What are the rules around covid and school now?

[Sumerian]

Dd has just tested positive on an lft. She's oddly keen to go back to school asap, and is now having a delightful teenage strop because I've said she'll definitely be off tomorrow.

But what are the actual rules (I've had a google and every website is saying something different)

I don’t know anyone who is still testing TBH.

You're supposed to stay off if you have Covid, or Covid-type symptoms, but realistically nobody is testing, and Covid symptoms seem to be mostly just cold symptoms now, so most people aren't going to take time off for a cold.

My kids' schools say, for any respiratory illness including the cold, stay at home if you feel rubbish or have a fever. Go to school if well enough.

The NHS guidance says only stay off if high temp or feel particularly unwell. Same as any other cold/flu type illness really.

Is she particularly unwell? Why did you test?

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/covid-19/covid-19-symptoms-and-what-to-do/

Loads of people are

She's got a cough, and a bit of a sore throat. Just general cold symptoms for last few days but nothing that bad.

We were eating dinner (curry) and she said something about it not tasting of anything. I made a joke about her having covid, and she replied that her best friends entire family have just all tested positive. Thats what made me hunt out the last of our lateral flow tests.

I’d send her to school but then I wouldn’t have made her take a test so…🤷‍♀️

I'm a nurse. We have to work if well enough. So would be surprised if schools still make people stay off.

I'm a teacher.

Our instructions have been don't bother testing unless you want to but PCRs are not necessary.

Have time off if you're ill but otherwise, come in regardless of test status.

It's been that way since Jan 2022, I think. Either way, it's so long ago that I can't really remember!

If that's what the staff are doing, I don't see the need for children to do any different.

Im also a nurse with the same policy but my 7 year old told school when I had Covid recently and they immediately rang me and demanded I test him and if he tested positive he had to be off for 10 days. I did query this and they told me it was what they’d decided as a school.

I did query how I as a nurse can go to work masked with Covid and work with the elderly, yet they were saying he couldn’t go to school

Hospitals are testing patients at A and E in our area.

Pretend covid never happened. If she feels well enough, she can go in. Otherwise, keep at home until she DOES feel better. It's common sense.

It's 3 days for children if you've tested positive.

Dd had covid in may. We only knew as she had a dentist app and because she had a cold they wanted her to test. Anyways I contacted the school and they said keep her off 3 days. As it turned out she did feel a bit rough so was off anyways

The headteacher here confidently told the children ages ago that covid was over and no one should be off due to it. Now attendance is nearly as low as it was when covid was in full swing, it’s spreading round the school and knocking kids and staff for six. 😬

My daughter had it a few weeks ago and needed a few days off, Wed-Fri, was ill on the weekend but ok for Monday. We had it too and felt really ill for over a week.

If your daughter feels well, the advice is to send them.

At my school it’s still 3 days for pupils and 5 for staff but no-one is testing so I wouldn’t worry about it. If she’s well enough to go in, send her in.

Generally, at my school, the majority of parents aren't routinely testing for a cough- unless they have a vulnerable family and it is just treated as a cold. But we had an outbreak of covid recently, absences in every class and half the staff off, including some very poorly ones. We asked for 3 days absence during this period to try to get a grip on it. After a couple of weeks it seemed to stop spreading so we are back to " cough and cold" status- if you are ill, you stay off, if you are well, you come in.

I didn't realise you could still get tests

Whatever the rules say, please do what's right, and that is to keep her off school, ideally until she tests negative. If you send her in please please please make her wear a tightly fitting mask, preferably N95. Studies from the US show that 70% of cases of COVID could be traced back to children spreading it to households, so letting children spread it unchecked is not going to help the already crumbling NHS in any way.

The rules are short sighted, especially around pushing attendance at all costs. We absolutely shouldn't be spreading COVID if we can prevent it. It has serious consequences for our long term health. It's a vascular disease - even mild cases lead to damage to your blood vessels (yes even in children), and can silently damage your organs. It also damages your immune system, and can trigger auto immune diseases.

Your daughter should be resting to fully recover, however mild it is. Go back to normal too quickly and she risks causing herself damage.

Please also try to isolate her at home, ventilate your house and bathroom, and wear masks to prevent spread.in your family.

It's a vascular disease - even mild cases lead to damage to your blood vessels (yes even in children), and can silently damage your organs. It also damages your immune system, and can trigger auto immune diseases.

I have had Covid twice and in the last year have been to the GP more times than I’ve been in the whole of my adult life for a number of conditions, one of them an autoimmune condition. Before having Covid, my general health was excellent; now I’m classed as medically vulnerable by my GP. I find the “mild cold” claims increasingly irritating as a result.

Why is it longer for staff?

@CrispsandCheeseSandwich because that's the government policy, even though there is no evidence that children are less contagious (the opposite in fact, see my reference to the US study above), and really 5 days is the bare minimum given many people test positive for 10+ days. If you test positive, you are contagious.

In Ireland and you stay home for three days then test and if negative go in. To the people who don’t test surely if you’re actually sick then you test to rule it out? We were all positive recently, tested because we were ridiculously lethargic with headaches and sore throats, wouldn’t have tested otherwise! Was great as was going to go see mum who was due to go into hospital but held off until afterwards

@TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross I'm sorry to hear that, hope your condition improves.

The more we leave people to spread COVID unabated, the more people are going to end up with long term health issues. Long term sick leave is already at record levels, and persistent school absences are driven by illness according to Dept for Education analysis. So pushing sick children back into school is for no one's benefit.

There are no rules anymore. If she wants to go to school she can go to school.