COVID Update from Dr. Robyn Dewis
Posted 10th February 2022
Dr. Robyn Dewis has asked us to share the following information with all parents/carers.
Dear Parents and Carers,
Despite reports that COVID infections are falling, we are still seeing a high number of COVID cases in the City, over 2000 each week. Cases in children are at their highest since the start of the pandemic. Many schools and early years providers are working extremely hard to keep settings open while ensuring children and staff are safe. Despite this, we have a number of settings that have needed to take additional actions to respond to outbreaks.
I am writing to ask for your help and support to reduce Covid-19 spread and keep schools and settings open. I hope that, by working together, we can keep children in face to face education for the coming months.
We continue to advise schools and childcare providers to:
- Increase ventilation inside and to be outside as much as possible.
- Ensure a continued focus on thorough and frequent cleaning, along with increased handwashing and sanitising.
- Ask parents to continue to wear face coverings at drop-off and pick-up or if they visit inside.
- Ask staff to continue to wear face coverings where possible and appropriate, including in communal areas in some schools with outbreaks.
- Encourage staff and secondary school children to use the home testing/ lateral flow kits twice a week and report results. These tests are to use regularly when you do not have any symptoms. Our advice is that these tests can also be used by Primary aged children if parents are happy to do this.
- Identify any contacts of positive cases and provide advice that is based on the setting’s rates of infection.
- Remind everyone that those with symptoms need to stay at home and take a PCR test.
- Children should not return to the setting before the result comes back and staff may ask to see the result.
- Remind everyone who is positive for COVID that they need to isolate at home.
- In some outbreak situations head teachers may ask household contacts to stay at home until they have had a negative PCR result.
I am asking parents to:
- Continue to use the home testing/ lateral flow kits twice a week and report the results.
- Parents can use them with younger children if they feel able to.
- Wear a face covering if you need to gather with others when you drop-off or collect your child, unless exempt. Some settings continue to require this.
- If your child has COVID symptoms (a new cough, a temperature or loss of taste/smell) please keep them at home and arrange a PCR test. If your school currently has an outbreak then other symptoms such as sore throat or cold symptoms may also indicate COVID infection.
- If your child is identified as a contact, please follow the advice provided by your school or childcare provider. This might include a bookable PCR test, daily LFTs for children over 5 or younger if parents agree. In some circumstances your child may be asked to move to home learning.
- If there is a current outbreak in your child’s school, or your child is identified as a contact, please consider the activities they undertake out of the school setting. Please consider reducing their contact with vulnerable people, including those who are older or in poor health, for the period of the outbreak.
Thank you for your support in keeping your setting open and everyone safe.
Yours sincerely
Dr Robyn Dewis
Director of Public Health
PCR test- taken at a test site or as a postal kit and sent off to the lab
LFT- the one you do at home and get your results immediately