The number of secondary school pupils able to return to the classroom will be limited by the Government’s insistence that a positive lateral flow test result in a school cannot be overruled by the standard PCR test. Schools Minister Vicky Ford has said that pupils who test positive via the lateral flow tests will need to isolate, along with their families and close contacts and “should not take a PCR”. The BBC has the story.
The Government is sticking to the rule that a positive rapid Covid test done in secondary schools in England cannot be overruled by the gold-standard tests processed by labs.
Concerns have been raised by testing experts that significant numbers could be incorrectly told they are infected.
They have called for all positives from the rapid testing done in schools to be confirmed by the standard PCR test.
This is what will happen when testing is done at home after next week.
It will mean a pupil who tests positive at home with a rapid on-the-spot test – known as a lateral flow test – will have to isolate on the basis of that test, but will be told to get a PCR test which is processed in a lab.
If that PCR test is negative they will be released from isolation.
But for those done in schools – pupils are being offered three tests in the next two weeks – it will be assumed the lateral flow test is right. A PCR test cannot overrule the lateral flow test.
The article draws attention to specific examples of failures taking place under this system:
One of those who has been affected already is the family of Richard Patton, from Derbyshire.
His son’s school started rapid testing last week and he tested positive. Mr Patton arranged for his 17 year-old son to get a PCR test, which came back negative.
But the whole family, including his 15 year-old daughter, is still having to isolate at home.
“It makes no sense. They were looking forward to going back to school and are now stuck at home.”
BBC health correspondent Nick Triggle points out that even if the chance of false positives is very low, “it could still lead to thousands of people having to self-isolate for no reason”.
If just half of pupils take up the offer of three tests in school and the false positive rate is 0.1% that could still lead to around 6,000 pupils being asked to isolate at home over the next week or so when they are not infected.
Tiggle makes a good point. Given the low prevalence of the virus and the false positive rate of the lateral flaw test, a majority of positive results in schools will be false positives, as Sheila Bird, a member of the Royal Statistical Society, has pointed out in a new paper.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: The Government has now said that if a child tests positive in a lateral flow test but negative in a PCR test, they will not have to self isolate, according to ITV News’s UK Editor Paul Brand.
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Why are these two still at it…..Trump wants to negotiate, as does Putin…..Has that Biden /Obummer puppet said anything yet…..
I’m no expert but that doesn’t look like a bird strike…
Accident hypothesis seems plausible but a deliberate strike would suit some people quite well – that would be the same people who have been operating successfully behind the scenes to keep this abomination going for as long as it has.
The calibre of Russian soldiers, including those operating air defence systems, is not high. Recruits are offered sizeable inducements:
‘Russian volunteers heading to war are offered substantial one-time payments, ranging from 20,000 to 30,000 rubles, as well as monthly salaries of about 2,500 rubles. In the case of disability, they are compensated with 40,000 rubles. In the event of death, the payment to their families is reportedly around 70,000 rubles,”
The payments aren’t uniform and depend on where the recruit comes from. The majority of the mobilised men reportedly come from small villages, industrial towns, and poor republics. Signing up for military service earns them thousands of rubles as opposed to the 300-400 rubles their jobs offer
“The gamble, however, comes with the risk of death.’
These are typical recruits:
https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1872254220143149231?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
As a consequence, much Russian air defence is set to ‘auto engage’:
‘Immediately after the first photos and videos from the crash site of the passenger Embraer 190, which was flying from Baku to Grozny on December 25, appeared, it became clear that the official version that the plane had crashed due to a flock of birds was nonsense. Because the very characteristic traces of anti-aircraft missile debris on the tail fin simply leave no room for imagination.
In particular, it is known that the Pantsir SAM system was used during the repulse of the attack by Ukrainian long-range drones on Grozny. But for any air defense system operator, the difference on the radar between a drone, a light aircraft, and a passenger airliner with a wingspan of under 30 meters, to which are added completely different speed and altitude parameters, is quite clear.
But not for the Russian military. Because the Russian Pantsir SAM system has an analogue of the Russian innovation – a fully automatic mode. The Russians themselves boasted about this feature in 2020 and said that Pantsir-S received “signs of artificial intelligence” and will be able to shoot down targets without human intervention . Officially, this is mentioned on the website of the so-called Russian Ministry of Defense….a person does not have time to shoot down targets in the same way as what they call “artificial intelligence” does, but in fact it is a fairly simple algorithm – to shoot down everything in the range without selecting targets.
And despite the fact that any civilian aircraft signals that it is civilian – in the Russian Federation this is ignored. We should add that such automatic modes of operation exist both in individual air defense systems and are implemented through unified control systems, when one system automatically controls several air defense systems at once, operating without operator intervention.’
‘Azerbaijani government sources have exclusively confirmed to Euronews on Thursday that a Russian surface-to-air missile caused the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Aktau on Wednesday.
According to the sources, the missile was fired at Flight 8432 during drone air activity above Grozny, and the shrapnel hit the passengers and cabin crew as it exploded next to the aircraft in mid flight.
Government sources have told Euronews that the damaged aircraft was not allowed to land at any Russian airports despite the pilots’ requests for an emergency landing, and it was ordered to fly across the Caspian Sea towards Aktau in Kazakhstan.
According to data, the plane’s GPS navigation systems were jammed throughout the flight path above the sea.’
https://www.euronews.com/2024/12/26/exclusive-preliminary-investigation-confirms-russian-missile-over-grozny-caused-aktau-cras
Any aircraft crash is a tragedy. If Ukraine was attacking the area then all civil aircraft should have been warned away.
The rouble currently converts to one US cent. These payments to Russian servicemen seem anything but generous.
There have been reports that missing (and simply abandoned dead) Russian troops do not trigger compensation for tge families
Just Google “russian army monthly salary” to get presumably more accurate information. For example:
The salary of a contract soldier starts at 210,000 rubles per month. That means people who enlist in the war receive sign-on bonuses and monthly wages greater than a month’s oil or gas sector salary.
Earlier this month, the mayor of Moscow set an upfront payment for city residents signing up to fight in Ukraine at 1.9 million roubles ($21,777) from the city budget, bringing their annual pay in their first year of service to 5.2 million roubles. 31 Jul 2024
Not quite as low as some people maintain.
Don’tconfuse the issue with verifiable information. You should know that misinformation and inuendo is how this works.
https://youtu.be/1J04wUKZUCI?si=VTsQ39gFBVqL2Wmh
A “bird strike” usually means bird or birds being sucked into the engine(s). This can cause engine parts to fragment and be “fired” out the rear onto the rear fuselage. This could explain “shrapnel” holes.
Best perhaps to wait for the official investigation.