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'

A now and then cough IS continuous by their definition. 3 x in 24 hours . This is why its all going so wrongnm isnt it

Schools have each been provided with ten Covid tests.

Yep, OP, only a handful though, to be handed to parents who do not have the means to travel to get tested, or whose children are deemed to be at risk, and for whom a longish absence from school during self isolation means we can't monitor their wellbeing. They're not intended for whole family testing, just individual pupils so we can get them back to school asap. I think they've been supplied by the local authority.

@YouWereGr8InLittleMenstruators well that does make sense 😕

It varies form school to school - i think. Ours, unless you have a continuous cough, a runny nose and a temp, your ok to come into school.

The heads are in such a difficult position , I get it-they have to follow guidelines and protect the schools , a cough on its own seems to be enough at ours tho

*at the moment , I'm hoping this will change over time and they're just being super cautious right now coz it's all unchartered territory 😬

The ten tests given to each school (which won't go far) are not just for children. Our HT has offered them to staff who have been off and can't get tests.

We are 5 teachers down already, isolating in accordance with Gov and with school C19 protocol. We're sending home at the very least half a dozen students everyday. I don't believe any of them will test positive. Students or teachers. And all of those teachers have said the same about themselves.

However, IF any one of them DONT get tested and suddenly get very ill, the school will be under fire for not acting responsibly.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

@MaureenMLove yeah exactly 😐

It's very difficult from the school pov as well. I had to send a child with a cough home today. The whole class has pretty much gone down with a cold since we came back and there has been a lot of occasional coughs but this child turned up and was coughing constantly. The Mum was not at all happy and it's highly likely it is cold-related but imagine the repercussions with other parents if we allowed a child in with a bad cough and it turned out to be Covid after all.

I'm a parent too and am dreading the day either of my DC wake up with a cough or fever or are sent home to isolate. Parents at my school are not going to be happy if I'm out for a week or more (DH is also a teacher, so not like it's any easier for him to take time off) but we are all in the same difficult situation.

The ten tests are not going to last long at all. We are a small primary and have used half of ours already even though we are only giving them to families that we think might struggle to navigate accessing testing otherwise.

The guidance is pretty clear for schools- a new continuous cough means children should be sent home. That can be 1 hour of coughing, or 3 x coughing in 24 hours. There's no exceptions in the PHE guidance for runny noses and IMO nor should there be because a) some children have atypical symptoms and b) it's possible to have Covid-19 + another infection or hayfever etc at the same time.

Schools who are being sensible are breaking PHE rules (assuming they are in England) and that's actually a pretty dodgy position to put themselves in if a teacher or child got seriously ill. Also, I do think if a school allows a cough to spread around school, they will end up with teaching staff who feel they have to stay home and more problems in the long run.

I do agree that the situation is tough, but it would be a lot worse if your school suddenly closed due to staff absence, and couldn't tell you when they would reopen!

The real problem in my area is lack of access to testing- we have had a lot of kids off for an unnecessarily long time as they just can't get get a test (including those advised by test and trace that they need a test).

Ours, unless you have a continuous cough, a runny nose and a temp, your ok to come into school.

The government guidance is a continuous cough or a fever or a loss of taste/smell, so just one of the symptoms, not a combination.

Oh, and as all schools only got 10 tests, regardless of size, for a large secondary, those 10 tests are not going to go far! And apparently there is no indication we can replace them once used, so the school I work for has chosen not to give them out until there's at least one confirmed case in school.

@MarjorytheTrashHeap

Exactly what Marjory said

The pressure on schools to be judge and jury of everything Covid right now is beyond a joke.

I've never said this before but thIs will be another teacher backing exercise and Boris will be the one leading the charge.

*bashing

It’s a shambles because parents and schools are not listening to the advice of when to get tested. You say your kid has a cough- so do the majority of kids in September every year. We have been sent information by the school saying a continuous cough is for coughing at least an hour consistently. We have all had coughs here and there but didn’t think to get tested. If the school has sent you for a test and she’s not coughing or hasn’t been coughing for an hour consistently I would be going back and questioning it.

It will go the other way soon where testing is such a hassle that people will
Just think fuck it I’m not getting tested. They will isolate until cough subsided and then because there not detected as such return back to work/ school (having told employer/ school that they just have a cold etc).

My school is delivering a test for my y11 daughter tomorrow. I've been trying for four days now. Between myself and her father constantly refreshing and the best we've had is a five hour drive each way. School said they're for children in "exceptional circumstances" such as sitting exams and vulnerable and for staff so they can keep working to avoid having to close whole bubbles down.

It's chaos and while I fully understand parents needing the school open as normal due to work, work has already been disrupted for my family members because they're all having to look after their children while waiting for tests and with the new lock down restrictions where I am it's made getting a test even more difficult for some households and caused even more disruption to work as grandparents shouldn't be used for childcare again.

I'm not blaming the school -like I said they are in such an impossible position tying to protect everyone . For us as a family this next few months are going to be a nightmare.
I think we've been failed terribly by the government -adequate testing was one of the basis of the kids going back and there is no testing available south of Bristol it would seem

And I’m not teacher bashing they’re with my comment about the school. We are into week 4/5 of school and we have only just been given this advice. The government needs to provide schools and patents with consistent advice. They need to do one of those public information adverts.

Our bubble has burst. Youngest has to isolate for 14 days due to positive in his bubble. I was very keen to send mine to school but now I'm thinking what's the point? Can't spend all winter isolating one or the other. However, can't home school due to work (husband works from home since lockdown but is very busy and I'm a key worker) also, dont want fines if we don't go in. It feels like we could isolate for 2 weeks as advised, send him back then another positive case in one of them sends us back into isolation. It's all very well saying only the child needs to isolate, the rest of family carry on as normal but we can't just abandon that child whilst we go on as normal. There must be a better way.

So what do you want them to do? Shut the schools again? Or be cautious when children display Covid signs?
I know it's rubbish. My eldest is off at the moment but not with Covid symptoms luckily.
If you don't want them sending children who could be ill home then we'll have to go back to children not going to school at all.

@Wineiscooling

Our bubble has burst. Youngest has to isolate for 14 days due to positive in his bubble. I was very keen to send mine to school but now I'm thinking what's the point? Can't spend all winter isolating one or the other. However, can't home school due to work (husband works from home since lockdown but is very busy and I'm a key worker) also, dont want fines if we don't go in. It feels like we could isolate for 2 weeks as advised, send him back then another positive case in one of them sends us back into isolation. It's all very well saying only the child needs to isolate, the rest of family carry on as normal but we can't just abandon that child whilst we go on as normal. There must be a better way.

It's worrying. We are in the same boat (mine are teens though). I fear, as it's a high risk area, it will be a continuous cycle of waiting for the school text.

At some point the teachers will be out or their own children will be ill.

It's not sustainable.

So how is it working in the U.K.?? Here in Ireland if you have symptoms you call your gp and tell them and then based on your symptoms they send you for testing or not.

My dd had a few symptoms and so gp referred her to the test centre on a Tuesday she then had her test on the Thursday (2days later) and the results were back within 2 days.

@SansaSnark

Making an order for additional corona virus tests

From 16 September, you can order additional tests kits online. Kits will be supplied in boxes of 10.

You will be able to make a new order for test kits 21 days after you receive a delivery confirmation email telling you that your previous supply of test kits has been sent.

Schools can order 10 more after 3 weeks which is really too slow and too few for larger schools. Our local secondary school has informed parents that they’ve run out of tests already.