If you were/are shielded and your dc are back to/are back at school, what steps are you taking to minimise the risk of contracting Covid?

[SistemaAddict]

Posting for traffic here rather than the dedicated topic.

I've been shielded and was told by my GP to continue to be very careful once shielding ended and continue being very careful until the pandemic was over.

I have 3dc. 2 at secondary school in bubbles of 300+ each and take themselves to and from. 1 at primary and in a class bubble of 30 and I'll be taking him there and collecting him again.

The secondary have told me they can't offer any reassurance beyond what steps they have taken according to government guidelines ie none due to the bubble size. Primary have been much better but due to being primary and ds is only 5 there's no way the teachers are going to SD.

They all want to return to school especially my 13 year old. I don't want to home school them as found it very stressful as I'm doing my own professional qualification. I want them in school but I admit I'm very anxious. I'm a lone parent with no help whatsoever so that's an extra pressure if I'm ill. All the dc are worried about passing it on to me and we are in a local lockdown just to make things more stressful.

If you are in a similar situation what are you doing/planning to do to minimise the risks to yourself?

Most teachers I know strip off, clothes quarantined and then shower as soon as they get home, perhaps your children could do the same.

I share your concern, OP. I'm in a vulnerable category and am worried about dd (15) going back to school. We have been very careful in recent months, and although she has seen friends, she has mainly done it outside and at a distance, and I trusted her friends to be sensible also. Now she is going to be sat in an enclosed environment for long periods without any social distancing possible, alongside kids from families who have been behaving as if there is no pandemic. It's a worry.

I'm trying not to stress about it too much because dd needs to be at school and we therefore have no choice. She will continue to maintain distance where she can, and will try to be hot on hand hygiene, not touching her face etc. She'll also be getting changed as soon as she gets in from school. Not sure what else we can do tbh.

I do know someone who is shielding, who is essentially socially distancing from her teenage ds within the household, using different crockery, cutlery, cleaning surfaces immediately after use etc. Seems extreme, but she wants him to be back at school without putting herself at risk. Wouldn't work with younger dc, of course.

@Bercows I’m a lone parent of 3 with no outside support, I line 260m+ from family etc. I’m registered disabled and have an array of complex health needs
DD1 (19yrs) is a community carer so was on the frontline and works hard from 8-9 most days (started earlier and finished even later at the pandemic peak) DD2 (14yrs) attends a grammar school has had a heavy workload, will be returning to school soon (DD1,DD2 and myself all have anxiety and PTSD) and DD3 (8yrs) is chronically disabled and attends a specialist school.
There were two of us shielding.
Im doing the same thing my eldest did with us, hand washing as soon as they get indoors, stay distanced from you as much as possible, get them to put their clothes In the washing machine (if they don’t already use it it’s time to teach them a life skill) and have a shower/bath wash hair etc
Might be a bit of a chore but that’s my advice

I am in a similar situation - 2 DCs back to school for their GCSE years. They have to go and we will cope. Changing clothes when they get in, wearing masks and lots of hand washing. My worry isn’t for the first return to school but what happens come Dec/January time. (DH and I still WFH for the foreseeable so I don’t have that to worry about at the moment.)

I'm drumming it into my DC about washing their hands more regularly at school. School have handwashing stations at the door and they all have to wash on entry/exit and when going out/coming in from break, in addition to that I have put a "wash your hands" sticker on the inside of their lunchbox lids to remind them to wash before eating (two of my DC have SN and need that visual reminder anyway).

They have a bottle of alcohol hand gel each on a belt clip so they can clean their hands if they need/want to.

I'm going to have fresh clothes ready for them getting home each day so that when they come home it'll be shoes off at the door, then clothes changed, and uniform straight into the washing machine. Lunchboxes and water bottles will go straight into hot soapy water.

Similar here. I was on the shielding list and I have two dc going back to a primary and big secondary school. I know my primary age dc is going into a class with others from families who weren't SD during lock down. I won't be able to send them in 100% clean uniform every day so it's going to need to be changing ASAP and lots of hand washing and sanitiser.

Ds will walk in the door, take a sharp left turn into the bathroom and jump in the shower. He will pop his clothes in the washing machine when he’s done!

I've been wondering about this. Both of mine are very cautious but it's a big step.

If they be sensible - like they are during flu season. Wash hands, sneeze into hanky, mask up on the bus etc.

Thank you. Dds will shower and change when they come in and ds and I will do the same when we get back. I can't wash blazers and coats daily but everything else can be washed. Dd1 is competent with the washing machine so she can put things on before I get back with ds.

Planning and details help my anxiety and this feels like such a massive step after being at home for almost 6 months. So my plan is to shower when we get in from school/school run and change clothes get into pyjamas. The children then won't need a morning shower and we can enjoy a more leisurely breakfast drink more tea and eat more toast. I might even get the teapot out. I'll then shower after I've taken ds to school. The washing machine is going to be busy and I might have to invest in a heated airer as I don't want the drier on all the time. Blazers and coats I'll have to think about how I can de-bug them without washing. Any ideas?

Fuck knows. It's my ds who has been shielding and is now back in school... I'm wondering if sending him back in a zorb ball would work!

could be fun!