Dear Parent/Carer
We have received some updated guidance from the Public Health team related to the rise in COVID-19 figures across the county. This guidance is now in effect in all schools in Cumbria.
Please read below;
Managing COVID-19 cases is becoming increasingly challenging for educational settings in Cumbria, so Cumbria’s Director of Public Health, Colin Cox and education leaders have agreed the following local additional advice measures to be implemented from Thursday 23 September. (This only applies to siblings testing positive after Thursday 23 September)
Children and young people aged between the ages of 5 and 16, (unless exempt – see below) should now be advised to stay at home when a sibling tests positive for COVID-19 (via either a PCR or Lateral Flow test).
3-5 days following the onset of symptoms in the sibling who has tested positive (or test date if the positive case had no symptoms), the close contact child should get a PCR test. If this is negative, they can return to the setting, but should isolate again immediately and get another test if they develop symptoms of COVID-19 at a later date.
The groups exempt from this advice and able to continue to attend the setting when identified as a close contact of a sibling positive case are:
- 12-18 year-olds who have had at least one dose of the vaccine more than 14 days ago
- Any child aged between 5 – 16 who has tested positive for COVID-19 themselves via a PCR test within the past 90 days.
Why is this guidance being issued now?
In the week ending 17 September 2021, the 12-18 age group accounted for the greatest number of new cases in Cumbria followed by the 5-11 age group (+524 and +412 new cases respectively).
The 12-18 and 5-11 age groups also accounted for by far the greatest rates of new cases in Cumbria (1,431 and 1,106 new cases per 100k population respectively).
The 5-9 age group experienced the greatest numerical and proportional increase in new cases (+53%).
If you require any further advice on these new guidelines we would advise contacting 119 in the first instance.
Thank you for your ongoing support during these challenging times.
Yours faithfully
Mr S Gilby
Headteacher