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Original poster

Testing every fortnight-do they do this in the U.K.?

51 replies

Madtimes78 · 19/02/2021 21:27

I’m not in the U.K. (am British but in Europe) a new law may be coming where they will test all nursery and school children every fortnight for covid. Beyond gobsmacked about this. My toddler Dd is due to start nursery/pre school in September when she’ll have just turned three and may have the prospect of being tested every two weeks, is this normal?! What are we coming to?

OP posts:
dementedpixie · 19/02/2021 22:42

@Toddlerteaplease

Yep. I have been testing babies at work every two to 3 days at the minute. It's a complete non issue.
What job do you do? Not teaching?
Cherrysoup · 19/02/2021 22:43

If the kids are in school, they’re being tested at my school, once a week, I think. If we have to go in to supervise, we have to be tested too. Pretty normal.

EileenGC · 19/02/2021 22:48

I’m in Germany and the plan is to introduce twice weekly testing for primary school students and above in the state I live in - but there has been pushing back on this so it might turn optional.

All staff have been masked up since August when we went back, nurseries included. Masks also compulsory from the age of 9.

My family are in Spain where masks are compulsory from 6,same in France. Complete non-issue, the children barely even notice it.

sunflowertulip · 19/02/2021 23:12

My young children, I just do the nose when they're tested and it's not a big deal at all.

I would like them to bring it in here personally to allow more mixing. With barely any cases I might feel differently if it continued too long though.

horridhorrid · 19/02/2021 23:16

My adult dc's workplace has just introduced employee testing, they get done twice a week. This is in the UK.

user1471447863 · 19/02/2021 23:20

Why wouldn't you? What bad thing do you think is going to happen by testing? That they might find some asymptomatic cases and be able to protect others by having you isolate?

Testing is less of a big deal than many make it out to be & kids can be quite up for doing what their peers are all doing & can be quite keen on doing what is right once it is explained to them in ways they understand. Just see how horrified they are by litter or smokers once they learn about it at that age.
They'll pretty much do anything for a sticker or a certificate at that age.

dementedpixie · 19/02/2021 23:25

I dont think its necessary in the younger age groups tbh

Lubiluxe · 19/02/2021 23:26

I think this is a fantastic idea. We need to be isolating cases, 1 in 3 people are asymptomatic. How are we supposed to identify asymptomatic cases if we don't test? It is unfortunate that children may need to be tested but we are in unusual times and if your child is mixing with society then I'm afraid that makes them a potential risk of covid.

m0therofdragons · 19/02/2021 23:33

I test myself twice a week and used it on dd3 when she had a headache as I had a spare test. Takes seconds and reassured me I wasn’t putting her teacher at risk. She was fine about it and it was a non issue.

Givemeabreak88 · 19/02/2021 23:40

It’s funny people on here are saying the tests are “no big deal” etc yet on a thread a while ago people were saying how horrible they are 🤔

Rarotonga2 · 19/02/2021 23:42

Pupils and school staff are tested weekly or twice weekly in the school I work in. My child isn't tested in nursery though.

mamawithfive · 20/02/2021 10:28

[quote Madtimes78]@mamawithfive Where are you? That’s fantastic! We’re in lockdown here, no schools/nurseries open.[/quote]
In Spain. All schools and nurseries have been open as normal since September.
We’ve had a lot of local lockdowns, but coming out the other side again now.

ineedaholidaynow · 20/02/2021 10:37

I assume with the younger ones it would only be the nose that is swabbed and not the throat.

Watchingbehindmyhands · 20/02/2021 11:14

It’s funny people on here are saying the tests are “no big deal” etc yet on a thread a while ago people were saying how horrible they are

The test is horrible but it really isn’t a big deal at the same time. You get used to it, it’s just part of what we need to do right now. Doesn’t mean Imlike it!

Icequeen01 · 20/02/2021 11:42

We started testing in our SEN school in January. For the children it was just the secondary age children. We were going to be testing all staff twice a week. Fat lot of good the tests were. In one week 12 staff tested positive from PCR tests having all tested negative on the LFDs. None of us at that point were showing symptoms (but had been in contact with another member of staff who had Covid, hence we all decided to go and have a PCR test). You would have thought the LFDs would have at least picked up one of us! We had to close our school and will reopen on Monday. Luckily the staff who got Covid won't have to start LFD testing for 90 days after their positive result.

Cornishmumofone · 20/02/2021 11:48

I work at a university that was developing saliva testing. If that could be rolled out, it would be preferable.

Toddlerteaplease · 20/02/2021 12:00

@dementedpixie I'm a paediatric nurse. We have to test twice weekly. All our patients are tested before they come in, on admission, day 3,5&7 and then weekly.

Hesma · 20/02/2021 18:56

I work in a secondary school and both staff and children who are attending get tested on a weekly basis

OverTheRainbow88 · 20/02/2021 18:58

I tested my 4 year old a few days ago and it was hell. I can’t imagine anyone getting near him every 2 weeks... good luck to them I say.

MustardMitt · 20/02/2021 18:58

They’re testing fortnightly at our secondary school in Liverpool. My boys are attending so they’re tested - I’m totally fine with this. They don’t love it but they’re happy to comply.

MissMarpleDarling · 20/02/2021 19:03

Yep our schools starting Tuesday when they go back (vulnerable and essential workers children)

insancerre · 20/02/2021 19:03

I work in a nursery and we wear masks all day and aprons and gloves
No testing though of children or staff and the children don’t wear masks but parents have to on drop off and collection
I can’t imagine testing children would be an easy job and I certainly wouldn’t want to do it

whatswithtodaytoday · 20/02/2021 19:05

This would be incredibly tricky on young toddlers - my two year old has had three tests and every one was harder than the last. A good idea but perhaps not feasible in practice.

Our nursery staff are getting vaccinated though, thank goodness. Obviously still a risk of it spreading via the children and out to parents, but at least the staff will be ok.

RicStar · 20/02/2021 19:06

@toddlerteaplease surely you can see there is a significant difference between experienced health care staff testing in a hospital environment and inexperienced childcare staff in a pre school setting or parents at home.