Why consenting to LFT tests instead of self-isolation risks making matters even worse

Given the worryingly high infection rates in England, the advice being issued via the Government/NHS Test & Trace "Schools and Colleges Handbook" is of real concern.

The advice contained within the Handbook risks turning Lateral Flow Testing (LFT) into a mechanism that helps to increase transmission rates instead of cutting them. 

This is because the guidance clearly suggests, to both staff and students, that - as long as they give consent - they would be able to continue to attend school, rather than self-isolate, if they are found to be a close contact of a positive case. Instead, they would take daily LFT tests as an alternative to make sure that they remain 'negative'.

Advice for parents and pupils within the Handbook

Such a suggestion would have obvious attractions to staff and parents as it appears to provide a safe way to ensure teaching and learning is not disrupted. But it is absolutely NOT a safe proposal and I would strongly advise that such consent should NOT be given. Any member of staff pressurised to do so should seek urgent Union advice.

Yes, the LFT tests can be useful to detect additional asymptomatic positive cases that might otherwise have gone unnoticed but they are absolutely not reliable enough to be used as an alternative to isolation. 

Here's the latest advice from the British Medical Journal, explaining why not:

" The rapid test kits most widely used in UK universities, schools, and care homes were shown to detect just 48.89% of covid-19 infections in people without symptoms when compared with a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test."

" Independent Sage said testing should be used as a means of 'finding cases rather than as a means of determining whether or not people are infected, given the high negative rates' "

“A negative test should not be taken as an indication that someone is not infected or to relax other mitigations at either an individual or collective level ".

" Testing should be preceded by a clear information campaign to make sure people understood that a negative test 'does not mean you don’t have covid'.” 

A damning BMJ opinion piece, published yesterday by three Public Health experts, is also posted here. It calls on the government "at least to pause the rollout of rapid asymptomatic testing using the Innova test, including its use in care homes, schools, communities and self-testing by untrained people at home, until clearer messaging on the risks of negative results can be developed".

Some employers have recognised the significant concerns about reliability. For example, I understand that Coventry Council has confirmed that this is now their position today after discussions with the NEU locally. These employers are, correctly, not proposing that LFT tests are used as an alternative to isolation but as an additional tool whilst maintaining other safety measures and isolation protocols. However, this is not the case in all areas.

The current Government model consent form found here clearly states under point 11 that "I consent that if a close contact of my child tests positive but I / my child has tested negative, I / they will continue to attend school / college but will be tested every day at school / college for 7 days".

Advice for staff within the Handbook

Current NEU advice (issued 08/01/21) can be found here. it stresses the logistical concerns about introducing testing rather than the reliability issues. However, it does clearly state that:

* Where pressure is applied, NEU members should respond collectively to the head teacher/principal and seek the support of the branch/district secretary if necessary.

UPDATE (13/01/21) - the NEU advice has been strengthened and now also states that:

* Members should not be expected to sign consent forms accepting that they do not isolate in these circumstances 

* The NEU advises that members who are the contact of a positive case should not participate in serial testing and should instead self-isolate in accordance with Government guidelines.

UPDATE (2) (14/01/21) - In a move that confirms the concern amongst medical professionals at the inappropriate use by the Government of Lateral Flow Testing, the Guardian has reported tonight that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has told Ministers that they have NOT authorised the daily use of tests due to their concerns, as outlined above, 'that they give people false reassurance if they test negative'. 

UPDATE (3) (15/01/21) In response to Government insistence that they had received regulatory authorisation, Schools Week has published a MHRA statement making clear that this is NOT the case. The report suggests that the authorisation that was granted was solely “to be used to detect cases, but they have not approved it to be used as to do what they call ‘test to enable’ which is this testing to let children stay in class.”

UPDATE (4) (20/01/21) - Gavin Williamson forced to concede another U-turn!

“NHS Test and Trace and Public Health England have reviewed their advice, and concluded that in light of the higher prevalence and rates of transmission of the new variant, further evaluation work is required to make sure it is achieving its aim of breaking chains of transmission and reducing cases of the virus in the community.

“We are therefore pausing daily contact testing in all but a small number of secondary schools and colleges, where it will continue alongside detailed evaluation.”

Act together to oppose unsafe numbers and rising workload

SCHOOL STAFF SHOULD TAKE CONFIDENCE from how our mass refusal to accept unsafe working conditions forced the Government into a much-needed U-turn after only one day of the new school term. 

