Testing the families of schoolchildren for coronavirus will create a “lucky dip” of results as thousands of people with no training carry out their own tests at home, the head of an academy chain warned today.
Steve Chalke, founder of the Oasis Trust, which runs 53 academies, said asking the families of schoolchildren to test themselves before schools reopen on March 8 is not a “definitive game-changer” and the tests will be carried out in such variable conditions that it will be difficult to rely on them.
He questioned why the Army was initially drafted in to train teachers to oversee pupil testing, when just weeks later people with no experience are being asked to carry out the tests. It comes after the Government announced that families with school-age children are being offered rapid Covid-19 tests which they can use at home as schools reopen to all pupils.
Up to 32 million lateral flow tests will be sent by post to parents every week. This is in addition to testing that will be carried out in secondary schools on Monday.
Mr Chalke, whose trust has previously carried out a pilot of mass testing plans, said: “There is a huge spectrum of parents. Some won’t do the tests, some won’t take it seriously, some will do them but not do them accurately. If you take a home with three kids and loads going on — you are not putting these tests into controlled environments. So it’s going to be a lucky dip.”
He added that even when tests are carried out properly, the results can be unreliable. He said: “They are clearly of some help in the same way that wearing a mask is.
“But this is not the definitive game-changer. School staff were tutored by the Army in how to watch over a test because they are pretty hard to do, particularly at first. So if you take these tests and apply them at home without any training I think the percentage that will be accurate will be pretty low.”
