If your child is identified as a close contact of a case of Covid-19 at school, you will receive information from the school on who needs to isolate and for how long. A summary of the isolation advice, depending on the particular situation, is contained in the table below.
A child in your home has tested positive for COVID-19
- The whole household and other close contacts are required to isolate for 10 days and get a PCR test.
A child in your home is a contact of a case of COVID-19 at school
but you have NOT received an additional letter from the school advising that school/nursery aged siblings need to isolate.
- The child who is a contact needs to isolate for 10 days and get a PCR test.
- Parents and other household members DO NOT need to isolate while the child (who is the contact) is awaiting the PCR result.
- If the child (who is the contact) receives a positive PCR result, then the whole household needs to isolate and get a PCR test.
A child in your home is a contact of a case of COVID-19 at school
and you HAVE received an additional letter advising that school/nursery aged siblings need to isolate.
This additional control measure is applied by Health Protection and Education in situations where an outbreak in a school or nursery setting appears to be developing rapidly. The additional letter sets out exactly who needs to isolate and for how long.
- The child who is a contact of the case needs to isolate for 10 days and get a PCR test.
- This child’s siblings need to isolate until the child (who is the contact) gets a negative PCR test result (or for the full 10 days isolation period if the child who is the contact cannot be tested for some reason.)
- Parents and other adults in the household DO NOT need to isolate while the child who is the contact is awaiting the PCR result.
- If the child (who is the contact) receives a positive PCR result, then the whole household needs to isolate and get a PCR test.
Any member of the household develops COVID-19 symptoms
- The whole household should isolate immediately. Those who are symptomatic should get a PCR test.