Advice for parents of pupils asked to self-isolate after school Covid test
Posted by Victoria Bond to the School Guide Blog on 16 March 2021.
Hailed as a 'game changer' that would reduce the number of children being sent home, rapid Covid tests in secondary schools in England are causing confusion among families. Children are being asked to self-isolate based on a standalone rapid test with no opportunity for parents to submit a follow-up lab test.
What can parents do?
Pupils returned to school in England on 8 March following two months of school closures to restrict the spread of coronavirus as part of the national lockdown.
Secondary schools pupils are offered twice weekly rapid Covid tests – known as Lateral Flow Tests – to help spot asymptomatic cases of the virus.
The first three tests are administered in school, and then twice weekly testing is conducted at home.
The first three tests at school are considered to be sufficient evidence for a school to ask a pupil to stay at home and self-isolate. A positive result does not require a follow-up lab test, known as a PCR test, which is widely considered to be the gold standard. A lab test to mitigate the results of a rapid test can reduce 'false positive' results to one in a million, new data has revealed.
As soon as the children move to self administered home testing kits, a positive result CAN be followed up with a lab test to ensure the 'false positives' are weeded out and as many children as possible can remain in education.
In addition to concerns over so-called false positives, there are also concerns that rapid tests do not spot enough true positives. In the 663,332 tests administered in secondary schools up to 12 March, there were only 328 postive results; a detection rate of 0.05%. The Royal Statistical Society has urged the Medicines & Healthcare Regulatory Agency to require a confirmatory lab test (PCR) to follow all positive rapid results as per the system in NHS hospitals and work place testing.
Prior to the two-step system kicking in, many parents are furious that the standalone rapid test is unfair, and are upset that children are back at home after only just returning to the classroom following school closures. Some pupils have been asked to self-isolate after a matter of hours of being back at school.
Our advice is that parents should always follow up with their child's school if they have questions on the result of a rapid test and its implications for their child and their family.
Victoria, Founder of School Guide
What's more, guidelines seem unclear on who else in the family needs to also isolate.
Our advice is that parents should always follow up with their child's school if they have questions on the result of a rapid test and its implications for their child and their family.
It is not neccessarily the case, for example, that siblings or parents also have to isolate following a rapid Covid test result from a school contact.
We have heard from hundreds of familes in the last few days who are confused about who needs to self-isolate. In most close contact cases, it is not a requirement for the whole family to isolate.
Do not take a standard letter regarding isolation of a pupil to mean the same as it did last term when lab tests were the method of detection and confirmation.
Futhermore, even in the two weeks back, some tests may have been administered at home. If this is the case - even if it the first, second or third test - it CAN be followed up with a lab test to confirm the result.
Scotland announced this week that it would not use the same guidelines as England, and that Scottish secondary schools would allow lab follow-ups to determine whether a pupil is asked to self-isolate.
Also read: Parents furious over false positive rapid Covid tests in schools
