Some of updates received from DES: 5th Jan 2022
Public Health continues to advise that the two most important actions to prevent the introduction and spread of COVID-19 (and other respiratory viruses), are:
- ensuring no-one with new onset symptoms attends school, and;
- that all recommended infection prevention and control measures are in
place in line with school COVID-19 response plans.
The key infection prevention and control measures that are focused on keeping COVID-19 out of schools and reducing the risk of spread of infection in schools are the use of appropriate hand hygiene, enhanced cleaning, good ventilation practices, mask wearing requirement, maximising physical distancing and antigen testing. Public Health has confirmed that there is no change to these infection prevention and control measures.
If a post primary student has tested positive for COVID-19:
- They will be contact traced by the National Contact Tracing Team.
- The National Contact Tracing Team will contact them and ask them to
identify their close contacts.
- The student who tested positive will have to isolate for 10 days from the
day their symptoms started or for 10 days from the day they had the positive PCR test. The student can return to school after this isolation period, provided they do not have a fever/temperature during the last 5 days of their isolation period.
Students who have symptoms of COVID-19 should stay at home, isolate and arrange to have a COVID-19 test.
There are 2 types of COVID-19 test available from the HSE: antigen tests (home test kits) and PCR tests (done at a test centre and sent to a lab).
Students (or anyone between 4 to 39 years of age) who has symptoms of COVID-19 are offered antigen tests firstly and they do not book a PCR test unless they get a positive antigen test result.
Note – If a student is identified as a CLOSE CONTACT of a case in their HOUSEHOLD they will have to restrict their movement as per national guidelines for household close contact and get a COVID-19 test as soon as possible.
Further information is available at
https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/covid19/testing/get-tested/