TASIS England: Living Safely with Respiratory Infections, including Covid-19

Over the past few years we have learned to live safely with respiratory infections, including Covid-19 and influenza. We are grateful that this academic year (2022–23), we started school without face masks, testing, or travel quarantine conditions for our students.

For both Covid-19 and influenza we continue to encourage all those who qualify for vaccinations to receive them when they are offered through the National Health Service (NHS). For more information about Covid-19 vaccination including eligibility for booster vaccine doses please visit:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/

Please note that influenza vaccines are administered in schools. This usually occurs in the Fall.

We continue to mitigate against the spread of respiratory infections in the following ways:

1. Ventilation
   We offer well ventilated classrooms and communal spaces and enjoy the many outdoor learning opportunities that our campus affords.
    
2. Good Hygiene and Cleaning
   We promote good hygiene by reminding all to:

• Cover their nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing
• Wash/sanitize their hands regularly.

In addition, our dedicated housekeeping team continues to maintain excellent standards of hygiene throughout our campus which includes the thorough cleaning of high touch surfaces.

Please note that we also support the wearing of face masks by any students, faculty, and staff who wish to do so.

What to do if your child or young person aged 18 or under has a positive Covid-19 test result

Please note: it is not recommended that children and young people are tested for Covid-19 unless directed by a health professional.

Students should remain at home (or in their boarding house) and avoid contact with other people for 3 days following the day they took the test. After 3 days, if your child feels well enough and does not have a high temperature, the risk of passing the infection to others is much lower and they can return to school.

If someone in your household tests positive for Covid-19, that person should avoid contact with others (a child or young person under 18 should avoid contact with others for 3 days; an adult should avoid contact with others for 5 days after a positive test confirmation). Other household members do not have isolate and you should continue to send your child(ren) to school as normal if they are well and do not have a high temperature. This link provides useful information on how to reduce the spread of infection to people you live with if you have Covid-19.

TASIS England will continually review the situation at school with regard to rates of infection within classes and/or grade levels and we will notify you if we need to amend our mitigations.

We are grateful for the part all families play in supporting our mitigations and keeping our community as safe as possible.

Required Covid Testing for Travelers Arriving from China

The UK Government has announced new precautionary and temporary measures for passengers arriving in the UK from China. From Thursday, January 5, 2023, anyone flying directly to England from China will be required to have a pre-departure Covid test to show that they are negative before they board their flight. (All direct flights to the UK from China land in England.)

It is not yet clear what will be required for those traveling from Hong Kong or indirectly from mainland China.

 In addition, the UK Health Security Agency will test a sample of passengers upon their arrival. Testing is voluntary for those arriving at Heathrow, and travelers from China who test positive for Covid upon arrival are not required to quarantine. The test results are being collected for monitoring purposes and to detect potential new variants of Covid.