Dear Parent/Carer
We have received some updated guidance from the Public Health team related to Covid isolation – this is operational from today, Monday 11 October 2021.
Guidance for household contacts of positive cases
Children and young people between the ages of 5 and 18+6 months (unless exempt – see below), who are household contacts of a positive case, should be advised to stay at home.
Five days following the onset of symptoms in the household contact 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.
Exemptions
The groups exempt from this advice and able to continue to attend the setting when identified as a household contact of a positive case are:
- Any child or young person who has had at least one dose of the vaccine more than 14 days ago
- Any child or young person who has tested positive for COVID-19 themselves via a PCR test within the past 90 days
- Where there are significant concerns about the impact of exclusion on the child or young person, and a risk assessment indicates that the risks of exclusion to the individual child outweigh the wider benefits
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