To think parents will begin to lie

[Settleandcalm]

DD has a slight temp for one day, as a result doing the right thing we eventually got the test, and a veeeery long time later the results. The test was awful making her vomit over herself, the wait for my older children who are already struggling being in and out of school also awful. But it was the right thing to do.

BUT. Would I put her through that test every 3 weeks which is the average she got a temp:cough last year? No. Can I afford to lose my job? No. I will do the right thing but I have an utter fear over it.

But I suppose I wonder how long it will take parents to start slipping back to the “watch and see” version of illness. If it’s just a bit of a temp on one day... just a bit of a cough... maybe give them a day and see if they are fine, rather than fight for a test or isolate The whole family for 14 days.

There are already kids in school coughing and I know only us and one other family has tested, so perhaps, because of the testing fiasco and inconsistent rules people are already starting to lie?

[SomewhereEast]

I think if a school is going to have a no colds policy, then that should clearly stated and communicated to all parents, not just someone who "works in a school" sending DC home off their own bat? But then I don't think school should have a no colds policy.

[pastandpresent]

I think it all comes down to common sense. If your dc has a fever, it's just sensible to keep them home. If it's just simple cold, it will be over in few days.
Maybe before covid, they may have sent their child who's temp is under 38 degrees as mild cold. But it just became more serious. And if you have high temp in the morning, children are normally ill. It makes sense to take temp in the morning before sending them to school, like my country does.

[hitchhikingghost]

I’m in a country that never had lockdown. Doesn’t mean we don’t follow the general rules, because everyone does. Keeping distance, not visiting elderly, mostly staying at home unless you have to go out etc. Schools 16 and under have been open the entire time, kids and teachers stay home if they have the slightest symptom. Out of respect to others, it’s for our own good and we don’t want to wear masks or have a lockdown because this will most likely go on for a long time. In March our nursery and school was almost empty, because parents followed the rules. And washed hands more carefully. Same in August when the kids started again. But - after about 4 wks both times we’ve had full classes. Noone got sick. No colds, no flu, no cough. And that is only because people stayed at home from the beginning when they should, no giving paracetamol in the morning, no pretending not having the beginning of a cold.. It’s interesting. No tests for kids either, because it’s horrible for them to go through. So if everyone actually followed the basics we would all eventually be better off in the end.

[Juststopswimming]

I agree, people are totally going to lie and who can blame them. If it was easy to access a test, and results were fast then maybe not. But they are impossible to get. People will hedge their bets if their kid wakes up with a temp or a cough, keep them off school "because they've got a sick bug" see how the next couple of days play out and then send them back as soon as symptoms subside.

And whether you like that or not, the only people to blame are the government for the woeful lack of tests.

Honestly you couldnt make it up!

[CountessFrog]

I don’t think either that the school secretary should be deciding (as is the case in the school where my friends children attend).

She has told them ‘we aren’t clinicians, we can’t tell what’s a cold and what isn’t.’

Honestly though, she’s quite right that she’s not a clinician, that’s why the NHS guidance is there. It’s crap guidance but it’s better than ‘if Mrs Clarkson hears you cough, you should isolate.’

[Enoughnowstop]

rather than draconian measures to punish people with limited/no choices, a functioning T&T should be able to get results in a few hours.We have isolated just in case because we have the privilege to do so.What if we were already behind on rent due to furlough/Covid job loss/UC delays etc. With a boss saying another day off and I’ll have to let you go? How will the rent get paid? How will the kids get fed

Sigh. I am a single parent with caring responsibility for my elderly parent. There is no one helping me out, no one paying my bills or anything else. Yet I am expected to spend every day in front of a class and take the risk with my own vulnerabilities, those of my mother and those of my youngest child. If I don't, I don't get paid and nothing else gets paid. I know all about options or the lack of them, believe me.

the bottom line is if you want the schools to function, you have to keep your child home until such a time that you are able to get them a test. That the testing system is not up to scratch is not the fault of schools who have grip on their importance to the majority of families and are doing everything they can to stay open. As soon as parents start believing they are exceptions to the rule, schools will end up closing down, initially for a day or two but potentially for longer periods as winter moves on and more and more illness is around us anyway. Teachers are resigning - I know of several in their early 50s who have made the decision that the risk isn't worth taking. Very quickly we will have schools struggling with staffing and very few supply options.

