Mass Testing in Schools

[treetree]

Only this government could announce on the day most schools break up  that on their return there is supposedly going to be mass testing rolled out in schools.

There is no way an untrained (or trained for that matter) school staff member is subjecting my children to one of those tests on a regular basis.

 

[Rob85]

25 minutes ago, treetree said:

Only this government could announce on the day most schools break up  that on their return there is supposedly going to be mass testing rolled out in schools.

There is no way an untrained (or trained for that matter) school staff member is subjecting my children to one of those tests on a regular basis.

 

Most schools have a school nurse or a community nurse that comes in to do the usual vaccines like the BCG, tetanus, diphtheria and the lovely tasting polio drops that you got some jelly tots after to take the minging taste away. I would imagine it will be these that will conduct the tests.... on the younger kids especially. The older ones in high school may just get to do their own.

[AVB]

I am not giving approval for mine to be tested either. 

[Mice!]

We have been doing self tests for months now once a week, its really no issue. 

[clangerman]

a lot of children will be scared they are infecting grannie this will put their mind at rest who would deny children that 

[team tractor]

44 minutes ago, Mice! said:

We have been doing self tests for months now once a week, its really no issue. 

Exactly. Some people will argue over anything. 
I have 4 kids in 3 schools plus 3 step kids in 2 schools . I’d rather know they are safe .

its only a swab  

Edited December 19, 2020 by team tractor

[Mice!]

39 minutes ago, team tractor said:

Exactly. Some people will argue over anything. 
I have 4 kids in 3 schools plus 3 step kids in 2 schools . I’d rather know they are safe .

its only a swab  

Its being spread by kids even if they aren't really affected by it, the teachers are and the kids parents. 

I'm surprised they didn't bring this in sooner really especially at high schools. 

[AVB]

For a test that is only 70% accurate. It instils a false sense of security. 

[Yellow Bear]

7 minutes ago, AVB said:

For a test that is only 70% accurate. It instils a false sense of security. 

True it may but it means the 70% stop spreading it,  assuming they abide by the need to isolate. 

I suspect many of those against just don't want their lives curtailed for a short time if their kids throw up a positive.

[AVB]

2 minutes ago, Yellow Bear said:

True it may but it means the 70% stop spreading it,  assuming they abide by the need to isolate. 

I suspect many of those against just don't want their lives curtailed for a short time if their kids throw up a positive.

Person doesn’t have test so is nervous about hugging granny = granny safe. 

Person has a test that falsely says they are negative and therefore they hug granny = granny dead. 
 

[Mice!]

22 minutes ago, AVB said:

Person doesn’t have test so is nervous about hugging granny = granny safe. 

Person has a test that falsely says they are negative and therefore they hug granny = granny dead. 
 

People will be seeing grannies over Christmas regardless of being tested.

The kids getting tested will hopefully mean that areas with rising numbers like the southwest can get on top of things.

Like I've said I get tested every week,  I'm the family budgie but I won't be hugging,  I'll be happy seeing some family.

[treetree]

1 hour ago, team tractor said:

Exactly. Some people will argue over anything. 
I have 4 kids in 3 schools plus 3 step kids in 2 schools . I’d rather know they are safe .

How does it keep them safe?  Does the virus run away at the sight of a test?

[AVB]

23 minutes ago, Mice! said:

People will be seeing grannies over Christmas regardless of being tested.

The kids getting tested will hopefully mean that areas with rising numbers like the southwest can get on top of things.

Like I've said I get tested every week,  I'm the family budgie but I won't be hugging,  I'll be happy seeing some family.

But a lot of people will take comfort in having negative test and let down their guard. Despite the test only being valid at that point in time (you can easily catch the virus immediately after having the test) and only 70% accurate (or 49% accurate for the lateral flow tests - source = university of Liverpool)  

Edited December 19, 2020 by AVB

[Yellow Bear]

1 hour ago, AVB said:

Person doesn’t have test so is nervous about hugging granny = granny safe. 

Person has a test that falsely says they are negative and therefore they hug granny = granny dead. 
 

Or this more likely

Person doesn’t have test so is nervous about hugging granny = granny safe, however continues to huddle with school mates and they all go home and give it to mum and siblings.

Mums think they are negative and therefore they hug their mums = grannies dead. 

Mums think they are negative and therefore they group with mates = more infections. 

Siblings think they are negative and therefore they group with mates = more infections. 
 

Take it which way you will

[Mice!]

39 minutes ago, AVB said:

But a lot of people will take comfort in having negative test and let down their guard. Despite the test only being valid at that point in time (you can easily catch the virus immediately after having the test) and only 70% accurate (or 49% accurate for the lateral flow tests - source = university of Liverpool)  

I realise that, but its surely better to know if the kids are passing it around while being asymptomatic. 

How many people saying their kids aren't being tested work in close proximity to 35 kids for 6hrs a day? 5 days a week.

