- The DfE have updated the Actions for schools during the coronavirus outbreak guidance (11:01am, 14 December 2021) to reflect that daily rapid testing is now recommended for all contacts of COVID-19.
- The guidance recommends that from today close contacts of any confirmed case that are contacted by NHS Test and Trace are strongly advised to take a LFD test every day for 7 days and continue to attend their setting as normal, unless they have a positive test result.
- This applies to all adults who are fully vaccinated and all children and young people aged between 5 and 18 years and 6 months.
- The testing guidance applies to all close contacts of a positive case of Covid-19, whether it is the Omicron variant or not.
- As before, any staff who are close contacts and not fully vaccinated are required to self-isolate and this will be deemed sickness absence for sick pay purposes, therefore, full pay.
Schools COVID-19 operational guidance
The full guidance states:-
Close contacts in schools are now identified by NHS Test and Trace and education settings will no longer be expected to undertake contact tracing.
As with positive cases in any other setting, NHS Test and Trace will work with the positive case and/or their parent to identify close contacts. Contacts from a school setting will only be traced by NHS Test and Trace where the positive case or their parent specifically identifies the individual as being a close contact. This is likely to be a small number of individuals who would be most at risk of contracting COVID-19 due to the nature of the close contact. You may be contacted in exceptional cases to help with identifying close contacts, as currently happens in managing other infectious diseases.
From 14 December 2021, adults who are fully vaccinated and all children and young people aged between 5 and 18 years and 6 months identified as a contact of someone with COVID-19 are strongly advised to take a LFD test every day for 7 days and continue to attend their setting as normal, unless they have a positive test result. Daily testing of close contacts applies to all contacts who are:
- fully vaccinated adults – people who have had 2 doses of an approved vaccine
- all children and young people aged 5 to 18 years and 6 months, regardless of their vaccination status
- people who are not able to get vaccinated for medical reasons
- people taking part, or have taken part, in an approved clinical trial for a COVID-19 vaccine
Children under 5 years are exempt from self-isolation and do not need to take part in daily testing of close contacts.
Comment
- The guidance states that close contacts are ‘strongly advised’ to take a LFD test.
- If an employee refuses to take a test then the position is unclear. On the one hand, they could be required to continue to come to work, having been ‘strongly advised’ to take a test, but this could put others at risk.
- Further guidance on the point from DfE would be welcome, but is unlikely prior to the end of term.
General Guidance
The general coronavirus guidance starts here:-
