Commenting on the refusal of the Medicines and Healthcare
Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to formally approve the
Government’s plan for daily testing in schools, Kevin Courtney,
Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
"The regulator’s decision has hopefully ruled out the Department
for Education’s reckless wish to keep close contacts of positive
cases in the classroom instead of ensuring they self-isolate as
they should do. We would now welcome discussions with DfE on a
programme which is aimed at mass testing solely for
identification of asymptomatic cases which would otherwise be
missed, rather than at circumventing the self-isolation rules.
"We have always supported the idea of mass testing in schools as
a means to facilitate safe on-site learning, but this has to be
consistent with scientific understanding. The DfE used a study
into daily lateral flow testing arrangements (1) that were not
the same as those proposed for schools. It was obvious from the
start that the Department was twisting the science to justify its
preferred policy of avoiding necessary self-isolation, risking an
increase in the number of cases, not a reduction."
ENDS
Editor’s Note
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rapid-testing-strategies-for-traced-contacts-comparing-quarantine-quarantine-and-testing-and-daily-testing-16-november-2020