Only 24 hours earlier, Boris Johnson was claiming schools were safe. He was then forced to admit that schools act as "vectors for transmission" of the virus after all - something that we all knew months ago. The announcement of the cancellation of SATs, GCSE and 'A'-levels soon followed too.

We should learn important lessons from how we were able to succeed by acting together to assert our legal rights to a safe workplace through "Section 44". We achieved more in a few days than petitions and letter writing to Ministers had achieved in months. 

The unions’ work is far from over

Any celebrations over the U-turn have sadly only been short-lived! It soon became clear that schools aren’t really ‘closed’ at all.

Everyone is working under highly stressful conditions.  Workload is rising. The threat of Ofsted monitoring is being raised again. Too many schools are making unreasonable expectations, particularly over online learning. Some have told staff they have to attend work every day, even though the lockdown regulations say that "everybody should work from home where possible". 

Support staff have been under particular pressure. They should be included on rotas to support learning from home too.

Above all, too many classrooms remain dangerously full. The definition of 'critical workers' has been applied far too widely. Nursery classes have been told they must remain fully open. Special schools have also been under pressure to accept every pupil.

Keeping schools open to such high numbers has nothing to do with keeping children safe. Instead, it means packed classrooms will continue to spread the new variant. 

It is putting more lives in danger and more pressure on an overwhelmed NHS. We have to insist that numbers in classrooms are cut back.

We recognise the pressure on our school communities. Children need more resources at home and parents/carers should be eligible for full pay when they have to stay at home to provide childcare. But we can't let government failures be used to browbeat us into accepting unsafe working conditions.

Look at the data. The UK situation is stark. Unless we remain firm, infections and deaths will continue to rise. That is of no help to anyone.

The NEU and other unions urgently need to agree a set of minimum conditions for school safety and take the action necessary to make sure that they are met.

UPDATE 15.01.21 - The NEU and three other education unions have released a new strengthened 'checklist for partial opening'. I have produced an A4 summary of the key points in the checklist:

Download the A4 poster from: https://bit.ly/35JfOQk

Staff and unions force Johnson's hand over school safety

As the rapid retreat over the exams fiasco in the summer showed, this has long been a government that could be forced to U-turn once pressure was applied. Events over the last 24 hours have again shown just what can be achieved when a lead is given.

In the face of trade union pressure, as well as the ever-growing health crisis, Boris Johnson was forced to shift from his dangerous insistence that "schools are safe" into admitting that they were in fact "vectors for transmission" of the virus after all!

Some of the details of the announcements still make little sense. For example, why have Early Years settings been told they should remain fully open and why are BTEC vocational exams still going ahead in the coming week? This lot can't even handle their U-turns competently!

The battle for health, safety and welfare in both our schools and our wider communities is still far from over. The NEU must remain on the front foot, not lapse back again into reliance on letter writing and lobbying alone. The intense activity and organisation of union members, reps and officers over the last few days achieved far more for school safety than months of hopeful appeals for Ministers to 'see sense'.

We have to make sure that schools operate safely for staff that are still on site and the priority learners that will be taught face-to-face; that staff are able to resist unacceptable workload demands around online learning; that learners at home get the laptops and other help they need; and that parents and carers are paid when they need to be at home for childcare reasons.

But, overall, we can be proud that we have helped to push the government back and have made sure our communities are a little safer at least!

Here is an interview I gave to RT tonight on their main news broadcast about what still needs to be put in place to support parents, staff and students.

Fully open schools are not safe environments for staff or students - apply Section 44

A dangerous new situation

Covid-19 transmission rates and the pressures on the NHS are continuing to rise across England and Wales. The fact that so many Local Authorities have been placed under Tier 4 restrictions is an acknowledgement of the dangerous situation facing school staff and school communities, particularly given the greater transmissibility of the new variant of the virus. While vaccination programmes are starting, we still face a critical period where many more deaths may occur in the meantime.

Despite these changed and worrying circumstances, the Government continues to claim that primary schools in most areas are still able to open fully at the start of term. Yet the latest data from the ONS shows that school age children, including primary aged children, show the highest infection rates of any of the age demographics analysed by them. A range of scientific experts are making clear that maintaining fully open schools will lead to further transmission within education settings and the new variant not being controlled.

Far from resolving the situation, the introduction of a mass testing programme in schools introduces a further set of health and safety issues. The Government have failed to provide sufficient resources, staffing and advice and headteachers will have been unable to consult on the safety of the provision being set up within their schools. On top of this, the reliability of the lateral flow testing, particularly when it is not conducted by health professionals, is highly questionable. This does not provide any grounds for relaxation of isolation protocols within schools as Ministers have been claiming.

