Covid 19 Symptoms and self isolation14 September 2020 (by admin) |
TheDFE updated their guidance on 10.9.20 and we received supplementary guidance on Friday. On account of this, I want to take the opportunity to make clear what the procedures are for isolating contacts of those with Covid-19.
- If a child displays Covid-19 symptoms in school, they will be quarantined immediately and sent home. Any siblings, including from other classes, will also be sent home at the same time.
- If a member of your household is symptomatic then all members of the household need to isolate. Only those who are symptomatic may be tested, but all siblings need to stay at home until the test result.
- Once we are notified of a positive test result, we must send home those who have been in close contact with the person who has tested positive. The health protection team will provide definitive advice to us on who must isolate, but it is likely that all children within a bubble would need to self-isolate. This would be for 14 days since they were last in close contact with that person when they were infectious.
- Household members of those contacts who are sent home do not need to self-isolate themselves unless the child who is self-isolating subsequently develops symptoms. Therefore, if your child is self-isolating but has no symptoms, their siblings may still be in school.
- If someone who is self-isolating because they have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive COVID-19 starts to feel unwell and gets a test for coronavirus themselves, but if the test delivers a negative result, they must remain in isolation for the remainder of the 14-day isolation period. This is because they could still develop coronavirus (COVID-19) within the remaining days.
- If the test result is positive, they should inform school immediately, and should isolate for at least 10 days from the onset of their symptoms (which could mean the self-isolation ends before or after the original 14-day isolation period). Their whole household should self-isolate for at least 14 days from when the symptomatic person first had symptoms.