DAILY testing is just as effective as isolating school children, in controlling the spread of Covid-19 according to an Oxford study. The University of Oxford study ran between April and June, with more than 200,000 students and 20,000 staff from 201 secondary schools and colleges taking part. They were split into two groups, with half the schools continuing the standard policy of routine mass testing and isolation for close contacts of positive cases. The second group invited close contacts of positive cases to schools, to take lateral flow tests. Those who chose to do so were released from isolation to attend school and college if they tested negative for coronavirus.
How Innova got billions selling COVID tests to UK government
latimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from latimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Daily Covid-19 testing of pupils ‘just as effective’ in controlling transmission 23/07/2021, 12:08 am
Students Ellie Fisher (left) and Beth Hicks (right) take Coronavirus lateral flow tests at Outwood Academy Adwick in Doncaster (PA)
Daily testing of pupils who have been in contact with someone with Covid-19, rather than isolating whole groups, may be just as effective in controlling transmission in secondary schools, a study suggests.
Research by the University of Oxford estimates that daily Covid-19 testing in schools – as an alternative to the current 10-day contact isolation policy – can reduce coronavirus-related school absences by 39%.
Findings suggest only a small percentage (1.5-1.6%) of pupils and staff tested positive for Covid-19 after close contact with a case in school or college.
Oxford study suggests Covid can be controlled better by tests than quarantine
23 July 2021 • 12:01am
Forcing hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren to self-isolate because a classmate had Covid was unnecessary as daily testing would have been as effective, an official study suggests.
The results of the study, by the University of Oxford, emerged on the last day of term for most schools, when more than one million pupils are off because of the virus and after months of disruption to education.
Since June, The Telegraph has been running a campaign calling on ministers to put children first as the country recovers from its Covid lockdowns, with action to bring an end to the chaos in schools.
Fri 23 Jul 2021 01.01 EDT
Scientists have recommended daily tests for students who come into contact with Covid cases at secondary schools and colleges after finding that it prevents the spread of infection as much as sending whole bubbles home to isolate.
Researchers at Oxford University compared the two approaches in 201 schools and colleges between April and June this year. Daily testing with lateral flow devices appeared to marginally reduce symptomatic infections in the schools, but had a greater impact on lost education, reducing the number of absences by an estimated 20% to 39%.
The results of the trial, commissioned by the government, suggests that switching to daily lateral flow tests instead of sending contacts of Covid cases home to self-isolate for 10 days may help keep students in school after the summer without exacerbating the spread of the virus.
vimarsana © 2020. All Rights Reserved.