To send my kids to school with coughs if they’ve tested negative for coronavirus?

[DragonLegs]

They tested negative on Tuesday for coronavirus but still have active coughs. They are perfectly well in themselves though, haven’t had any fevers just mild coughs. Is this okay? I’m not sure what’s meant to happen, as potentially they could have a cough for weeks!

@Shantotto nothing about Covid tests but it's YOU who got that name I wanted! :D

@Itisbetter

If everyone keeps their kids home when they have coughs the a continuous stream of autumn/winter coughs and colds will be a thing of the past. I’d keep them home because everyone that catches your non-COVID-19 cough will have to take time off and be tested. So much wasted money and time so that one parent doesn’t have to miss work and one sick child can drag himself through a school day. Time for a new way of thinking about things.

No it won't We build an immune system by getting bugs. We all have bugs, all the time. That's how viruses operate. They don't, in general, kill their host. Frequently they don't make their host very ill as that is counter productive as their survival depends on them being past from host to host.

Children are NOT covid vectors but the whole reason we have a reasonable immune system is because the kids get everything that is going as kids and that will eventually apply to CV19 too.

I am so angry for the kids that are having their childhood taken away. Some people are doing their level best to turn their kids into neurotic adults. Children are quite capable of struggling with anxieties without parents deliberately piling all sorts of extra unnecessary worries on them.
If we could wrap young children in cotton wool, and prevent them from getting a whole array of illnesses, we would just move the problem to a different age - and one in which being ill is much more of a problem. Unless you are proposing we all isolate forever.
Mmm That probably would be your aim.

@HorridHamble
Our school is now insisting on seeing test results. For first two weeks it was ok to simply say test had been done / was negative. But we got an email last Thur to say no-one allowed back until school had seen result. I assume because so many kids got ill within the first week of being back - half my DS year were off having Covid tests. Luckily we dodged that bullet.

I'd send them in unless it's a continuous/persistent cough, in which case I'd get them tested. That's the only kind of cough you are asked to get a test for and self isolate for, not just any cough or sneeze. I'm hoping our school goes along with the government guidelines and doesn't send them home unless the cough is persistent.

I’d prefer people to stay home with their lurgies. I think it’s utterly antisocial to spread it through your schools and workplaces.

Then all our immune systems will pack up and stop working. We actually need viral exposure to keep them functioning. Living in a sterile bubble is a short-cut to everything from allergies to certain childhood cancers.

I think you just have to take the test result for what it is to be honest. I know theres a high false negative rate but you have to carry on with your lives. Doctors who have negative test results have to go back to treating people in hospital, so I expect other employers and schools will take the same approach. Got to just carry on I think.

I am due back in work (in a Secondary school) tomorrow and can imagine the phone will be ringing constantly with this kind of dilemma, to which no one seems to have the answer. The disruption that will be caused by normal coughs and colds could easily be minimised by mask wearing but apparently that’s not happening.

Yes, it is why public health people want children in school as they are balancing eg depriving a general of children of immunity built up from catching things. We don't want children to end up like uncontacted tribes who then die off as soon as they come into contract with Western germs. The greater good is achieved by sending children into school where they catch colds. If we don't do that more will die than of covid 19.

The disruption that will be caused by normal coughs and colds could easily be minimised by mask wearing but apparently that’s not happening.

This. I believe some HCPs have to have two negative results (because of high rates of false negatives) before allowed back. Two tests seems preferable - if the symptoms are the same as covid symptoms - than potentially causing massive covid outbreaks and lockdowns. But masks would really make a difference too. The resistance to masks in this country is really odd when very young children in other countries wear them with no problems at all.

YABU. Symptoms = do not go in. Yes they were free of CV when they were tested, but they could've contracted it in between testing and getting results, and coughing will spread it. Sorry it's not what you want to hear.

@coronafiona

YABU. Symptoms = do not go in. Yes they were free of CV when they were tested, but they could've contracted it in between testing and getting results, and coughing will spread it. Sorry it's not what you want to hear.

Oh Christ so really they could be off for ever with your reasoning

@coronafiona

YABU. Symptoms = do not go in. Yes they were free of CV when they were tested, but they could've contracted it in between testing and getting results, and coughing will spread it. Sorry it's not what you want to hear.

By that logic no one should go anywhere. No symptoms? Irrelevant, could be asymptomatic. Symptoms but negative test? Irrelevant, test could be wrong.

And between being tested and getting results people are supposed to be isolating. So not much chance of catching it in that period.

The EWO told me that it’s fine to do if they’ve tested negative.

My son has bad asthma in Autumn so I expect we’ll be having the same worries as you within days

Coughs always linger beyond

It's really important that we all, children especially, continue to be exposed to minor ailments such as colds or our immune systems will be less able to cope with more significant challenges.

Tricky I think I'd send if they are well in themselves. Lots of viruses doing the rounds in our school at the moment (not covid hopefully). I think it was John Swinney who said heavy cold kids might need a day or two off but an average cold they can and should be in school. A cough that's been tested and feeling generally well I think they should go to school. Like a Pp said lots of kids cough, sneeze and have drippy noses from now till March.

@Reubenshat it's the only way to take it out of the community though isn't it until there is a vaccine. They won't be 'off forever' but yes, there will of course be more absences from school and workplaces this year.

Your bodies first response to most virus’s is to raise the temperature. Providing you’ve had a negative test and no further covid symptoms.
What’s the view there?

Then all our immune systems will pack up and stop working. We actually need viral exposure to keep them functioning. Living in a sterile bubble is a short-cut to everything from allergies to certain childhood cancers.
You believe your immune system will “pack up” if you don’t get coughed on regularly?
Keep sick snotty children from spreading infection (and adults to be honest) is a looooooong way from living in a bubble. I think you’d end up with LESS sick days and a happier healthier more social and socially responsible population.

My daughter had a covid test the other day for a fever and cough. I got the email saying negative at 9.10am. Fever gone, still a touch of a cough. I asked the head what I should do (theoretically, shes not back until tomorrow and I was talking to the head about another governor thing) and she said "well I guess we would see her at 9.15am then" as we live 200 yards from the school.

Dd started coughing Sunday night. Got tested Monday. Negative results Tuesday. School says dc can return as soon as they have a negative test.

My fear was that by returning she could spread coughing bug to the rest of her class who would then need to take time off and get tested. Not a pleasant test.

But coughs can linger for weeks.

She will be back at school tomorrow

You believe your immune system will “pack up” if you don’t get coughed on regularly? confused
Keep sick snotty children from spreading infection (and adults to be honest) is a looooooong way from living in a bubble. I think you’d end up with LESS sick days and a happier healthier more social and socially responsible population.

Then I suggest you don't understand how immune systems work. Yes they do need to be challenged to work effectively. The reason that Spanish Flu killed primarly the young was that older people had been exposed to a similar virus that conferred some protection.
The over-use of anti-bacterial products in the home has been linked to the big increase in childhood allergies and asthma. Child leukemia has also been linked to a lack of systematic exposure to germs in some studies.

So no, we really would not be a "happier, healthier" society, we'd have a much sicklier one.

So the posters who are saying you should isolate with a cough, even with a negative covid test, what is the point of having a test? How long should the isolation last? Even positive cases don't have to isolate beyond 10 days even if the cough continues.

If it's just a cough no need to isolate.
If there is a temp regardless of other symptoms, stay at home (unless you need medical assistance) for 48 hours after you last had a raised temp.

www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/infections/how-long-is-someone-infectious-after-a-viral-infection/