Students with Covid-19 symptoms (FOI)

Request

A

How many pupils have been sent home from Jersey government-run schools for displaying Covid-19 symptoms since 3 September?

B

How many pupils have been sent home from Jersey government-run schools in total for Covid-19 related reasons, eg for being close contacts, since 3 September?

C

How many children aged 16 and under in Jersey have been tested for coronavirus since 3 September, not including at the borders? How many have tested positive?

Are Jersey children on a priority list for testing? In the UK, they've talked about prioritising schoolchildren and their parents after hospitals and care homes.

Response

A

We are unable to answer this question. Pupils who are unwell at school will be sent home for a number of reasons. School staff are not medical experts therefore they cannot determine if a child’s illness is Covid-19 related. If parents / carers feel that a child’s symptoms are Covid-19 related, they are advised to call the Coronavirus Helpline to seek expert medical advice.

B

Since 3 September, 109 pupils have been sent home from Government of Jersey schools for Covid-19 related reasons.

C

From 3rd September to 31 October 2020, 828 people aged 16 and under were swabbed, with a total of 1087 tests. This excludes those marked as inbound travel (note that it is only under the age of 11 that are not swabbed at the border).

Of these, 8 positive cases were identified.

The government are prioritising children in a number of its testing programmes. In summary, children are tested in the following ways:

• the Government Safer Travel Policy tests children over the age of 11. Those children who travel and are unaccompanied will be tested with parental consent.

• children who are Direct Contacts of a confirmed positive case will be offered PCR tests and will be tested with parental consent. Their parents will have been called by the Contact Tracing Team.

• children who are symptomatic seeking health care will be offered a PCR test subject to parental consent.

• children admitted to hospital will be offered a PCR test subject to parental consent.

Any update to this guidance will be published at the following link:

Coronavirus (COVID-19)