Everyone said it: the track and trace system needed to be up to scratch in order for schools to return.
The main caveat of schools returning was that the track and trace system would be adequate, and would support children’s return to school. It was what we were promised.
And now, it is obvious that the service is not working and schools are being crippled.
Some members of staff at my school cannot get tests locally, some go to what is supposedly a walk-in centre and are told they need an appointment, and others cannot even get a postal test.
And when they do manage to get a test, it takes at least two days for the results to be returned - the labs being the pinch point, apparently; an excuse which actually may be covering up for the fact that there isn’t enough funding to pay lab staff.
Coronavirus: Track and trace ‘is too slow’
This is what happens whilst members of staff, and children, await tests and test results: schools continue to welcome children in and the infection spreads rapidly. The process of track and trace is too slow and not reactive enough.
Let’s say that one member of staff has begun to show symptoms. By the time she decides to self-isolate and get a test, she has already potentially transmitted the virus to a class full of children and other members of staff, whose immune systems have had an easy time of it for the past six months.
Next, that member of staff waits for the positive test result, which will signal to the school that they must begin the arduous process of contacting Public Health England and seeking advice about closing “bubble groups”. During this period (around two days) the virus presumably has further opportunities to spread throughout a class, and indeed the year group if that constitutes the extent of the bubble.
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Whilst all that’s going on, unbeknownst to anyone, another member of staff in the parallel class has also contracted the virus (she had PPA with the other teacher) and is busy, despite following all guidelines around distancing, handwashing and so on, spreading it around her class.
The first teacher’s test comes back positive. His class is told to isolate, as well as all the other members of staff within that bubble.
They are all safe at home - some of them start to develop symptoms, get tests and find that they, too, are positive.
Meanwhile, the second class, who stayed in school for an extra day, are told to isolate as their teacher is Covid-positive now, too.
But that second class were in school all day, being taught by another member of staff previously not part of the bubble. That member of staff did all she could to adhere to all the rules but is now left wondering whether she has put herself at risk by being with a class of children, albeit not a full class, who potentially have the virus.
And when she hears that a child from the first class that closed (and their siblings in other year groups) has tested positive, her fears become much more real. How many other children are positive? How much had it spread whilst teachers were waiting for tests and test results? Will she be the next teacher trying to get a test?
Schools ‘unable to operate’
The above scenario represents a situation stemming from just one teacher, one class, one bubble. But what if that is happening concurrently across a school? How quickly will that school be so low on staff that it will be unable to operate, even if only because teachers are self-isolating until they get a negative result?
The track and trace system is not adequate enough to keep schools open for very long. This is happening all over the country already. As long as it takes so long to get a test and result, schools will constantly be running on empty, until they run out all together.
More and more schools will close, parents won’t be able to work as they will have to care for their children, and whole infrastructures will be compromised as a result. Track and trace and its insufficiencies will have a lot to answer for.
The writer is a senior leader at a school in the North of England
