Friend has pulled son out of nursery due to strep A until Christmas…

[Drcoxisafox]

This hasn’t even occurred to me and now I’m wondering if I’m being a bit slapdash.
no confirmed cases at the nursery but one at the school which it is in the grounds of.
my DS is already recovering from a horrible virus - okay now apart from a cough - and she was saying as her son is the same, she is worried if he got it on top it would be worse for him and more serious.

would you do this?

im wondering if nursery is any riskier than being at Christmas events/parks etc … as in my head I guess I was thinking parents would be notified if there was an actual case in the class and then we could make a call then…

This!
We are similar, all been full of snot/coughs since DS started preschool. He had probably been poorly once in his life before starting as a Covid kid, he didn't socialise much. Paying for it now, but hoping we will be out of the snot/cold side after Xmas as there can't be many more germs for him to catch 🤞🏻🙄

Depends what the risk vs benefit situation is.

A few years ago when I was a sahm and DD was just at nursery a couple of mornings a week to give me a break, absolutely I pulled her out for a month when they had several cases of scartlet fever. I’d have done the same for most other major diseases. But that was hugely because I didn’t need her there.

If I was working full time I would have kept her at the nursery. I haven’t pulled her out of school despite cases in her class, she was so badly affected by covid lockdown isolation that I won’t deprive her of child company unless I have to.

DS is on his 3rd round of off-school poorly since starting secondary in September. He's normally pretty hardy and rarely has time off, but he's just not got back on form since the first round in September. We even tried going away for some autumn sun to pep him up and he ended up indoors with a cold, exhausted and going faint. I think it's the bad combination of increased general illness and low immunity, him being depleted in vitamin D after spending more time indoors than usual due to extreme heat and his brother's ailments, the stress of going to secondary school (plus a bereavement) and just getting his immune system kicked early in the term.

I keep the DCs off as needed to recover, but in the absence of extenuating circumstances such as needing good health for hospital treatment, keeping children off for illness prevention is a folly as children build up their general immunity by exposure. These illnesses will always cycle round and we're just unfortunately in a phase of mass-immunity catch-up.

Maybe they should have? 🤷‍♀️

I'm keeping my son off until after Christmas, well actually we are are on holiday after so will be until 16 Jan. He was off last week as well due to being sick .

I'm sad for him as he enjoys it but I don't think he'll be well enough to go in tomorrow as he has conjunctivitis. He only does Monday - Wed and was always due to be off next week anyway as we have plans.

He hasn't slept probably for 6 weeks due to a cough and has had a temp on/off for that time with various colds/virus and last week the GP did suggest I keep him off for a few weeks if I could as his body needs a break. I also need some decent sleep ! So I don't think it's worth risking (not just strep) any virus for the sake of a day. If he was well and was due to have more days in I'd 100% send him.

I'm fortunate though I can keep him off as my job is flexible.

Don’t be a fool.

I was saying to a friend this week that if Covid hadn’t happened this strep A mini outbreak would have been a small paragraph somewhere in the middle of a newspaper. No one would be considering keeping their kids off school. Now since covid everyone is feeling hyper vigilant about any sort of health issue and it becomes a much bigger deal than it would have been in 2019.

I'd keep dc off. Not to avoid germs but because there's so much going around and I wouldn't want them ill over Christmas.

So in your eyes children should never be in childcare or school? People shouldn't go to work just to avoid any bugs going around? How does life work for you in your sealed bubble?

There's scarlet fever in my son's class but I'm still sending him in. School is really important.

If this was school I would agree with you. But it's not, it's nursery, no child has to go to nursery. If keeping her child away untill after Christmas suits her and her family then we ho be are you to judge?

It’s not school.

Oh so dramatic. All she has said is what's she's doing for her child. In no way has she indicated what you are sending your kid to a dangerous place. It's not about you

Are your children not vaccinated against it anyway? I thought scarlet fever was one of the main jabs they get as a baby?

I've been vaccinated and so have DNs.

@Plumbear2 sorry, were you present for the entire conversation and know every word she said? She made it very clear that she thought I was taking a huge, dangerous risk in sending him in.

im not judging her, it made me wonder if I should do the same as my work has dried up this week.

it might be decided for me anyway as I think he has conjunctivitis.

There is no vaccine for Scarlet Fever available. So you or your kids have definitely not had one.

Did your ds get antibiotics when he had tonsillitis? He probably already has immunity built up. I would still send him in.

You’re not being slapdash. Your friend obviously either just has way too much time on her hands or a handy family member to do childcare. Most of us don’t have that luxury and in they go!

^ why criticise the friend? How about just saying what you think for yourself?

It was a question, not a declaration. dsod.

There is no vaccination against scarlet fever

@Winterfires @Floydthebarber @MassiveSalad22
Lockdowns and lack of mixing had nothing to do with this. Schools were reopened in March 2021, many kids continued school as key worker children, and there was already an RSV surge last winter demonstrating that plenty of mixing was occuring. Immunity debt is a term invented last year to send kids back to school with zero mitigations against infection (ventilation, HEPA, masks/time off when sick).
Plenty of immunologists have debunked it. Your immune system doesn't need "building up" against viruses, infection is never beneficial.
www.salon.com/2022/12/04/does-your-immune-system-need-a-workout-the-science-behind-immunity-debt-explained/

It's much more likely we're seeing more severe and constant infections because COVID (re)infections have exhausted your T and B cells which are needed to fight infection. And pre-covid we already knew that viral illness makes you more susceptible to bacterial infections (like strep A) afterwards. Strep A season typically follows chicken pox season.

OP given the complete overwhelming of health services and antibiotic shortages, your friend has made a completely understandable decision.

Why go through the worry of spending hours on 111 or waiting in A&E then hours looking for somewhere to fill your prescription if you can prevent your child getting sick in the first place?

Thank you. 👏

Nah. My nursery has 2 cases of Strep A and all the parents, including me, are still sending our kids in. I'm a teacher though so am constantly exposed to anything going anyway.

@MadeForThis mY DS had antibiotics when he had tonsilitis. Why’s that does it make a difference?