To think this just can't work - schools

[beachbodhi]

I'm sure this will have already been discussed but I really don't see how we can carry on like this through autumn / winter . How are people going to get by?
Little one got sent home yesterday , no temp -just started with a cough and runny nose in the afternoon. We've all become a bit snotty so looking like the usual cold we all end up with. We all have to isolate now for 14 days or until we can get tested. There are no tests available anywhere ! It's cocking things up big time as I'm really needed at work right now-this could comprise my position , that I'm lucky to still have all things considered. My friends are in the same boat - all off work and school for last 7days , kids recovered but can't go back as no tests . Fml my kids pick everything up so the next 4 months are going to be a nightmare! Shambles !
'I will never financially recover from this'

Just to add the kids are gutted -they were so so happy to be back at school after 6 months off 😣🤧😬

Everyone I've talked to in school had at least one child off last week with something they'd never have them off for, and it's only week 3. It isnt going to work but they should have foreseen it and figured out alternatives. And even saying all of that my kids are getting so much out of school and are so happy

YANBU, it's an absolute shambles and an entirely predictable one.

Yanbu. Already had time off here, luckily we was able to get a test or we would still be off!

They absolutely knew this would happen. Teachers didnt want 30 kids in stuffy rooms. Part time schoool/smaller bubbles all suggested and told no.

This wasnt ever going to work without some readily available instant test.

I cant see how classess will work with kids dropping like flies and needing to keep track and being everyone up to speed. And thats if enough teachers are there to maintain classses/we dont have lockdown.

Maybe it was to give us an air of normality for a few weeks.

I cant see financially that we will recover. Or that we can afford much for christmas.

2 weeks off here and there is better than another 6 month lock down ...

If they've got a runny nose, it's not covid. I'm grateful for our schools sensible approach and them not balking at the numerous snot ridden coughing 5 year olds over the past few weeks - just bog standard colds. The continuous cough advice is v v specific - the government don't want everybody with a little cough to get tested

Thats true ...

I wonder if they'll close everything else to try and keep schools open.

Or close schools.

Selfishly Im so scared of them bringing ithome . But also want them in school as the level of normality has really helped.

YANBU.

3 DC in school, one was off all last week - ended in hospital with bad chest infection. Had Covid test while there: negative result, so the rest of us didn't need to isolate.

Agree with PP that it's going to be hard to afford things at Christmas time! Also, what sort of celebration will we all be able to have?!? That's another thread for another time!

I said runny nose means it's common cold but they 'have to follow government guidelines and alert the local authority' 2 weeks off here and there for me is really going to affect the business I work for and my kids routine , with one SN ds it's all been quite confusing and impossible to explain - he just won't know if he's coming or going or have any routine 😣

Just watching question time , they're all asking about alternative ways of dealing with this

Yeah, it's utterly crap. It was clear before the kids went back that schools opening was unsustainable in the long term given the lack of sensible solutions regarding social distancing in schools, but I assumed that with testing my dd would spend a reasonable amount of time in school this year. However, this is looking less and less likely if test results aren't being turned around quickly. How on earth can schools stay open if teacher test results aren't coming back within days? How can parents work if their kids' schools are closing for weeks at a time or their child is waiting weeks for their own test result? It's a bloody mess and utterly shambolic. I honestly feel nothing but utter despair at the situation and I cannot tell you how much I detest Boris and co. Useless bunch of utter twats.

I wonder if they'll close everything else to try and keep schools open.
In Ireland they keep saying priority is to keep schools and businesses open. It makes me sad each time as our old govt in march kept saying the priority was to keep us safe

And we've no idea if it's starting to spike locally coz no one can get bloody tested 😤 what a mess !!

It's contradictory too , on the news they're saying too many tests have been used up in people getting tested when they're just displaying cold/flu symptoms -and schools sending kids home for the above and not allowed to return unless tested .
I saw a family on tv that went and lived in the woods at the start of lockdown -wish we'd joined them and started a commune

Oh god is anyone watching QT?

I was told by my childs school to send my them in with a cold. When I said rang to say about keeping them off, the school said not if the don't have a temperature or continuous cough. My child had a bit of a cough but it's not just when he needs to blow his nose. He is over it now and he went in the entire time on advice of his school 🤷

Yanbu. Same here and no tests available at all.

My youngest sent home today -2 older brothers had to be picked up from respective schools also. Live in London but driving for only available test to Leicester Friday morning - can’t risk not getting tested as 1 older brother has Down’s syndrome and attends a special education setting with children with profound disabilities -so difficult to do “the right thing”!

In my school, these things are happening:
If a child presents with a symptom which could be a common cold, such as OP's child suddenly coming over a tad sniffly and coughing a bit (no temp or new continuous cough), we call and check with parents before ploughing down the protocol route. One boy, who started wheezing and coughing, is trying out new asthma meds it turns out. Another was coughing as they'd run into school from a late bus. We have sent 6 pupils home this week with bona fide symptoms, and tests supplied by us, as we're in an area where tests are hard to come by, and most do not have transport to travel to out of area testing site. Many schools do have a limited number of tests to supply to parents of children who are symptomatic.

@kathmacc oh bloody hell 🥺 we're in Cornwall and can't even get on hmrc web page to book anywhere it's too busy , plus everyone I know in the same boat but a few days ahead of us have been trying since last week -still can't get tested

Our school is being pragmatic too. Fine to go in with sniffles and a now and then cough so long as it's not continuous and no temperature.

@YouWereGr8InLittleMenstruators your school had their own tests ?!

The cough things a nighmare isnt it.

The advice is coughing 3 x in 24 hours. So yes, a little cough! Does anyone remember the couple on the cruise ship. She was just giving a little cough now and she had it. And the idea isnt to catch those with it badly but in theory to catch those with it, even if its mild, so it doesnt spread.

But so much conflicting advice.

And of course there will be 100 x more coughs and colds than covid (intiially anyway...). But if testing had been able to cope with it and they could test everyone with a cough it would have been fine...

I have a healthy 14 year old off because of a case in one of his oprions group. It just goes against the grain and worries me shitless in GCSE years.