To think school parents won’t get themselves or their kids tested

[Sistery]

...and will probably send in kids who should be isolating?

I did a Covid test last week (negative). It wasn’t terrible but was a faff and uncomfortable.

I just think that if so many people won’t even wear a bit of fabric over their face to protect others then they definitely won’t miss work or stick a swab in their nose/throat. Especially bearing in mind that they’ll have to do it every single time anyone in their family has a cough or temperature or can’t smell anything (all winter... ) They just won’t. People send sick kids to school a lot anyway - it’s how sick bugs and viruses fly round so easily so they’re already inclined to do this, and given the government is pushing hard at the narrative that Covid is some magical virus that children conveniently don’t spread, parents will be even more likely to send them. Especially if it’s someone else in the household that’s got symptoms

We just don’t seem to live in a country with a strong sense of social responsibility but equally we don’t enforce any so no temperature checks or mandatory PPE or anything at school.

YABU = People will isolate for 10 days if they get any Covid symptoms and their household will isolate for 14, until a throat and nasal swab shows a negative result, and they’ll repeat this every time anyone in the household gets any symptoms all winter.
YANBU: No they won’t.

I’m not a teacher but I’m so worried about them. It’s such a shit combination - crowding, poor ventilation, lack of social distance, no PPE and on top a society that won’t protect one another (and least of all the demonised lazy, cowardly teachers). It’s making me so sad.

I suspect there will be a fair new parents who lie and say they took their child for a test, say it’s negative and just send them back.
DS had a test while in school (slight cough with a cold). School required a screenshot of the negative test. YABU. It's not up to the parents.

HTs are going to keep sending DCs home if they seem ill. It's all they can do.

The fact that schools can’t even ask to see a negative result is fucking madness!
But they can and do?

YABU - you’d have to be an utter twat not to get a test if you have symptoms. Who wants to be back where we were in April? Miss work for 24 hours

YANBU.

We have parents who send children in after they have vomited in the car on the way to school.

@BillieEyeFish

There are lots of sensible parents out there too. I’m eternally grateful one parent pulled her son out for isolation before the guidelines changed to do it (pre-lockdown) because she was symptomatic. She turned out to have it.

I pulled both of mine out before we were told to self isolate for symptoms as one of mine had a cough and high temp. No idea if she actually had it though as no testing then.

Fake testing. They give you the test to swab your own child, try that with a child with special needs, it's not just unpleasant or any other quaint adjective, so you do it half-arsed so there's a negative result

I would have thought this would give an ‘inconclusive’ result which would mean you’d need to do another test.

Though, if you were the sort of person who would do a test deliberately badly, you’re probably the type of person who would just lie and say you’d done one and it was negative?!

Yes mine was a self swab. I could have made sure it came back negative if if wanted to. Even doing it properly it was hard to actually do it properly. I bet a lot of teens won’t go through the discomfort and won’t get a proper sample.

you do it half-arsed so there's a negative result as you still have to go to work
If you don't collect enough material you have to do it again.
I did DS, who has sensory needs, on my own. It was hard but we got enough to get a negative.

@drspouse

The fact that schools can’t even ask to see a negative result is fucking madness! But they can and do?

They can and do what?

The guidance for school reopening in September says schools can’t ask.

@Sistery

Yes mine was a self swab. I could have made sure it came back negative if if wanted to. Even doing it properly it was hard to actually do it properly. I bet a lot of teens won’t go through the discomfort and won’t get a proper sample.

If you don’t do it properly is it just negative rather than inconclusive?

I reckon lots of people will send their kids in anyway. At nursery they take their temp before they’re allowed in. Not sure what school will be like. And we have to send proof of negative tests before they’re allowed back. Didn’t realise it was easy to fake.

Head teachers / CEO are held responsible for the health and safety of the staff and children. That is statutory - stated in law - it’s even part of the shit show that is the ‘guidance.’ Therefore if it’s in the school’s health and safety risk assessment that children can not return without either proof of negative test or 7 days isolation for them and 14 for any siblings ..... then that’s the head teacher/ceo decision in order to meet their duty of care. This is not my opinion: this is fact as check by our lawyer with both the H&S exec and dfe. They just don’t want to admit it.

