Clare principals are calling on the Department of Education to ‘get its act together’ and provide clarity on antigen testing before the next academic year begins.
It comes as the European Centre for Disease Control is warning a ‘high level of preparedness’ is needed for outbreaks in time for September.
A new ECDC report suggests increasing proportions of COVID-19 cases in the autumn will be in children due to the high levels of vaccination that will be present among the adult population.
The EU-wide body says rapid antigen tests should be used to test contacts of school cases, with the HSE confirming it’s now in discussions with the Department of Education about the provision of such tests when the school year begins again.
However, principals in this county at both primary and secondary level say clarity is needed well before September on the systems that will be required in educational facilities.
Aidan Looney, who’s principal of St Joseph’s National School in Miltown Malbay, is accusing the Department of Education of being reactive rather than proactive on possible testing measures.
The ECDC says clear testing strategies in education need to be developed to isolate cases and trace contacts.
The body is advising that school closures should be considered ‘a last resort’, though their studies were conducted before the emergence of the more transmissable Delta variant.
Principal of St Joseph’s Secondary School in Tulla, Juliet Coman, says any strategy should aim to prevent school closures as much as possible, which she says would be ‘devastating’.
