Irish Examiner view: Antigen testing pilot in schools

The INTO has called for the pilot programme on antigen testing in primary schools to begin within two weeks.

It’s not always the case, but the advice and messaging from Government and Nphet on the importance of keeping schools open has been clear and consistent — everything must be done to ensure the doors don’t close again.

Nobody wants to go back to the days of Zoom calls and homeschooling, and it’s generally agreed that children are safer, both physically and mentally, in class.

While appreciating the concerns of parents, principals and teachers as schools return after the mid-term break against a backdrop of rising case numbers and growing absenteeism due to illness, chief medical officer Tony Holohan moved to allay fears, stressing that the vast majority of children with Covid-19 experience mild symptoms or were asymptomatic.

That said, schools still have to be managed day to day and, as the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) put it, clearly the Delta variant is a “different beast”, as evidenced by key Covid metrics going in the wrong direction.

Last week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin ruled out the return to full contact tracing and signalled the use of antigen testing “in selected situations” in schools — but he didn’t say when.

Yesterday, the INTO called for that pilot programme on antigen testing in primary schools to begin within two weeks. That is more than reasonable, given that Covid cases are expected to spike in schools after mid-term and in the run up to Christmas.