Disclaimer: not UK
DS4 is in public (state) preschool. Last Sunday late evening the entire class got notification that one of the teachers had tested positive and everyone had to isolate. Fine. But the contact was Thursday! And we were only told Sunday. So all children were out and about some visiting vulnerable relatives etc. We were told we would be contacted to arrange PCR (this is the process here you cannot just book them on your own).
We were finally contacted on Wednesday and PCR tests were booked for the following Friday. All children were to go to the school and the tests were done there. Only half showed up because apparently the tests are not mandatory! So if you do not test your child then once they have finished the 10 days quarantine period they can return to school/normal activities. If they test positive then they must do an additional 10 days quarantine. So while I think that morally the parents should test their child I can see why they might not want to.
We were told that the test results would be back in 24/48 hrs so before the end of the quarantine period. Again, fine. Come Sunday night…..crickets.
It turns out one of the mums is a nurse in the Public Health Service and is able to check the results of her son which had been available since the morning. Negative. Another mum asks an acquaintance to check her sons results and they are positive. Still no texts/calls from anyone.
One of the other mums it turns out is a dr so was checking results if parents DMed her. Thankfully DS was negative.
No one received anything until this (Monday) morning after start of school, and everyone was told that absent a positive, the child could return to school. The one positive case that we know of still has not received official confirmation so if she had not had this connection would have sent him in to school.
Surely this can’t be right? And if so, AIBU to think that this is such a shambles? I understand that the health services is stretched but this just creates more work for them as it would have been another set of contacts to notify and trace and another set of tests to conduct just because they couldn’t notify in time.