The legal responsibilities on school and college employers

While Ministers may be prepared to ignore the scientific evidence, employers' legal responsibilities under the Health & Safety Act 1974 to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of all employees, and those who may be affected by the employers’ actions, cannot be ignored.

The Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires employers to undertake a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to health & safety of employees and others, such as pupils and parents, affected by the employer’s conduct. This includes having appropriate procedures in place in the event of a serious and imminent danger, the virus being such a threat as set down in the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) Regulations 2020.

Further, and considering the new situation outlined above, the Regulations make clear that:

• Any assessment shall be reviewed by the employer or self-employed person who made it if there has been a significant change in the matters to which it relates;
• Every employer shall consult safety representatives in good time with regard to the introduction of any measure at the workplace which may substantially affect the health and safety of the employees the safety representatives concerned represent;
• Every employer shall, save in exceptional cases for reasons duly substantiated (which cases and reasons shall be specified in those procedures), require the persons concerned to be prevented from resuming work in any situation where there is still a serious and imminent danger.

School staff cannot be expected to attend their workplaces at the start of term

Through no fault of their own, school employers are simply not in a position to be able to carry out their duties to guarantee a safe place of work to employees at the start of term and neither will they have been able to consult with union representatives about the measures they intend to put in place to ensure their health and safety.

In these circumstances, employers should not require staff in any school or college setting to resume work in school at the start of term, not least those in primary schools that are being expected to return to full classes on Monday in most parts of the country outside London. Like secondary schools, they should not be teaching face to face more than keyworker and vulnerable children - and even then only in properly risk-assessed conditions - for the first weeks of the new term. Instead, most staff should be working from home to support their pupils safely.

Before staff can resume work in their workplaces, consultation must take place and agreement should be reached at a school and Local Authority level that addresses the changed circumstances, namely:

i) the increased transmission of the new variant of the virus within school and college settings.

ii) the protocols and practices necessary to carry out reliable mass testing on site.

Staff in all settings, including special, nurseries and primary schools, should be advised of the fact that employees are protected from detriment or dismissal should they, in circumstances of danger which they reasonably believe to be serious and imminent, leave (or propose to leave) or (while the danger persists) refuse to return to their place of work or any dangerous part of the place of work under sections 44 and 100 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. 

This is a message which needs to be got out loud and clear to all school staff this weekend to protect the safety of staff and the safety of our school communities.

No full school return in January. Prepare action ballots to ensure staff and community safety.

The Government has been gambling with public health by insisting schools remain fully open, despite their own official data showing rapidly rising rates of infection in school-aged children, particularly from the new, more infectious, Covid variant. Their failures have resulted in a public health crisis and further lockdown measures. Now they must change course.

The Scottish Government has already announced that schools will stay closed at the start of next term in January. Westminster must urgently make the same decision for schools in England, and across all sectors.

The National Education Union has called for the first two weeks of learning to be online for all but key worker and vulnerable children. That fortnight should then be used to genuinely plan and negotiate with staff and their unions about what is really required to prevent packed, poorly ventilated classrooms spreading the Covid variant, and to keep schools and communities safe until vaccinations have been carried out widely – not least for education staff.

That means:

* properly resourcing online learning so that schools can operate with smaller, safer, class sizes, including ensuring parents are paid if they need to stay off work to provide childcare. 

* withdrawing plans to introduce mass testing on the cheap and instead to recruit and train additional staff who can make sure that the tests are carried out as reliably as possible. 

* fully maintaining isolation protocols, certainly until regular testing is fully and reliably in place.

* making sure staff and students at greater clinical risk can safely work from home.

* recognising the strain on school staff and managing the demands being put upon them.

We can’t let the Government continue to fail. Before Christmas, the EiS teaching union in Scotland won big majorities in consultative polls on industrial action to ensure safety in the worst hit areas. Every school union should be making plans to do the same after Christmas – so that the Government has to take notice.

See below for an interview I have given tonight to RT:

 

Covid testing in schools - why school staff don't trust the Government's plans

There was anger last week when the Government announced extra testing for schoolchildren but only in parts of London, Essex and Kent, rather than in every region. So you might think school staff would now be pleased to be hearing that the Government are thinking of delaying school opening by a week in the New Year to prepare schools for a roll-out of mass testing of staff and students? 