@Sistery

Yes mine was a self swab. I could have made sure it came back negative if if wanted to. Even doing it properly it was hard to actually do it properly. I bet a lot of teens won’t go through the discomfort and won’t get a proper sample.

No, you couldn’t.

I have worked throughout all of this - community pharmacy so we have carried on really. We have a temperature check before we're allowed to enter the working area, have masks on all day. I have had a colleague sent home due to a cough March/April time before we could have a test and another colleague more recently who was sent for a test almost immediately due to a high temp.

I'm not sure how other workplaces are handling things but we need to be careful as we are independent so can't just bring in staff from another branch. In terms of linking it to schools, we would not be expected to be in work if a family member was symptomatic/testing positive as the risk to colleagues and having to close the business down is too high. I know some parents will be pressured into work however looking at the bigger picture of potentially infecting the rest of the staff I'm sure employers will be somewhat more lenient than usual.

@drspouse

you do it half-arsed so there's a negative result as you still have to go to work If you don't collect enough material you have to do it again. I did DS, who has sensory needs, on my own. It was hard but we got enough to get a negative.

It's still easy to get an adequate sample and not have done it properly.

And you do not speak for all people who have children with SN. My son would have to be sedated to get that test, he's also taller and bigger than I am now. And he's 11. He has multiple conditions.

People will half arse it. Not many can afford to keep taking off work especially if they are not paid and no government on Earth can afford to keep paying out to millions of people.

From the schools guidance:-

I absolutely agree with you.

People will soon get sick of whole bubbles of kids being off due to a friend having a temperature etc and send theirs in regardless.

People do not like taking shared responsibility, unfortunately. They just think of themselves.

Thinking of any given cohort I’ve taught I could split the class into three. The majority group of parents who will bend over backwards to Play by the rules. Another smaller group who will use it as an excuse to stay off school. Then the group of parents who send in their children come hell or high water. One child projectile vomited, in last years cohort, so of course we cleaned them up and sent them home with a reminder of the 48 hour rule. They brought back the child the next day still looking green. When we stood our ground about the 48 hour rule for v&d they accused us of traumatising their child as DC didn’t expect to be off!

@ktp100

I absolutely agree with you.

People will soon get sick of whole bubbles of kids being off due to a friend having a temperature etc and send theirs in regardless.

People do not like taking shared responsibility, unfortunately. They just think of themselves.

Yes, let's just believe the worst of everyone, then we can turn on each other and society can eat itself exactly the way the government wants. Why bother with juntas and police states, it's far easier, cheaper and more effective to whip up terror, ire, in-fighting and squabbling among the hoi polloi.

Has it ever occurred to you that it may not be that all people are just arseholes but literally cannot afford to take time off from work (many are not paid) over and over or afford to risk losing their jobs?

Uniglow, it’s still not a valid enough reason to send in a sick child. Others shouldn’t suffer due to someone else’s personal finance situation.

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss

Uniglow, it’s still not a valid enough reason to send in a sick child. Others shouldn’t suffer due to someone else’s personal finance situation.

It is to the person who's facing eviction/repossession, probably. I'm thankfully not in that position, but it doesn't take a genius to imagine that not everyone's the same.

Then the group of parents who send in their children come hell or high water. One child projectile vomited, in last years cohort, so of course we cleaned them up and sent them home with a reminder of the 48 hour rule. They brought back the child the next day still looking green. When we stood our ground about the 48 hour rule for v&d they accused us of traumatising their child as DC didn’t expect to be off!

We have parents like that who will intimidate office staff and SLT so much that they will send ill children back to class rather than them having to ring the shouty unreasonable parent again.

I think I must be missing something... the guidance says that parents must not be asked for evidence of a negative test in order for their child to be welcomed back after a period of self isolation, if someone in their bubble has tested positive or they have been contacted by test and trace. If they are self isolating due to these reasons, they must complete the full 14 days regardless even if they test negative. The guidance screenshot by @Appuskidu states this clearly. They cannot come back to school early even with a negative result. So therefore there is no need to ask for proof of a negative result as they have to do the 14 days regardless. Therefore this whole thread is pointless as they cannot come back to school early. If they have been showing symptoms, the school CAN ask for proof of a negative result. The only time they can't is if they have completed the required self isolating period, as then there is no need.