Students need to perform home corona tests before returning to school after Sukkot vacation

The Knesset's Education Committee approved the curriculum, which the ministers voted on earlier on Thursday. The health system fears the decision to require all students to perform rapid home corona tests before returning to school after Sukkot, and to require their parents to make a statement regarding the test results.
Back from the Sukkot holiday it is mandatory to present a statement on a negative corona test. A student who does not present the statement at the school gate will be admitted - but will be removed from the students. Teaching teams will be charged with a green mark or a negative result. Out-of-class or zoom-in classes will be held for high school students in orange authorities with low immunization rates.
According to the decision of the Knesset Education Committee, if a child arrives at the educational institutions without a statement that he performed a test that has a negative result, he will be admitted to the school walls, but he will be separated from the other students. The committee also approved Operation Antigen 2 after the Sukkot holiday; Classes and activities of youth movements and youth organizations, with orange or red authority, could take place in a closed structure if all participants in the activity presented a green mark or confirmation of a negative result in the corona examination.
"When these tests are done properly and can be read, their sensitivity and specificity are good," says Prof. Galia Rahav, director of the infectious diseases unit at Sheba. "Obviously it's less sensitive than PCR but that's what we want. What this test shows is that the human is contagious, so they are good if done properly," she noted.
According to the Sheba Hospital's green class' outline, students aged 12 and under who attend a class in which a verified student is located will not be automatically sent for isolation as is done today - but will be frequently checked in the rapid check-up and will continue to arrive at the school. At this stage the intention is to apply the pilot to only about two hundred schools after Sukkot, but possibilities are being explored regarding its expansion and application to a larger number of students.
Compared to Prof. Rahav, others doubt the reliability of the test and also the parents' cooperation. "The reliability of these tests is mediocre," says Dr. Doron Dushnitzky, a pediatrician who specializes in pediatrics at Leumit Health Services' medical division.
He added that "relying on these tests is very problematic. Assigning parents to perform these tests every day, and asking them to report a positive result that will lead to more tests and days off, so the idea is epidemiologically good but the application may be problematic. It is a problem to rely on. "Self-declaration, because parents understand the consequences of a positive outcome. It may interrupt their plans and wait a long time for tests, but there are doubts to rely on the same statements over time on the part of parents."
However, Prof. Rahav stressed that "the importance of these tests is that they are done continuously". "If a student is sick in the classroom and the students are checked every day, then it is a good test. That is, if it is done every day for all the children who have not been placed in isolation. However, if it is done once a month, this test has no meaning. If done once a day or two "It is definitely a good measure and on the other hand the test can also prevent unnecessary isolation."
Earlier today, the secretary general of the Teachers' Union, Yaffa Ben-David, came out against the decision of the ministers in the Corona cabinet to present negative corona test certificates. "Someone here went crazy, someone was completely confused. Principals and kindergarteners are not selectors, they are educators. They are not Corona inspectors, "Ben-David told the Education Committee and threatened to petition the High Court.
According to the decision made by the ministers, which was later approved by the Knesset Education Committee, parents will have to sign a statement stating that their children underwent a rapid antigen-type corona test, and the test result was negative. The Attorney General approved the wording that was brought to the ministers' decision this morning - but Ben-David strongly opposes it. Ben-David added: "You trust the parents to be responsible enough, but there are parents who are not responsible and therefore there is a need for a corona trustee, external to the system, who will also carry out the tests."
An antigen test is a quick corona test that allows you to get a quick result within a quarter of an hour, whether the child has been verified for corona.
The antigen test is intended for children aged 3-12 who are not vaccinated. According to the education regulations approved by the Corona Cabinet, it stipulated that a child from kindergarten to ninth grade who does not come with the results of the antigen tests, will not be able to enter the educational institution. If there is a student who cannot return alone, he will enter the educational institution in a separate place and wait until his parents bring him to pick him up. If the student arrives alone and returns alone, he will return home. He will not enter the educational institution. A child in kindergarten will come with a statement on behalf of his parents that his test came out negative. A student at the school will arrive with a statement on behalf of his parents that he is being found negative. Each student is required to perform the test and declare the result.