DfE SEND division have updated the SEND and specialist settings: additional COVID-19 operational guidance to reflect new public health information and guidance issued yesterday. Updates have been made to the section on tracing close contacts and isolation. The section on when someone develops COVID-19 symptoms or has a positive test has also been revised.
'On February 22nd the Prime Minister set out the next phase of the government’s COVID-19 response ‘Living with COVID-19’. COVID-19 continues to be a virus that we learn to live with and the imperative to reduce the disruption to children and young people’s education remains.
This guidance does not change the testing approach for specialist settings. Settings should continue with the approaches they have been using over the past year. Some Lateral flow device (LFD) tests ask for a combined nose and throat swab. However, we know that some children and young people find throat swabs difficult, and we want to confirm that whichever LFD brand that you are using, if a combined nose and throat swab is not possible then a nose swab from both nostrils can be taken. Similarly, if for some reason a nasal swab is not feasible, a throat swab alone will suffice.'