Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

COVID has apparently turned my family into social pariahs

76 replies

Thidwick · 23/09/2021 21:14

Large COVID numbers at DS2’s school - all pupils in his class were asked to take a precautionary PCR test. His was negative, I took one at the same time which was positive. DS 1 and DH have since tested negative too.

The reaction to DS1 returning to school as per government guidance that he doesn’t need to self isolate has been shock, horror, outrage etc. particularly from a few parents who have chosen not to get vaccinated.

Wtf am I meant to do - keep him at home?! I don’t make the bloody rules. Not that it makes a difference, but I’m asymptomatic - wouldn’t have known I had bloody COVID if I hadn’t had to take DS2 to be tested.

OP posts:
Original poster
Thidwick · 23/09/2021 22:14

@SmellyOldOwls yup I’m thinking of his well-being as well as following the rules. During lockdown at the beginning of this year he was washing his hands until they cracked and bled (he was 5 at the time). I don’t want to keep him off unnecessarily and go back to those kinds of anxieties again

OP posts:
Original poster
Thidwick · 23/09/2021 22:18

People found out because we live in a small village. I kept DS1 off school yesterday and today while we waited for the results to come through. Someone asked why and I told them - word has gotten around.

OP posts:
Original poster
Thidwick · 23/09/2021 22:23

@AlexaShutUp the rules are so stupid!! Don’t wear a mask, go to a festival, rub shoulders with people you don’t know, but if you get COVID you have to self isolate. Feels like the government are playing Russian roulette with us. It’s them I’m most pissed off with, not the scared parents of my sons classmates

OP posts:
RumblyMumbly · 23/09/2021 22:30

The reaction to DS1 returning to school as per government guidance that he doesn’t need to self isolate has been shock, horror, outrage etc. particularly from a few parents who have chosen not to get vaccinated

I understand that word has got about but how do you know what their reaction is? Have they contacted you directly? How do you know the other parents vaccination status?

BoredZelda · 23/09/2021 22:34

This is where the phrase Boris trotted out about people using common sense and taking responsibility falls down. All through this people have lost the ability to think logically and it all comes down to “the rules”

The reason they haven’t stopped kids from families who have Covid cases from going to school isn’t because it is the safe thing to do, it is because they wanted to reduce the numbers of kids isolating because they didn’t look good. It is madness to send a kid to school if there is Covid in the household, rules or not. In my experience people follow the Covid “rules” if it suits them, but not if it doesn’t.

I wouldn’t be happy if I knew of someone in DD’s class doing this, but my annoyance would be at the system which allows it, not the people who choose to follow it.

Original poster
Thidwick · 23/09/2021 22:35

Yup in touch directly - isn’t digital messaging wonderful Hmm vaccination status discussed often in the playground - being anti -vaccination is apparently something to be proud of in some circles here

OP posts:
Original poster
Thidwick · 23/09/2021 22:41

@BoredZelda damned if you do, damned if you don’t

OP posts:
Bellabelloo · 23/09/2021 22:50

If we're going to return to 'normal' then that's how it will be. If you had flu your kids would still go to school.

That said, I'm praying mine aren't the first to get it in their classes nor the first to go in when one of us are sick. I want someone else to lead the way!

RumblyMumbly · 23/09/2021 22:53

Well they've got balls! What did they say? You can alert school and let them know.

It does surprise me anyone is talking about their vaccination status now, it was a hot topic back in spring as people were waiting for their age group/ which vaccine etc but I haven't heard anyone discussing it this term, parents are back to talking about normal stuff PE kit, homework, what time the hockey training is..

cansu · 23/09/2021 22:53

The strategy if you can call it that now is that kids all get it. It is the actual plan.

BlameItOnTheBlackStar · 23/09/2021 22:54

When one child tested positive we all stayed home for the first week, then got a grip and decided to send the other kids back.

Cases were so high at the time that I suspected they'd go back, catch it, and have to isolate for another ten days, and that isn't fair to them or good for their education.

None of us ever went on to develop it anyway.

savagebaggagemaster · 23/09/2021 23:07

The rules are utterly stupid, but that's not your fault.
I've had children in my classroom whose parents and siblings tested positive, then those children subsequently tested positive themselves whilst in school.
Now unsurprisingly I'm stuck at home with Covid myself, along with my ds who has been quite ill with it. That means I'm not teaching other people's kids, along with the several other teachers who've caught it in the same way. And yes, we've all been vaccinated.
How is this not disrupting children's education?

