Test to release for Children under 11 arriving to UK from Abroad

luiskov33

silvercar said:

luiskov33 said:

silvercar said:

Either you ignore the guideline and get them tested or they remain in isolation. I haven’t seen any mention of under 5s being released early. Remember this is a voluntary test.

The problem is that you cannot ignore the guideline as not lab will do a TTR for a child under 5 and this is where the gap in the government guidelines is (confirmed by two labs this morning)
Regarding a link, I spent some time on the phone this morning with few labs, Boots and 119 and all confirmed that the guideline is not to TTR children below 5 but there is no law/guideline/recommendations on isolation for those children coming back from an amber country. So therefore, it could end up in a situation where people make assumptions and agree for example with the nursery to send back the kids at day 2 after a lateral test flow, or day 6 after a TTR done by the parents. 

So those are guidelines from the testing companies rather than from the government. It may be that is because the staff don’t want the difficulty of swabbing a little one. Are there any TTR companies where you could do the test at home and administer it yourself?

The law is clear, you have to isolate until day 10 if you don’t do TTR, there is no exemption in the law as currently written.
as for doing a LFT instead of PCR, one is just as invasive as the other, so I don’t see why you would happily do a LFT on a toddler but not a PCR.

It looks like you did not read my messages  properly : those are government guidelines confirmed over the phones by labs / 119.
what is not clear is the rule for children below 5 travelling with adults.
Agree people should self isolate for 10 days but as Children under a certain age don t have to take test, what is the rule for them as it is not written anywhere in the law?? 

Finally it s much easier to do a LFT to a child at home, playing games or watching tv than in a clinic.

silvercar

If we accept that the gov guidelines say that children under 5 shouldn't do a lateral flow, why haven't the gov published that for all to see?
If we accept that it is true, where is there anything that says that people who shouldn't take a test are exempt from quarantine? It's a voluntary test, so if the guidelines suggest you don't take it, I still don't see anywhere that suggests that they don't have to isolate. What happens if only one parent does TTR? 
Remember the gov websites still show "You will have to pay the private test provider for your test. You will need to book an individual test for each person opting into Test to Release, including children of all ages." they would have altered it if it was no longer valid.

silvercar

luiskov33 said:

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Finally it s much easier to do a LFT to a child at home, playing games or watching tv than in a clinic.

There is a list of test companies here: https://www.find-travel-test-provider.service.gov.uk/test-to-release

You can apply a filter on the LHS to choose those that will accept a test that has been done unsupervised at home. That should be as easy as doing a LFT while playing games etc

luiskov33

silvercar said:

luiskov33 said:

......

....
Finally it s much easier to do a LFT to a child at home, playing games or watching tv than in a clinic.

There is a list of test companies here: https://www.find-travel-test-provider.service.gov.uk/test-to-release

You can apply a filter on the LHS to choose those that will accept a test that has been done unsupervised at home. That should be as easy as doing a LFT while playing games etc

But as you need to provide details of the person taking the test, a 3 yo boys would not be able to do so and that would be a waste of money for the parents

luiskov33

silvercar said:

If we accept that the gov guidelines say that children under 5 shouldn't do a lateral flow, why haven't the gov published that for all to see?
If we accept that it is true, where is there anything that says that people who shouldn't take a test are exempt from quarantine? It's a voluntary test, so if the guidelines suggest you don't take it, I still don't see anywhere that suggests that they don't have to isolate. What happens if only one parent does TTR? 
Remember the gov websites still show "You will have to pay the private test provider for your test. You will need to book an individual test for each person opting into Test to Release, including children of all ages." they would have altered it if it was no longer valid.

Woule it be the first time to government forgets to publish something or forgets to deep dive in more scenarios than the expected ones : guess we both know the answer.
To me the law is first unclear, then not published and even people working for the government agreed today that there is a gap between what is written in the gov website and the guidelines given to laboratories so I do understand you believe the law is clear, and you probably don t have any plans to travel abroad or even have family abroad that you have not seen for ages but the reality is that there is a lack of guidance and clarity.
Jersey for example provides a guideline that states children below 11 follow parent e.g. if the parent has to self isolate, so does the child but in England those details don t exist 

silvercar

luiskov33 said:

silvercar said:

If we accept that the gov guidelines say that children under 5 shouldn't do a lateral flow, why haven't the gov published that for all to see?
If we accept that it is true, where is there anything that says that people who shouldn't take a test are exempt from quarantine? It's a voluntary test, so if the guidelines suggest you don't take it, I still don't see anywhere that suggests that they don't have to isolate. What happens if only one parent does TTR? 
Remember the gov websites still show "You will have to pay the private test provider for your test. You will need to book an individual test for each person opting into Test to Release, including children of all ages." they would have altered it if it was no longer valid.

Woule it be the first time to government forgets to publish something or forgets to deep dive in more scenarios than the expected ones : guess we both know the answer.
To me the law is first unclear, then not published and even people working for the government agreed today that there is a gap between what is written in the gov website and the guidelines given to laboratories so I do understand you believe the law is clear, and you probably don t have any plans to travel abroad or even have family abroad that you have not seen for ages but the reality is that there is a lack of guidance and clarity.
Jersey for example provides a guideline that states children below 11 follow parent e.g. if the parent has to self isolate, so does the child but in England those details don t exist 

I do have plans to travel abroad, they keep being thwarted!
Anyway, it isn’t the travelling abroad that is the problem, it isn’t even the coming home, it isn’t even the isolating, it’s whether little ones can end isolation from day 5 or whether they have to wait til day 10 that is your question.

luiskov33

Indeed this is the question and I understand if I was isolating for 10 days my kid should do the same but as I am keen on paying to get release earlier, what is the rule in that case for a child below 5 and the answer is nowhere at the moment and pretty sure this situation will become more and more common in the coming weeks/months

silvercar

luiskov33 said:

Indeed this is the question and I understand if I was isolating for 10 days my kid should do the same but as I am keen on paying to get release earlier, what is the rule in that case for a child below 5 and the answer is nowhere at the moment and pretty sure this situation will become more and more common in the coming weeks/months

If it does become more common, then hopefully some guidance will be forthcoming.
in the mean time, I suspect that people who want to cheat the system will buy a TTR from a company offering unsupervised testing from home and do the test themselves!

luiskov33

silvercar said:

If it does become more common, then hopefully some guidance will be forthcoming.
in the mean time, I suspect that people who want to cheat the system will buy a TTR from a company offering unsupervised testing from home and do the test themselves!

I don t think people will be able to cheat as you need to provide the details of the person tested before receiving the kit so if this is for a child below 5, the lab won t send the kit

silvercar

For anyone reading this thread that feels daunted by the idea of swabbing a child. Halo is on the official supplier list and they have a PCR test that is spit rather than swab.