to think if a child shows symptoms at school then the whole family should go home, not just that one child?

[SuperPixie247]

I know there are strong feelings on colds vs coronavirus and sending children home from school and it has probably been done to death! But if a child has been sent home, in the middle of the day, should siblings be sent home too?

In the queue outside my DS reception class last week, a mother was telling another parent at the top of her voice that she had already been to school earlier on to pick up her DD. If her DD has symptoms (and potentially covid-19) then surely her other children should be sent home too?

Again, I understand it is a sensitive subject as lots of children are being sent home and it is disrupting their education, parents working etc.

That’s definitely the rule at my child’s school.

If they really are covid symptoms I agree. If they were cold ones then no!

Do you know thats why she picked her daughter up? She could have had a sickness bug or something else?

I would take both mine home in that circumstance.

Depends why she had to pick her up though. If she was too sick to be at school, but with something other than covid symptoms, then I suppose that might be why.

Definitely the case at DC's school that if one child shows symptoms, they all get rounded up and sent home.

Oh it was definitely due to coughing. The whole line knew about it!

I thought the rule is that if one family member has symptoms, then the whole family needs to isolate until a negative test?

@SuperPixie247

Oh it was definitely due to coughing. The whole line knew about it!

Could she be asthmatic maybe...? It doesn't seem right to me.

We actually had a child with a sickness bug or something back in june. Not only did that child have to go home, bit so did the entire class and then anyone with siblings in that class! I think that was when staff at the school were on high alert though.

What if the child is 10 or 11 in primary school, or secondary age and okay at home if the parent has to work? Sending home a perfectly well younger sibling who should be at school could mean the parent has to take unpaid leave.

How do you know her child was sent home with covid symptoms? Could it have been with something else??

All of mine were sent home this week because my son was coughing in class.
Negative test so back to school Monday.

A child with an occasional cough or who was feeling unwell might be sent home at the moment but unless it developed into a cough that fits the testing criteria or they developed a fever, the family wouldn't need to self isolate. So I can see how this situation might arise.

I think all the family should go home to isolate and await test results. However, I can’t honestly see what difference an extra couple of hours or so in the classroom with a sibling really makes if that child has already been in for half the day. I’d be less impressed with the parent coming to pick them up knowing they are possibly infectious and mingling with the other parents at one of the busiest times of the school day.

Surely the rules follow the normal COVID rules, if one person in a household shows symptoms then that household self isolates until you get a negative test result, so any member of the household at the school has to go home at the same time.

So the parent shouldn't be mingling with other parents either. Also if there is a sibling at a different school they will need to self isolate too

My sister and one her children had symptoms last week so until they had negative tests then all 5 of them stayed home. When the negative test came through only the poorly child stayed off

She was very scathing at the fact she had had to come and pick up her DD due to coughing. She was making a case about kids picking up all kinds of coughs and colds and it isn't always going to be coronavirus. Which I do see her point especially in the winter months but unfortunately these times mean that we all have to be extra cautious and put up with these inconveniences. As I am sure many of us had to.

@whirlwindwallaby

What if the child is 10 or 11 in primary school, or secondary age and okay at home if the parent has to work? Sending home a perfectly well younger sibling who should be at school could mean the parent has to take unpaid leave.

This is why the government need to underwrite pay for people who have a positive test or are asked to isolate by track and trace.

And why we need decent availability of tests and rapid results.

YANBU OP - if anyone in a household develops symptoms, everyone should isolate, therefore siblings of a child with covid symptoms should be sent home too, until the child with symptoms either has a negative test or 14 days has passed.

We'll never get on top of this otherwise.

Then surely the school is at fault for not sending the sibling home as well?

All these children being sent home. I wonder how many tested positive for covid?

I’ve been in work because I only had / have ‘cold symptoms’ but my son who also had ‘cold symptoms’ developed a very slight cough. School said he’d need a negative covid result to go back is as its a symptom. Took us both to be tested and he's got a negative result despite the cough and I have coronavirus! I nearly didn’t test myself either but work asked me too since we were going anyway. I’m not convinced now that this common cold thats going around is just a common cold. The testing criteria says you must have one of 3 symptoms (a persistent cough, a temp or a loss of taste / smell) yet the WHO says that headache and sore throat which are what I’ve had (plus a snotty nose) are in-fact symptoms! My cousin who is a nurse thinks its likely my sons test is likely a false negative. My son got his negative but now still has to stay off school isolating for another 2 weeks because of me. I’m curious as to whether that will have an impact on his classmates attending!?

Yikes @GlitteryUnicornSparkles! Hope you're ok?

But some people don't show the classic symptoms. That's always been the case. Quite a few people have no symptoms at all, including my cousin who is a HCP and only found out after she had the antibody blood test. No symptoms at all! And she has just recovered from cancer, so we all thought she would have been quite high risk.

The three main symptoms do not cover everything at all.

My son was sent home from his special needs school on Tuesday because he had a temperature. I phoned my daughters school to let them know and ask them ifI should pick her up. After referring to their government flow chart the answer was she. They are both signed out of school as self insulating for 14 days or until we have had a test (that wasn't easy to get) and got the results.
Test done yesterday and sent off.
Our whole family are at home until we know the results.

*was yes