Covid-19 Close contact rules for children under 13 to be relaxed from Monday

Unvaccinated children who are close contacts of confirmed Covid-19 cases will be allowed to remain in school without self-isolating from Monday next, as long as they are not showing symptoms, it has been announced.

The move means thousands of children who have been forced to isolate at home will be able to return to class. However the measure does not apply to children who are household close contacts .

The new measures announced by Stephen Donnelly will also mean automatic contact tracing of close contacts and testing of asymptomatic close contacts in childcare facilities and primary education will be discontinued (not including special education facilities).

In a statement the Minister said he had accepted recommendations in relation to measures for contact tracing and testing for childcare and primary schools. He said the new measures will come into effect from Monday and have been made following discussions with the National Public Health Emergency Team and the Chief Medical Officer.

According to the Minister’s statement children aged 12 or under, “who are identified as close contacts in childcare, educational settings, special education settings or other non-household settings and who are asymptomatic will no longer be required to restrict movements, unless indicated by the local public health team”.

However “children aged 12 years or under who are identified as household close contacts in household settings will still be required to restrict movements and get tested, regardless of symptomatic status.

“ Public health advice remains that any child aged 12 years or under who displays symptoms consistent with Covid-19 should rapidly self-isolate and not attend school or to socialise until 48 hours after they are symptom free”.

Mr Donnelly said “The latest data indicates that schools continue to be a low-risk environment for transmission of Covid-19. As such, I am happy to be in a position today to announce these significant updates to contact tracing in our school environments.”

In a separate statement the HSE said the changes to the contact tracing and testing protocols were for children aged between three months and under 13 years. It said from Monday routine contact tracing “of asymptomatic close contacts among children in settings such as childcare facilities, primary education and social and sporting groups will no longer take place”.

Transmission uncommon

However it said children with symptoms should still self-isolate and get tested.

Dr John Cuddihy, National Clinical Director of Health Protection said, “Investigation of cases identified in school settings suggest that child to child transmission in schools is uncommon and not the primary cause of Sars-CoV-2 infection in children, particularly in preschool and primary schools. Children are rarely identified as the route of transmission of infection in to the household setting and children are not more likely than adults to spread infection to others”.

He said the change means children without symptoms will not have to restrict their movements or need to be tested,. He said if there are particular outbreaks children may still be designated as close contacts.

“Cases and outbreaks in Special Educational Needs (SEN) settings, respite care or residential settings and similar, will still require a Public Health Risk Assessment”.

Dr Abigail Collins, National Public Health Clinical Lead for Child Health said from Monday testing will focus on children with clinically relevant symptomatic disease. , “Parents who are concerned that their children may have symptoms of Covid-19 should immediately ensure their child self-isolates and they should phone their GP for advice and guidance, and COVID-19 testing if clinically appropriate”.

She said the HSE was “extremely conscious of the impact that periods of absence from school have on children’s educational, social and emotional well-being”

Unions

However, it has sparked concern among school staff unions who say it is too early to ease test and tracing protocols.

The increased number of cases among primary school students since schools reopened has been resulting in about 1,200 children being forced to restrict their movements every day.

However, latest data gathered by public health authorities indicates that Covid-19 cases in schools have stabilised over the past 10 days or so, according to well-placed sources.

While there was a significant increase in positive cases among children of primary school age in the first two weeks of the school year, latest public health data indicates that most of this was down to a four-fold expansion in testing which picked up additional cases.

Unions representing teachers and special needs assistants, however, are nervous about such a move.

Responding to the announcement on Wednesday, the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) said the proposed changes to contact tracing should be deferred “until reliable data on outbreaks in primary schools is available”. It proposes that any change should be made from November 1st when the schools reopen after mid-term break. “This would allow time for better data to be obtained and sufficient time for considered analysis and to allow for the proposed changes to be implemented in an orderly fashion.”

Last week, Fórsa, which represents about 14,000 school staff including special needs assistants (SNAs), school secretaries and caretakers, said it is too early to relax test and tracing protocols in schools.

The union said new advice should not be implemented until there is a consistent pattern of reduced infections in schools and the wider community.

Fórsa’s head of education Andy Pike said last week said the system needed to exercise caution prior to and during any relaxation of the existing safety measures.”

Symptoms

There have claims, meanwhile, that parents and schools are confused over “contradictory” Covid-19 advice on whether to keep children with runny noses out of school.

While HSE advice says it is “usually ok” to send a child to school if they have a runny nose or a sneeze, the Department of Education’s guidance lists a runny nose or sore throat as “uncommon” symptoms of Covid-19.

Sinn Féin education spokesman Donnchadh Ã" Laoghaire TD said the divergence was confusing parents and schools, who were trying to keep schools safe and minimise disruption.

Minister for Education Norma Foley told the Oireachtas education committee on Tuesday evening that her department’s advice was based on ongoing engagement with public health authorities.

“The advice from public health is that children should stay at home if they are unwell,” she said.

“It is a precautionary measure. There is the absolute understanding that parents know their own children best. If children are feeling unwell, then they should be kept at home.”

Ms Foley said this advice had been communicated to schools and parents in different languages and across social media, along with videos from public health officials.

“There is no confusion in relation to the information communicated directly to parents and directly to school leaders. It is the information which comes from the Department of Education, which in turn has come from the experts in public health who are dealing with schools.”

Mr Ã" Laoghaire, however, said there remained an “incoherence” in the advice provided by different sources.

“It needs to be fixed. It’s unfair on principals, it’s unfair on schools and particular unfair on parents if they can find two different Government sources telling them two different things,” he said.

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