[AVB]

Apparently it is the lateral flow test that is being rolled out by the government. This has less than 50% accuracy. So you will have a significant proportion of people with a false sense of security or needlessly self-isolating (with all the impact that has on the wider family, potentially loss of income etc). 
 

you might as well put all the kids in a room tell half of them they are safe and tell the other half to self isolate. 
 

My kids school has just said they will be offering the slightly more accurate PCR test (70% accurate) at £80 a pop. 

[treetree]

2 hours ago, Mice! said:

I realise that, but its surely better to know if the kids are passing it around while being asymptomatic. 

Ah, the potentially asymptomatic spreader; someone who has no symptoms and feels perfectly fine.  Or 'not ill', as they used to be called.

[Mice!]

47 minutes ago, treetree said:

Ah, the potentially asymptomatic spreader; someone who has no symptoms and feels perfectly fine.  Or 'not ill', as they used to be called.

Things were looking quite good in the South, the rising numbers were in the North, now the southwest is being locked down,  I doubt that has been done lightly. 

But I'm sure it has nothing to do with schools. 

[WalkedUp]

https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4916

I threatened to dock the pay of a member of staff who went during work time for a symptomless mass test as part of the Liverpool trial due to its prior known very low level of accuracy. I said that the results of the tests should only be used blind to sample the changing rate within the test area rather than given to people as a certainty. The false negatives will have caused more infection and mass testing using lateral flow is worse than useless. The government committed to buying junk and is now trying to use it up rather than admit its mistake and cancel the order. 

[treetree]

9 hours ago, WalkedUp said:

The false negatives will have caused more infection and mass testing using lateral flow is worse than useless. 

False negatives? Its the false positives you ought to be fuming about, that's what has led to the scandalous situation we are in now.

[WalkedUp]

No in both frequency and severity false negatives are much more serious. False negatives are 50% of the time, false positives are less than 0.1%.  Apart from having to self isolate a false positive has no detrimental impact. A false negative makes you into a walking funeral maker. 

I know several people who have died of CV-19, including my 42 year old cousin. She had bad asthma and poor health for a woman of her age but I wouldn’t have expected her two daughters to effectively be orphaned this year (absent father). I also have had to keep my business open (self employed) and my wife is exposed to 2000 people a day so I understand the ridiculous situation of ‘no shooting’ or closing salons/restaurants in some sort of sacrificial offering to the gods. 

[Mice!]

2 hours ago, WalkedUp said:

No in both frequency and severity false negatives are much more serious. False negatives are 50% of the time, false positives are less than 0.1%.  Apart from having to self isolate a false positive has no detrimental impact. A false negative makes you into a walking funeral maker. 

I know several people who have died of CV-19, including my 42 year old cousin. She had bad asthma and poor health for a woman of her age but I wouldn’t have expected her two daughters to effectively be orphaned this year (absent father). I also have had to keep my business open (self employed) and my wife is exposed to 2000 people a day so I understand the ridiculous situation of ‘no shooting’ or closing salons/restaurants in some sort of sacrificial offering to the gods. 

This post should show people why testing,  masks and social distancing are necessary,  according to many on here your cousin should have been staying at home while the rest of us carry on which is just not possible.

Even with asthma and poor health you don't expect this to happen at such a young age which for me is why the government has tried doing things the way they have.

Testing in schools will hopefully stop the spread through schools if nothing else, and then taking it home.

How are things in Liverpool with the mass testing?

My thinking on pubs and restaurants being closed is because many people can't manage to have a quiet drink and a meal,  alcohol obviously makes everyone relax then the social distancing goes out the window. 

[WalkedUp]

The mass testing in Liverpool is a shambles because the tests that were given to us are worse than useless. The government bought a load of poor quality tests and needs to use them up or look silly. The tests is less than 50% accurate, if you have the virus and have a lateral flow test you are more likely to be incorrectly told you are clear than you are to be correctly told that you have it. 

The government needs to use this test purely to measure rate of change across large populations rather than give individual test results. 

Lots of people are using these tests prior to visiting vulnerable relatives, which is just stupid. A false reassurance. 

From BMJ link above:

“Swabs are used both for PCR tests and for rapid tests that have been deployed by the government for mass testing in Liverpool and care homes and do not need to be sent to a laboratory for results. One of the main rapid tests used is the Innova Lateral Flow SARS-CoV-2 antigen test, which involves a self-administered swab. However, data released from the Liverpool pilot programme showed that this test detected just 48.89% of covid-19 infections in asymptomatic people when compared with a PCR test.”

[Mice!]

Just found out my kids class have to isolate after being in school Monday-Wednesday, thankfully we took the option of taking our kids out of school on the Friday.  I'm sure a lot will have mixed with relatives yesterday and now have to wait and see how things go.

I imagine this will have been same across the country, even in tier 4 areas, so I'm expecting the cases to jump up in the next 2weeks with a full lockdown imminent. 

[ordnance]

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I imagine this will have been same across the country, even in tier 4 areas, so I'm expecting the cases to jump up in the next 2weeks with a full lockdown imminent

Its already happened here. 

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Coronavirus: Northern Ireland begins six-week lockdown. By Jayne McCormack. BBC News NI Political Reporter.