To not like the covid shaming playground politics.

[Conair]

I appreciate that this is a very stressful, confusing and worrying time for everyone but since my children have gone back to school I have witnessed the following.

Another parent having a go at someone who's child had a minor cold stating he should be tested and not brought into school.

A few parents including one who is a GP putting a message in a class Facebook group stating her child has a snotty nose and a mild cough so is getting her tested ( isolating the family) and others should do the same and keep their kids off with cold symptoms.

I feel that this is going to make some parents very paranoid and could result in a lot of children being off school or getting unnecessarily tested, due to the very nature of being back at school a lot of children have developed colds etc and if we kept them off for every minor symptom there wouldn't be any children ( or staff!) at school.

Am I right in thinking that there is a lot of scaremongering going on or should we all be far
more cautious and keep our children off with every minor symptom.

@Lockdownseperation

I’m not sure what the issue is with the parents saying they are following government guidelines and getting their child with a cough test and isolating the rest of the family. What am I missing here?

The nhs list of symptoms does not include snotty nose. Of all people, the GP mum should know this. It is well known that availability of tests is not good at the moment and parents should not be issuing orders to other parents. The HT should take a lead on this.

I wish people wouldn't make up their own rules.

NHS website states the main 3 symptoms are

*Main symptoms
The main symptoms of coronavirus are

a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal
Most people with coronavirus have at least 1 of these symptoms*

I see nothing about a dry cough, barking cough, phlemy cough

If your kid has a cough, get them tested ffs.

@StarchyStanley

So when there is one of the three listed symptoms you test.

Exactly and wiping your kid's nose is not one of the symptoms.

Exactly this

I'm not going to keep my child off for every snotty nose nor get him tested when its not on the symptom list for a test. I'm a single mum and like the pp don't get paid sick pay, I will save mine for if and when we get Covid or my son has to be kept off school

It doesn’t say they got a test for a ‘child with a snotty nose’ it says they got a test for a ‘child with a snotty nose and a mild cough’. As ‘mild cough’ could well = ‘3 episodes of coughing in 24 hours’ which = get tested I’m not sure why anyone would say that was wrong.

[quote NameChange84]@AllWashedOut I realise most parents work. I just think it’s better ONE child stay off rather then them infecting 8 or 10 families and the subsequent ripple effect which means the majority of a class (and sibling groups in other years) and/or their teachers. I realise there is an incubation period but sneezing, poor hand hygiene when displaying symptoms will increase the infection rate.[/quote]
I didn't think sneezing was a covid symptom. How will sneezing increase the infection rate of covid-19 if its not a symptom of covid?

I've just double checked and nope, I can't find anywhere that sneezing is a recognised symptom of covid. Not the NHS. Not WHO. Nope. Nada.

The trouble here is that on day one when the kids go in for the first day, no one might be showing symptoms of anything. 2 days later they might do but its already too late and by day 5 half the class has a snotty nose. Small kids get snotty noses. Especially when they've been in contact with lots of other children. That's what they do.

The school is never going to completely eliminate colds, unless they decide to elimate education. We do have to make some decisions about how far down that route we go. Or there has to be a modicum of using your best judgment going on.

The NHS advice is that if you only had a snotty nose you can't get a covid test as you aren't eligible. Its simply not viable nor should we expect it for kids to be kept off for every single snotty nose they get. Especially with the track and trace system not being fit for purpose as it is.

Honestly, it doesn't help ANYONE when we have parents getting ridiculous and shouting at George's parents in the playground cos he has a bit of a snotty nose. Or he's sneezing.

As I say, it doesn't meet criteria for getting tested. So parents can either take it up with the school or piss off. And if the school decide to have an over zealous policy then thats their prorogative but its not necessarily helpful if they are telling children who are sneezing to get tested, as all its doing is stopping the child's education and blocking up the system which is already struggling.

I wish it were different, but thats where we are.

The moment other parents start telling others how to parent is the moment they are liable to start potential fights in the playground. And not the kids. You'd be unwise to be that smartarse.

@NoSquirrels

It doesn’t say they got a test for a ‘child with a snotty nose’ it says they got a test for a ‘child with a snotty nose and a mild cough’. As ‘mild cough’ could well = ‘3 episodes of coughing in 24 hours’ which = get tested I’m not sure why anyone would say that was wrong.

Yes, mild cough I would get a test for tbf.

Anyone who reprimands another parent for wiping their child's nose in the playground though .

Of all people, the GP mum should know this

But they did - their DC had a cough as well as the snotty nose. They did the right thing

@iVampire

Of all people, the GP mum should know this

But they did - their DC had a cough as well as the snotty nose. They did the right thing

Yes, I think, because the op mentioned two separate incidents, the two are getting conflated; gp - cough and cold. Parent reprimanded in playground - wiped nose.

