HPSC: No 'blanket policy' in place to test an entire class if a Covid-19 case is confirmed
Schools do not need to inform parents that a student or teacher has been sent home due to Covid-19 symptoms, File picture: Larry Cummins
Schools do not need to inform parents that a student or teacher has been sent home due to Covid-19 symptoms, and other pupils or staff do not need to be removed from class.
Guidance from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) states there will be no "blanket policy" in place to test an entire class or year group should a case of Covid-19 be confirmed.
Instead, a risk assessment will be carried out by public health teams to determine who is a "close contact" of a student or staff member within the school.
According to the document, a class of students, and their teacher, will not automatically be deemed ‘close contacts’ if a case of Covid-19 is confirmed in their classroom.
This is because school settings are "varied", it states.
All primary school children in a pod will likely be deemed close contacts, while in secondary schools, close contacts will be determined by “proximity and interaction” as well as “class placement; classroom structure; common travel; social networks; and friendship groups etc.”
Children deemed close-contacts following the risk assessment will be removed from school, and tested per the national guidelines. They will also be advised to restrict their movements and remain alert for symptoms.
As test results remain confidential as per doctor-patient relationship, no other child, parent, family, or teacher will be informed if a child in a school is found to have Covid-19.
Confirmed cases of Covid-19 will be contacted directly by contact tracing centres.
However, parents should be advised at the point of testing that their child’s swab test result will likely need to be shared with their school if Covid-19 is detected if it is deemed necessary for the safe management of any potential outbreak.
“Only details as necessary for safe onward management are shared with an agreed senior person in the school, such that appropriate public health actions can be undertaken,” the HPSC says.
Any actions to be taken by a school will be communicated directly by them. School management will be informed if children or staff need to be sent home, or if partial or full closures are deemed necessary.