However, most staff have very mixed feelings about the Government's plans and their real intentions. Let me explain why:

First of all, there's disbelief in Greenwich and elsewhere that the DfE could jump from issuing legal threats to bully schools to stay open at the end of this term - to saying they might stay closed at the start of next term!

Secondly, the timing. Schools are about to close for Xmas and New Year - so we're expected to just change the plans for the first week back overnight? 

Thirdly, any delay wouldn't be the DfE recognising the need for a post-Xmas 'circuit-break' but just to enforce their plans to make schools administer the tests on the cheap - just another job added to existing workload.

Fourthly, school staff aren't trained testers and pushing swabs up children's tender nostrils is not as simple as it sounds (as anyone who has self-administered a swab knows). Nor might it be safe.

Fifthly, the lateral flow tests are dubious in their accuracy, as the BMJ has explained in detail.

And last, but by no means least, the testing appears not to be added alongside existing isolation protocols but as a way of telling schools that staff and children would no longer need to isolate. Yet there's no proper research that's been provided on the risks that creates - and no certainty that it actually stops schools being centres of transmission.

At least, however, it would be an(other) effective admission that schools are NOT "Covid-safe" and shows why unions, such as the EiS members voting to support industrial action ballots  in Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire, are right to be trusting their own strength, rather than this Government, to provide genuine health and safety for staff and school communities.

UPDATE: See further advice over the dangers of giving consent to LFT tests instead of self-isolation here.

Win regular mass testing of children and staff in every region

The contradictory chaos at the heart of the Government’s Covid policies has been brought into sharp focus by the sudden announcement that mass testing of secondary school students is going to be rushed out in North-East London and parts of Essex and Kent.

There’s no question that regular mass testing of school students and staff is needed. It’s a demand that the NEU raised as one of our ‘5 tests’ for Covid-safety in schools back in May. But why is mass testing only being considered now and why only in these few areas?

Taken from the ONS Infection Survey, 11-12-20

The waves of Covid transmission have been peaking in different areas at different times. A few weeks ago, infection rates in the North of England were much higher than in the South. However, official statistics show that it’s now London where rates are rising fastest, particularly amongst school-aged children. For example, Basildon, Medway and Waltham Forest are all reporting infection rates of over 500/100,000 in 10-14 year olds.

Like some Tory ‘King Canute’, Matt Hancock hopes rushing out mobile testing units can stop the rising tide washing over London and the South-East. But, once again, instead of a properly resourced plan, he’s resorting to half-baked measures.

The practicalities of making sure that schoolchildren in the targeted areas are all tested are far from straightforward. No doubt exhausted and overstretched school staff will again be expected to try and help bring some order to Tory chaos. Testing this late in term also means that children testing positive will then have to self-isolate with their families over the Christmas period that the Government has supposedly ‘saved’ from Covid restrictions.

Worse, Ministers still can’t bring themselves to admit to what is now surely blindingly obvious. If school-aged children are so widely infected, insisting that parents send them in to classes of thirty in badly-ventilated classrooms inevitably means that schools will be acting as a significant driver of wider community transmission. Sadly, of course, that means a driver of Covid-related deaths too.

Many schools have been so badly hit by Covid outbreaks that they are already stretched to breaking point through staff and student absences. Yet, on the same day these mass tests were being announced, one such badly hit school in one of the targeted London boroughs was ordered to withdraw its plans to manage the situation by finishing term with just remote learning.

As parents and staff in the hard-hit North have understandably pointed out with anger, Government failure to organise widespread mass testing in other regions has already left thousands of families vulnerable. Some of their children will have been returning home from school untested, probably without symptoms, but still infectious. When, for example, will mass testing be rolled out in Hartlepool, where infection rates amongst 10-14 year-olds are also over 500/100,000?

But Government failure mustn’t be allowed to stoke regional divisions. Regular mass testing of children and staff should be happening in every area. 

The risk of transmission should also be being kept down through a properly resourced plan for safer reduced class sizes, with some children being supported to learn from home on a rota basis where necessary, certainly in those areas with the highest infection rates. Parents and carers who are left without childcare should be paid in full if they have to remain at home as a result.

Of course, these demands aren’t new. Trade unions and parent campaigns have been calling for action to reduce infection risks in schools for months. 

Instead of just pleading with Ministers who refuse to listen, what’s needed is action to make sure they are forced to see sense.

The NEU should follow the lead taken by the EIS teaching trade union in Glasgow and prepare members for ballots for strike action where employers continue to refuse to act to protect health and safety.