Parents must administer the test every morning before school for the second week after exposure and log the negative test result on an app,which notifies the school.
The tests are sent to the school within 24 hours of a case being identified. The school then distributes the tests to the families.
Albury North Public School trialled the program,and did not pick up any positive cases in close contacts. Principal Paul Smith said parents could choose between keeping their children in isolation and testing them daily.
“Providing parents with an option to use the rapid antigen testing kits at home,and then sending in the negative tests before the start of the school day,allowed us to reduce this time at home whilst still ensuring the safety and wellbeing of everyone at school,” Mr Smith said.
Doherty Institute modelling has found that both screening in high-risk zones and rapid daily testing of close contacts before school works just as well as quarantine.
Victoria on Thursday announced it would begin taking that approach. Students who were close contacts of a positive case could return to on-site learning after posting a negative PCR test,and taking rapid antigen tests before school.
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