I feel that this is going to make some parents very paranoid

Not really your business is it? If enough parents become paranoid enough then your HT will deal with it, surely?

@StarchyStanley

But plenty of schools are insisting on a test...

Correct! One of the instances of this was highlighted in a news story about why there aren't enough tests for genuine suspected covid. In the example they gave they said one school had sent an entire bubble of 100 kids for a test. Not what the tests are for.

Schools were told in a memo with yellow highlighting from DfE this weekend that they must stop asking parents to test with cold symptoms

Schools were told in a memo with yellow highlighting from DfE this weekend that they must stop asking parents to test with cold symptoms

Probably because of the news story! I get why they thought testing "to be on the safe side" might be a good idea...but obviously, that on a large scale has now become a problem of its own.

@Sootikinstew, diarrhoea has since been added as a symptom.

There's different symptoms for different age groups. I'm in my 50's and when I had it, I had the bright orange wee, upset stomach and body rash which is common in the middle aged. The cough I had was similar to when I had pneumonia. I never had a high temperature, I didn't lose my sense of smell or taste and my cough came right at the end. I needed antibiotics.
Two of my DD's started in their throat/sinuses. No high temperature.

We've got to use our experience and judgement, because there won't be enough tests, otherwise.

It's worth putting the specific symptoms into Google, because knowledge and advice changes.

Well our school has written to all parents asking them to be much more diligent about keeping DCs at home. Too many are sending ill DCs into school. They're asking parents to err on the side of caution.

@AnneOfTeenFables

Well our school has written to all parents asking them to be much more diligent about keeping DCs at home. Too many are sending ill DCs into school. They're asking parents to err on the side of caution.

Good stuff! As long as they are well versed in the actual main symptoms and not telling anyone with a runny nose to go for a test. That is a huge problem if they are.

My issue with the GP parent was she told us all
To keep our children off with ANY cold symptom.

a high temperature (71.8 or above)

That's more like 'nicely done roast pork'.

I think you meant 37.8?

If people kept their sick children at home, they wouldn't be spreading it to everyone in their class meaning all those families needed to take time off.

@FlyingSquid

a high temperature (71.8 or above)

That's more like 'nicely done roast pork'.

I think you meant 37.8?

Mmmm roast pork 🤤

A few parents including one who is a GP putting a message in a class Facebook group stating her child has a snotty nose and a mild cough so is getting her tested ( isolating the family) and others should do the same and keep their kids off with cold symptoms.

This GP/parent was spectacularly out of order for saying that on a class group chat! She will know that her opinion will be considered highly by some other parents who know she is a doctor, and as her advice specifically goes against the advice given by the government that is then communicated by schools, she is doing nothing but causing parents undue stress and worry.

Has anyone seen this article?
www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00502-w
8 September — Kids ravaged by COVID-19 show unique immune profile
Unlike all the other children studied, children with MIS-C had no antibodies to two coronaviruses that cause the common cold.

I don't know if this these children hasn't been exposed to these coronaviruses, or if they just hadn't formed antibodies. I would be very worried about possible effects of children not catching normal colds right now though.

There are no tests available for this exact reason. My daughter was sent home from school as she had developed a cough. So no school for 48 hours as advised by her teacher. Went back today. Another school near me will not accept children in school with a cough even unless they have been tested. The world is bonkers at the minute. It's bloody cold season!

@RedToothBrush I didn’t suggest sneezing was a Covid symptom nor did I suggest a child with what is obviously a cold be tested for Covid. It’s inevitable that some Children who contract a cold will develop a fever and a cough, these are also cold symptoms and you don’t know how each individual will be affected. Currently the guidelines are that with those symptoms (cough, fever) a child and their family will need to isolate and get a test, even if it’s just a cold.

It would, in my opinion, be more sensible for children with a cold to stay home rather than spread it to other children or teachers, meaning that if their cold causes them fever and cough then their families and the children themselves will be massively inconvenienced.

And I was referring to the infection rate for the cold. Not Covid. A kid sneezing and spreading snot through a classroom due to poor hand hygiene IS going to increase the infection rate of the cold they have more so than if they’d been kept home.

My son has a runny nose, no other symptoms, he must have got it from school in the first place 😂 you may think it ‘sensible’ to simply keep them off school but I’m going to try and save that for the inevitable actual positive case of Covid that shuts their bubble, not everyone can simply take 2 weeks off for a runny nose that isn’t even a symptom of the virus.

Well this is why everyone is getting covid fatigue. If you are vulnerable please shield but the show must go on for young healthy people.