Contacts traced after positive Covid case at Les Beaucamps

A La Mare de Carteret pupil, who had not been to school two days before being diagnosed, led to letters going to parents this week.

Now a further warning has been sent to Year 8 pupils at Les Beaucamps.

A positive Covid-19 case has been identified in that year group. All Year 8 students are being asked to ensure they had a negative lateral flow test before attending school yesterday.

Contacts of the case are still able to attend school, as long as they remain symptom-free and undergo daily negative lateral flow tests for 10 days.

Director of Public Health Dr Nicola Brink said they had expected cases of Covid-19 in schools as pupils returned.

‘We prepared for this over the summer with a focus on learning to live responsibly with Covid-19, which acknowledges that we will see cases across the whole of the community,’ she said.

‘As part of this we have implemented a programme of testing to use if we get a case of Covid-19 in a school or college to avoid having to isolate children and disrupt their education.’

Contacts of a case are being identified by the Contact Tracing Team, working with the involved school or college.

‘The measures we have put in place balance the need to keep students in education, while at the same time taking measures to protect the health and wellbeing of the community,’ Dr Brink said.

‘The selection of classroom contacts for the enhanced testing programme through daily lateral flow device testing reflects the fact that students may have been sitting in close proximity for prolonged periods of time.’

When it comes to identifying individual schools, the tracing team takes a number of factors into consideration.

‘It may be that contact has occurred linked, but not directly in, the school environment. In that case, the contact tracers will have considered issues, for example, as to whether the contact was indoors or outdoors.’