other groups - we have a ridiculous situation that some NHS admin staff who are not particularly at risk have been vaccinated before people who’s jobs put them more at risk.

So regarding the 2 metre distancing at schools, presumably that's not happening in primary or they wouldn't all be able to be in, and for secondary it's only until Easter holidays as again it would be impossible to have all years in summer term with distancing?

Yes but we know teachers aren't going to be prioritised @makingitupaswegoon so surely testing is the other way to protect teachers for now?

The nhs staff being vaccinated was to protect patients, not them

I'm more inclined to think it was a bit of both - if you have lots of staff off sick the NHS can't function properly. Same as schools.