Sn0tnose · 23/09/2021 23:18

I’ve got to be honest, I’d be avoiding you all like the plague too. I’m vaccinated (very pro vax) and I’m hoping for a booster soon, but my lungs are a bit buggered and I already struggle with anything more than mild colds so I’m terrified of catching it. I have never been more relieved that I don’t have children and am not faced with having to cope with this sort of thing.

I hope you carry on having no effects and recover soon.

Lollipop444 · 23/09/2021 23:31

It’s quite mixed messaging now with school being back to normal and not doing any bubbles or contact tracing or letting us know if anyone in the school/class is positive.

But then when one of your dc tests positive, test and trace call you and ask if they’ve been in contact with anyone in an educational establishment! I mean, no sh*t Sherlock, they’re in a junior class, they’ve all been breathing all over each other all day! And no, I don’t know the names and contact details of everyone at school they were in close contact with because I wasn’t there, and because school won’t give us a list due to data protection!

Surely if they still need to know this information then school should still be coordinating it? And it’s pointless anyway because all under 18’s do not need to isolate!

Itsnotallaboutyoubaby · 23/09/2021 23:31

It’s not your fault that the rules are stupid.

I’d have kept mine off and to hell with the rules but I don’t judge you for sending your child in.

I hope he doesn’t catch it and who knows he may not Flowers

Itsnotallaboutyoubaby · 23/09/2021 23:32

In fact he may have already had it, caught it at school and given it to you… the whole things a farce

PurpleOkapi · 24/09/2021 02:26

No one who's seriously worried about their child getting covid should be sending them to in-person schools right now ... or possibly ever. If they're too stupid to recognize that their child will inevitably exposed to covid sometime this year no matter what you do or don't do, that's their fault, not yours.

BoredZelda · 24/09/2021 07:48

damned if you do, damned if you don’t

Not sure many would damn you for not choosing to send him in.

Original poster
Thidwick · 24/09/2021 08:31

@BoredZelda the Local Authority, who may choose to fine me for unauthorised absence

OP posts:
Original poster
Thidwick · 24/09/2021 08:36

Of the anti-vaxxers, a couple are care workers wondering about what they are going to do once their job requires it and one has health issues and is concerned about getting it even though they’re not medically exempt.

OP posts:
Original poster
Thidwick · 24/09/2021 08:47

No one has been outright nasty about it - I’m not being bullied. It’s just been people’s reactions to being told. Now DS2 is being uninvited to a birthday party Sad

OP posts:
marykitty · 24/09/2021 08:54

@Thidwick

No one has been outright nasty about it - I’m not being bullied. It’s just been people’s reactions to being told. Now DS2 is being uninvited to a birthday party Sad
I am sorry you have to go through this and I wish you all a fast recovery, but honestly I would have uninvited your son as well. I do understand rules allow you to send your son to school, but I would avoid any unnecessarry contact for few more days... Also, i do not want to be the reason (party organizer) why other kids might get exposed if I cannot avoid it
BabyYouKnowMyHandsAreDirty · 24/09/2021 08:56

The reaction to DS1 returning to school as per government guidance that he doesn’t need to self isolate has been shock, horror, outrage etc. particularly from a few parents who have chosen not to get vaccinated.

Why would the unvaccinated people be outraged? Most people I know who are not vaccinated are very comfortable with their decision. Others who maybe want to be vaccinated but are struggling due to needle phobia for example, also wouldn’t be outraged.

Original poster
Thidwick · 24/09/2021 08:58

@marykitty you’re right - in their shoes I’d feel the same way. I suspect my two have had it already and passed it to me but I’ve no way of knowing that for definite. DH will do something special with DS2 to make up for it

OP posts:
THisbackwithavengeance · 24/09/2021 08:58

Why on earth would you tell people you have tested positive? I wouldn't even have taken a test.

We need to learn to live with covid and mitigate the risk. Not living in a ridiculous cycle of testing, then self isolating and then having to isolate because you came within 30 yards of someone else with symptoms. If people can't be arsed to get vaccinated when the vaccine is free and readily available, that is their lookout.

Swipe left for the next trending thread