Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he has spoken to the Chief Medical Officer about the rollout of antigen tests in schools as details of their use are being finalised.
It comes as Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said the Government is considering providing subsidised antigen tests to the population.
He said it is likely that antigen tests will be deployed to test close contacts of schoolchildren who are Covid-19 positive.
GPs and Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan have voiced concern over the use of antigen testing as they can offer “false reassurance.”
Speaking in Cork on Monday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has indicated antigen testing may be used in certain incidents.
One source has suggested rapid tests could be sent where there has been an outbreak in a school setting but details of the plan are still being worked on.
Mr Martin said: “The important thing there is the ECDC has suggested that in specific circumstances within schools and I spoke to the CMO that antigen testing may be used.
“In terms of contact tracing, there will be utilisation of antigen in given areas within schools again in line with advice from public health.
“Public health has been very consistent in relation to schools, and advice to schools and will continue to keep the matter under review.
“But the real message from public health has been RSV actually and non-Covid respiratory illnesses are more of a problem for children right now, in respect of admissions to hospitals and so the basic advice has been that anybody who is symptomatic in any way, in terms of respiratory illness should not go to school.
“That’s been consistent now for the last month to six weeks in terms of RSV and others.
“The same issue has not applied to Covid in respect of children getting severely ill or going to hospital, it’s RSV and other issues, bronchiolitis and that has been proven to be more problematic this year.”
At the most recent NPHET briefing, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said that they know that antigen tests are being used by people with flu-like symptoms to test whether they have Covid-19, “which is not a safe conclusion.”
He said: “So in other words, sending children to school when an antigen test is negative, even though they’re symptomatic, or going to work, or going to the pub, or going to wherever it is you need because an antigen test is negative.”
Professor Sam McConkey said antigen testing in schools could offer false reassurance to parents and students if not used correctly.
He told Newstalk: “If somebody is at a sleepover the previous night and uses an antigen test tomorrow, that is too early for the antigen test to show up as a positive.
“They don’t pick up very low levels of virus.
“So, I worry that false-negative results, particularly early after a child has been in contact with somebody else with symptoms or with COVID, might falsely reassure the child and their parents.”
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