COVID Updates

In accordance with the latest changes to the isolation rules in NSW, there have also been some changes for schools in relation to the isolation guidelines for students.

Revised isolation guidelines for students

If a student is a household contact of a positive case, the student must:

• Follow the self-isolation guidelines and self-isolate for 7 days from the time the first COVID-positive person in the household had their test.
• Have a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) as soon as possible and again on Day 6. Have an additional RAT if symptoms develop.
• If all tests are negative and the student has no symptoms, they can leave isolation and return to school after 7 days.

Students no longer need to repeat or restart the isolation if another person in the household tests positive in the 14 days after this initial isolation period ends (ie Day 8 to Day 21 after the first person tests positive).

If another person in the household tests positive for COVID-19 more than 14 days after the initial isolation period ends (ie more than 21 days after the first positive case in the household), the student will have to isolate again for an additional 7 days.

What if the student has recently had COVID-19, but since recovered?
People who have recovered from COVID-19 have a low risk of getting it again in the eight weeks after you are released as most people develop some immunity. If a student who has had COVID-19 within the last eight weeks comes into contact with COVID-19 in their household again, the student is not required to self-isolate.

RAHTS

Surveillance testing remains an important tool for the School, so I would like to continue the twice-weekly testing regime for next week again too. So please do give your daughters a RAHT test on Monday and Wednesday, as this is an important tool in catching instances of the virus before it comes into the School itself and is a really important process to try to keep everyone safe until the end of term.

It is important to make sure that you follow the instructions carefully for any RAHT test that you have, but in particular, the requirement to not have ANY food or drinks for 30 mins prior to using a saliva test. This is the key to ensuring that these tests are at their maximum effectiveness.

Ongoing Monitoring

Staff and students cannot attend school if they are showing any symptoms of COVID-19. If symptoms occur at any time, your daughter should not attend school and should undertake a rapid antigen test. If she does develop some symptoms, even if she tests negative on a RAHT, please keep her home for 24 hours and then test again.

It is important to remember that no RAHT is perfect! The brands that the NSW Government has provided to us to distribute to the students have all been rated by the TGA at the “very high sensitivity” level. This rating level indicates that the tests should catch 95% of the positive cases that would be caught by a PCR test if they are used in accordance with the instructions – but this does still mean that 5% of cases may be missed. So, if your daughter has symptoms, does feel unwell and has tested negative on two RAHTs over the 24-hour period, parents/carers may want to consider obtaining a PCR test to understand whether the illness is COVID-19 or something else.

As circumstances and guidelines continue to evolve throughout the pandemic, I want to reiterate how grateful I am of the supportive, kind and empathetic community of SCEGGS and for everyone’s ongoing commitment to keeping us all safe!

Jenny Allum
Head of School