[pastandpresent]

I think it's very silly if parents can't keep the children home because they think it's silly and then lie.
If the teachers get infected, even if it was simple cold, they won't be able to teach. Children being off sick doesn't affect school, but teacher being sick does.
What we can do now in the middle of pandemic is to minimise the effect on others, no matter it's hard for individual person/family.

[Lindy2]

I've kept DD9 off today. She has a bit of a cold but is now also coughing a bit. Normally I'd have given her some medicine and sent her in but obviously that isn't an option anymore.

I've tried a few times to see if there are any tests available but there is nothing. Not even a postal test.

Now I have to either hope she recovers over the weekend or we can get her a test. I'm certain it's a mild cold and nothing more. However, as with most mild colds it comes with a cough so technically she should have a test.

I'm so disappointed that the testing system, which was working very well, has collapsed. There's going to be a lot of unnecessary missed school and work and a lot of missed cases because of it.

[lughnasadh]

@Enoughnowstop are you a teacher then? So salaried? And presumably paid for sick leave?

Not even near in the same league as people on zero hours contracts who literally end up with nothing at all because their child has a cold.

I'd be lying my head off, and keeping us all housed.

[GarkandGookin]

A parent lied at our school, sending in a child with a cough. When the school phoned them to report the cough they said it must have started at school (the child admitted it had started the night before). A few days later the child's parent tested positive, then the child did. Now 100 children and 30 staff are off school for two weeks. All of this would have been avoided if the parents had done the right thing.
Your children will miss far more school through situations like this than through being off because they have possible symptoms themselves.

[Bupkis]

It's frustrating

We are adhering to the guidelines.
Dh is testing his hair out wrt work. Older sisters are missing school and getting behind on work

I have already given up work because of lockdown

Ds was ill and off school with fevers 6 times last year (between Sept and March),his medical needs means he is more vulnerable.

I agree with the self isolation guidelines, I hoped they would protect ds, but with no functioning testing system, and parents already lying at his school the only option we can see is to keep him home.

Of course if I keep him home, I am told that I should deregister him because it is unfair to take up a school place, or should be fined.

[IwishIwasyoda]

I'm in Scotland. Amazed that Westminster gov didn't pay more attention to what happened here when schools went back mid Aug. Within a few days of kids being back (primary) the cold type / Covid symptoms started with a corresponding spike in tests. Half the problem was people testing for non-Covid symptoms (runny nose) but also entire families testing even though only 1 person had a cough. Became extremely difficult to get a test. School then started saying kids had to be off even if non-Covid symptoms. Finally got a letter from national clinician leading this setting out clear guidelines i.e.

• the person / child with at least 1 or the 3 Covid symptoms needs a test
  

but no one else

• stay off school until test results come back. If negative straight back to school (we have to share the results with school first)
  
• no need to stay off school for sore throat, runny nose, congestion - as long as child is well enough to attend
  
• if a child is too unwell to attend (non Covid symptoms) keep them off till they are fit to return.
  

It's made a huge difference getting this letter and the number requesting tests has gone down according.

