[ad_1]
School officials are unaware of rapid antigen tests in schools. In homes they continue to count that there are those who do it, but paying for them. One week after the decree on the state of emergency and the rule that provides for the use of this type of tests came into force, those responsible for these establishments and institutions are unaware of any change in the usual test procedure. Nor did they receive additional information in this regard. But the General Directorate of Health (DGS) has already announced that it will send this information, “on time.”
“There is no disarticulation, there is a progressive operationalization and implementation that, with proximity teams, with schools, homes, everything will be explained in due course, since the tests will be implemented and used,” said Valter Fonseca, director. of the Department of Quality in Health of the DGS, speaking with RTP.
The same official added: “There is a close relationship between schools and school health teams and local health authorities who are in ongoing talks to clarify how these tests will be used, especially in outbreak situations. , but I think it is important to mention that its use should be done with discretion, it should not be done in bulk. Use in schools, even in these situations, should be done whenever an outbreak is suspected or when there are suspected cases of covid -19 ”.
But these explanations have not yet come, and school leaders have not seen any change: “Rapid tests are not yet used in schools, we are waiting for directions. We saw the announcement of the Prime Minister, then the decree, which reached the schools, now we are waiting for guidance, either for rapid tests, or on the possibility of measuring temperature, but above all in relation to testing fast. There is no change in the procedures that we have been adopting so far, ”Filinto Lima, the president of the National Association of Directors of Public Groups and Schools, tells the PUBLIC, noting that,“ until now, when there is a situation of suspicion ”, the The school advises “the parent and the local health authority, and the student is referred to a health center to eventually take a test, this is the procedure and there are no changes.”
Filinto Lima has no doubts that “carrying out the rapid tests is a positive measure that needs to be done”, however, “if implemented”: “We need clarification, under what circumstances, who performs them, when they can be done. The decree says that we determine the performance of the tests, but based on what criteria? I dont know. Under what circumstances? Who makes them? There are a number of doubts that need to be clarified. I would like the guardianship to clarify these doubts in the shortest possible time. Especially because it will make schools safer. “
The decree establishes not only that “workers, students and visitors to teaching and learning establishments and higher education institutions” may be subjected to diagnostic tests, but also that the “maximum responsible for the respective establishment” determines the performance of the tests. tests. .
The president of the National Association of School Directors, Manuel Pereira, also confirms that he knows nothing about rapid antigen tests and that he has not received any new information, “specifically for schools”, as a result of the documents that came into force. “We do not know anything yet, about any change in the usual procedure, they have not given us any additional information. But I don’t find it worrisome, because our relationship with the health authority [local] it’s fast and close, and they will do what they want. There may be some articulation with the local health authority in this regard, but we don’t know anything ”.
Brands promote testing with caregivers
The decree also stipulates, among other situations, that workers, users and visitors of residential structures for the elderly can be tested. But, again, in households, there seems to be no change to register in relation to what has happened so far. The president of the Association for the Support of Homes for Homes for the Elderly and Residences for the Elderly confirms that there are households that test employees in the sector, with “the frequency not the same” in all institutions, and that users are tested when symptoms occur. As for testing visitors, he knows nothing. In other words, that you know, at least in private homes, a universe that you know, neither the norm of the DGS nor the decree that regulates the state of emergency, both in force for a week, have changed, for now, the procedures test. adopted in these institutions.
João Ferreira de Almeida also says that he is aware that, “From time to time, there is one or another household that is doing rapid tests”, but assuming the expenses. emailGuardianship questions about this type of test, that is, if it can be done by home health professionals.
According to this person, these tests can be purchased “in laboratories.” TO THE PUBLIC, he says he has already email, information from three brands that “promote these rapid antigen tests.” He does not remember all the values recorded in the proposals, nor all the technical details of these tests, but adds that, in one case, “a team with 25 tests it costs 250 euros plus VAT ”. Two of the brands from which he received information are Abbot and Roche, the same ones used by the Portuguese Red Cross, an institution that, according to the president of the National Confederation of Private Social Solidarity Institutions, Lino Maia, has already been in some homes . at your own request, carry out this type of test.
Lino Maia also confirms that he has not received any “additional information about the change of procedures in the tests carried out in homes”; Until now, he explains, whenever there are suspected cases or outbreaks, the local health authority is informed and the tests that have been prepared, have been the molecular ones that go to the laboratory. “The normal tests are being done in a more or less systematic and organized way, we would like more, but it is not bad. In some cases, the rapids are being carried out, but at the initiative of the institutions themselves ”, he says, referring that this can be done, for example, through the Red Cross and adds that the costs have been borne by the households. He also confirms that in these institutions there are tests to do to users, workers and managers, but in terms of visits, he knows nothing.
