No routine testing for all teachers or pupils on school return

Details of the direction of travel for safety in schools has emerged as the Scottish Government prepares to announce its final decision on the reopening of schools on Thursday.

But there is growing concerns that the plans for schools do not involve regular testing for all schools, staff and older pupils.

The Scottish Greens are among those who have raised worries that the measures for schools being pursued are just not robust enough, especially as professional sports stars and staff at clubs are tested at least twice a week.

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Education secretary John Swinney has confirmed that Public Health Scotland is working with the Scottish Government to develop the testing regime to monitor and help respond to any outbreaks in schools.

But he has admitted that it could not “be definitive” that the system will be in place by the time schools are expected to reopen.

It has been confirmed that plans involve "sample testing across a wide cross section of schools within Scotland". It is not yet clear how often that sampling will be conducted.

Mr Swinney has said the enhanced testing regime would be run in conjunction with the current test-and-protect system, which covers the entire population and was launched in May.

Scotland’s health secretary, Jeane Freeman announced on May 18 that all 53,000 care home staff would be offered weekly tests to help cut infections in homes, the site of around half of Scotland’s Covid deaths. But the Scottish Government have since been beset with problems in addressing that.

Ross Greer, the Scottish Greens education spokesman raised concerns about the direction for schools saying that what is planned is not regular testing and will not be offered to every teacher and older pupil ans believes teachers should get the same protection as footballers.

“Regular testing has proven to significantly reduce transmission of the virus, precisely because it involves testing those who are not symptomatic. We now know enough about this virus to say that many infectious people show no symptoms, but containing the spread is dependent on identifying and directing them to self-isolate," he said.

“Teachers and support staff are anxious about returning to crowded schools where pupils are not required to socially distance. The Scottish Greens proposed regular testing a month ago to offer them some reassurance. If footballers can be tested regularly, teachers deserve the right level of protection as well.”

A survey by the NASUWT teacher's union Teachers’ Union published earlier this month revealed that nearly half of teachers who responded did not feel prepared to return to their school or college in August and just 22% said they feel safe or very safe as a result of the provisions their employer was putting in place to mitigate the risks of Covid-19.

Ross Greer.

The survey, which examined the experiences of over 350 teachers in Scotland during the lockdown and in preparing for wider reopening from the start of the new academic year in August, found concerns about a lack of PPE and adequate safety measures to protect staff and pupils in schools and colleges.

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of Scotland's largest teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), said: “Many teachers will be concerned about their personal safety if schools reopen in August with a full pupil return. One of the reassurances which the EIS has sought from the Scottish Government is a comprehensive approach to testing which proactively monitors schools and facilitates swift intervention where risks arise. That is what we expect to be delivered.”

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Mr Swinney told MSPs earlier this week that the testing that will be provided will "ensure we are properly and fully monitoring any changes in patterns that may emerge as a consequence of the re-opening of schools."

He has referred to the plan as a "layer of surveillance testing that will be available within our schools to enable us to have a reassurance that there is an effective approach being undertaken to identified any changing pattern of Covid and enable us to take action accordingly should that arise".

He added: "If there are positive cases identified within schools, there will have to be the wider contact tracing work that is undertaken and follow-up action as a consequence. And schools will be required to be in touch with public health authorities should such circumstances arise."

It has also been revealed that the guidance for schools makes clear that two confirmed positive cases in a school within a 14-day period would be defined as an official incident.

Mr Swinney talked of arrangements on testing and positive cases in schools after being quizzed about details descirbed by one MSP as still vague and adding anxiety in school communities.

Shetland Islands MSP Beatrice Wishart MSP raised protocols in New Zealand, where a school or early learning service that has one confirmed or probable case of Covid-19 must close for 72 hours to allow contact tracing and then, potentially, for a further 14 days.

He said: "The answer to that question has to be set within the general context of what is becoming increasingly obvious, which is that the test and protect approach in Scotland is very effective, as we have seen vividly in a couple of examples in Dumfries and Galloway and, more recently, in Lanarkshire, where individual positive cases have been identified and the test and protect arrangements have come into play.

"Contact tracing is undertaken and individuals are required to isolate. In those examples, we have seen clear evidence that the tracing system is working effectively to follow up contacts. That would be no different in an educational setting from what it would be in any other setting in our society."

He said that on a daily basis, when information arises about positive cases, health protection teams around the country seek information about connections between those cases in order that they can identify possible clustering of activity.

In response the Scottish Government produced a statement saying: “Guidance agreed by the Education Recovery Group on the health mitigations and precautions that will be in place when schools re-open will be published [on Thursday]. Testing will be a vital part of those mitigations and, as always, we will be guided by the best and most up to date scientific evidence.”

The test-and-protect programme asks those with coronavirus symptoms to provide details of “all recent close contacts” to a team of NHS contact tracers. Contact tracers will contact the people who have been in close contact with an infected person, and then ask them to self-isolate for 14 days.