That said more needs to be done with workplaces to make sure they grant people paid time off if they are having to self-isolate. I know some mums who have said their employers would expect them to go in

[QuestionMarkNow]

@Enoughnowstop

rather than draconian measures to punish people with limited/no choices, a functioning T&T should be able to get results in a few hours.We have isolated just in case because we have the privilege to do so.What if we were already behind on rent due to furlough/Covid job loss/UC delays etc. With a boss saying another day off and I’ll have to let you go? How will the rent get paid? How will the kids get fed

Sigh. I am a single parent with caring responsibility for my elderly parent. There is no one helping me out, no one paying my bills or anything else. Yet I am expected to spend every day in front of a class and take the risk with my own vulnerabilities, those of my mother and those of my youngest child. If I don't, I don't get paid and nothing else gets paid. I know all about options or the lack of them, believe me.

the bottom line is if you want the schools to function, you have to keep your child home until such a time that you are able to get them a test. That the testing system is not up to scratch is not the fault of schools who have grip on their importance to the majority of families and are doing everything they can to stay open. As soon as parents start believing they are exceptions to the rule, schools will end up closing down, initially for a day or two but potentially for longer periods as winter moves on and more and more illness is around us anyway. Teachers are resigning - I know of several in their early 50s who have made the decision that the risk isn't worth taking. Very quickly we will have schools struggling with staffing and very few supply options.

@Enoughnowstop, so you are a teacher then?
Do you have children in free school meal, you know the ones who have ONE cooked meal in the day and that is their school lunch? The ones who turn up at school with the cheapest shoes and it’s clear they only have one uniform set.
Will you tell those kids that it’s better for them to stay at home and see their parent lose that zero hour contract? Any idea of how they are going to eat or have a warm house or have some new clothes once they’ve grown out of their one set?

The fact the safety of the teachers isn’t good enough is a totally separate issue.

[QuestionMarkNow]

@IwishIwasyoda, yep one of the big issue is the lack of clear guidance so each school has had to create its own. Families as well.
Cue for over testing because people all think ‘it’s better to be safe than sorry’

[NewAutumnName]

yanbu

A girl was sent home for a cough yesterday. Not persistent/continuous, no raised temperature but a 'cough'. Told to isolate and ring and get a test. The mother has tried no tests available at all - so stuck indoors for 14 days for a fucking cough.

According to the Covid police it is no longer possible to clear one's throat. COVID trumps everything. Bloody ridiculous.

[pastandpresent]

My dc has very weak immune system. Simple cold ended up him in a week in hospital. But I have never blamed anyone. That's life. You get a cold, no matter what. Once the virus got into his leg muscle and he couldn't walk . We were told lucky it wasn't heart muscle.

Now, no one knows, what happens with this virus. It just makes sense to take extra precautions. It could be you or your child. No one knows.

[oakleaffy]

@IHateCoronavirus

They will lie for sure, I spent last Christmas with a vomiting bug thanks to one particular mother who was so insistent her daughter’s vomiting was down to a nasal drip, she ended up successfully getting a drs note.
Her little darling not to miss out on her first nativity! She made it a long with only 8 other children, where were the others? At home newly vommiting!
Some people only look out for number one, regardless of the consequences.

Actions like these makes me so cross...
My dad because he had to work {I was 4 ish} actually left me at school when I'd just vomited in the car.

Measles proper. {A long time ago} Other kids were vomiting, {probably how I caught it} and it swept round the reception class like wildfire.

Decades later, at a private nursery, a little girl hurled, and the woman in charge said ''her mum said she was sick on the way...but has to work''

I took DS home at once , and never went back.

People lie, or do the irresponsible thing. In the past a neighbour paid me to look after her chicken pox DC in their home.

[MummytoCSJH]

@Lindy2 same here. I've kept DS6 off today. Every year around this time he gets ear infections (being treated through ent), a sniffle and a cough. No temp so could've had some calpol and a pack of tissues, he actually said to me he doesn't want to go today because everyone will think he's got the virus. No tests available on the service right now and we don't have any form of transport after 12 today (car sharing between family members) so won't be able to do a test. Not that I should take up a test for this I don't think but I don't want any issues with school and I don't want to do the wrong thing either. I just don't know what the right thing to do is. Luckily I'm a student and my course hasn't started back yet this year but when I was working full time I didn't get sick pay, a few times he was ill I had to take last min leave or send him to the childminder anyway or I'd have lost my job. This will be a big problem and - I know people hate to hear it - will affect mothers mostly.

