As some of you may or may not know, the school offers a test and stay program for students who have been exposed to Covid. If you are unaware of this program, let me explain it to you. If you have been exposed, instead of quarantining, you may arrive to school in the morning and get tested. If the test comes back negative, you are able to go to your classes as normal. This program is offered to kids after the first 10 days post exposure.
Some people think that this program is a great way to be able to stay in school without having to quarantine and miss up to 14 days of school. Many students have some anxiety around missing school. If you miss a day or two or 14 that creates a lot of makeup work. You are then stuck trying to keep up with all of the work from when you come back and all of the work that you missed while you are out. It can quickly become overwhelming and you feel as though you are drowning in your workload. So, if you can limit the amount of days you miss, then you limit the amount of stress placed on you by makeup work. Mrs. Leblanc, the school nurse, says “I think the program is a reasonable alternative to the 5th day test and exit 8th system. I like that kids can remain in school during what would have been the quarantine”.
However, I personally believe that this program is incredibly dangerous. This program begins the day after exposure. It is quite literally impossible to test positive the day after exposure even if you caught it during that interaction. You are still contagious in the days leading up to a positive test. It is possible for you to carry the virus for multiple days before testing positive or showing symptoms. You are most contagious with Covid 1-2 days before you actually begin to show symptoms1. So what happens if you have been exposed and later develop it but you were taking advantage of test and stay program? You are carrying a high enough viral load to be contagious, yet still testing negative.
Say you come to school on Monday after having been exposed Sunday. You continue to have negative tests until Friday morning when you eventually test positive. At that point, you have been at school for the entire week, sitting very closely to your peers during class and eating maskless at lunch with your friends. There is nothing you can do to fix it or stop the spread. Who knows how many people you have already affected. Especially considering the school’s low vaccination rate and the fact that many students still don’t wear their masks properly.
Another factor to consider is a false negative for multiple days before finally getting a positive result. Many people are unaware of the high rate of false negatives. Obviously if you test in the first two days post-exposure there is a 100% chance of having a false negative while still carrying a viral load. For an RTC-PCR test, the chances of having a false negative on day 4, while still carrying a viral load, is 67%2. If you are vaccinated that percentage goes up. And of course, the days that you are most likely to have a false negative are the days where you are also the most contagious. Mrs. Leblanc says on this subject, “Like all options there are pros and cons. The fact that the antigen test is not as sensitive as the molecular is a drawback, however being tested daily the hope is the virus will be detected as soon as viral load is larger enough to be detected.”
We can also assume that because the school is offering same day results to allow you to be eligible for classes, they are using rapid tests. These tests are not as sensitive as the other tests available that take longer to produce results, meaning you are more likely to have a false negative.
So what can you do instead? What is your safest option? Stay home!! Not just from school, but from all activities such as sports and work. The timeline according to Mrs. Leblanc is “stay out of school after an exposure and get tested on the 5th day after the exposure. If that test is negative and they remain asymptomatic they may return to school on the 8th day after exposure and will need to wear a mask and monitor for symptoms up until the 14th day.” If you have been exposed please self-isolate until you have made it past the incubation period with no symptoms and a negative test. It is the easiest way to keep everyone around you safe. If you are worried about falling behind on your school work, maybe try reaching out to your teachers. It takes very little time to reach out to all of your teachers, inform them of the situation and then ask for the classwork that you will miss ahead of time. If you are being smart and safe and therefore quarantining, you should have plenty of free time to get it done so that when you return, with a negative test and symptom free, it will be like you never left. I myself have been quarantined for almost two weeks and missed plenty of school. All of my teachers were very kind and when I returned I had no make up work because of their helpfulness.
And please (please!!) if you have any symptoms at all, quarantine and get tested. I was exposed to Covid by a family member who had cold symptoms. They almost didn’t get tested because it was “just a cold”. Everyone was telling us that “a really bad cold is going around right now”. But they were smart and got tested, and surprise, it came back positive. Maybe consider that the “bad cold” going around currently is actually Covid. For your safety and the safety of everyone around you, be smart. Get vaccinated, wear your mask over your nose and mouth, and if you have been exposed or have any cold or flu symptoms, quarantine.
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1https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/false-negative-how-long-does-it-take-coronavirus-become-detectable-pcr
2https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/false-negative-how-long-does-it-take-coronavirus-become-detectable-pcr