[IceCreamAndCandyfloss]

Some parents have always sent in sick children because it’s the more convenient option for them.

There should be harsh penalties for sending in children with symptoms and not following the advice to test and isolate. There are parents worried sick about sending their previously shielding children back in or who were shielding themselves and they deserve everyone following the rules. Not to mention the risks to staff who have little or no PPE or SD.

So many putting their wants over the health of others. What if another child loses a parent because a child with symptoms was sent in rather than following the rules?

[NewAutumnName]

@Pikachubaby

This happened yesterday to a young girl. She bloody coughed. Not continuous and not often. More of a throat clearing thing. Sent home - told to isolate and get tested. Bloody over reaction. Perspective has been totally lost. She isn't coughing today, no raised temperature, she had a tickly throat!

Of course the parent has to now take 2 weeks off unpaid. She feels that some schools are taking advantage and sending home for anything 'just in case it's covid'. A whole year 9 were sent home from a secondary school because a parent had covid even though the child was tested negative...and the child is obviously at home. Yet the whole lot - over 200 students.... well just in case - you know 'covid'.

In DS year one kid coughed, he was taken to the nurse and the rest of the class was sent home immediately
The whole thing is idiotic
Totally bonkers

[Robinkitty]

Yes people will lie if they can get away with it. I don’t think the tests are reliable anyway, it was near impossible to do the test on my child ( did manage it but can see how easily it could be done wrong)

[lughnasadh]

People are very, very, unlikely to die of Covid.

They absolutely will go hungry or risk an eviction notice (even with the 6 month proviso) if they aren't being paid, in unimaginably greater numbers than the number of deaths.

It isn't a question of parental 'wants' or convenience, but need. The most desperate will be the most punished.

There is no public money available to pay all of these poor people you are judging.

[oakleaffy]

@hitchhikingghost

I’m in a country that never had lockdown. Doesn’t mean we don’t follow the general rules, because everyone does. Keeping distance, not visiting elderly, mostly staying at home unless you have to go out etc. Schools 16 and under have been open the entire time, kids and teachers stay home if they have the slightest symptom. Out of respect to others, it’s for our own good and we don’t want to wear masks or have a lockdown because this will most likely go on for a long time. In March our nursery and school was almost empty, because parents followed the rules. And washed hands more carefully. Same in August when the kids started again. But - after about 4 wks both times we’ve had full classes. Noone got sick. No colds, no flu, no cough. And that is only because people stayed at home from the beginning when they should, no giving paracetamol in the morning, no pretending not having the beginning of a cold.. It’s interesting. No tests for kids either, because it’s horrible for them to go through. So if everyone actually followed the basics we would all eventually be better off in the end.

That is remarkable.
Sounds like one of those rather progressive and uncrowded Scandinavian countries?
... A Swedish friend, when she emigrated to UK, said her father was appalled and said ''Why do you want to live in that ''Dirty little Country''? {At the time UK was known as the dirty man of Europe for pollution}.

Maybe less crowded, wealthier, and all round better run as a Country?

[canigooutyet]

Of course parents will lie, and put others at risk by dosing with some paracetamol to get the temp down.

When it comes to temperatures isolate until it's dropped naturally for 24 hours.

THere are also schools who will make staff life's a living hell because of their absences. It will go over some peoples heads that if they are around people with temperatures, there is a risk to others.

CV temp, I got this about 7/10 days after symptoms started.
My son has tested positive this week. He has had one day with a temp and this was after testing. Getting him a test was tricky as a walk in miles away, cannot take public transport or taxi. Thankfully one of my dc's was able to drive him, she lives alone and wfh so no risk to others. Just in case she filled up before collecting him. She also has immunity as she had it a couple of months a go.

[pastandpresent]

What I find it silly is that we all want school to stay open, which means the safety of the teachers counts more than inconvenience for each child's parents needs who need to be off school because of their high temp or cough. Why can't they see that?