To send my DC back to school with Covid?

[TheChemicalsAintGotYouBaby]

DS tested positive on Sat, and was still a glaring positive last night.

He's due back at high school tomorrow. V few symptoms apart from a snotty nose, and DH and I seem to have swerved it.

He's desperate not to miss the first day of term, and I'm aware that official guidance means that you no longer have to isolate etc if you test positive, if all reasonable steps (masks, distancing etc) are taken. However, I wouldn't be confident he'd remember to do this (little scatterbrain!)

On the flipside though, I don't want to unleash a new infection that will no doubt spread through the school like wildfire.

WWYD?

YANBU - send him. Covids going nowhere and we need to carry on

YABU - keep him off until he's negative

I'd have sent him in, and I wouldn't have tested.

Keep him off till he's negative! If you send him in, then others will almost certainly catch it, and at best others will be unwell enough to have to miss school themselves; at worst, he might give it to a child who is immunocompromised or has an immunocompromised family member.

IMO, Sick children shouldnt be sent to school. Covid isn't going anywhere but equally we need to be careful and follow precautions as it can still be a terrible illness for people, especially vulnerable people. I myself had a mc just after having covid for a second time this year. I don't know if it caused the mc, I'll never know, but I'm fit and healthy and I will forever wonder.

Don't put others at risk for the sake of a few days off. Keep him home till he's well. He may also be ostracised by his peers if he goes and then others get sick and they know it was from him...

Just check with the school on their policy they might say its fine

A close friend's husband emailed this morning to say friend cannot do our Zoom chat this afternoon as she tested positive - with hideous symptoms - this morning. She is very poorly indeed and is very vulnerable, as she has COPD (has never smoked, just many bouts of damaging bronchitis in recent years).

People are still very, very vulnerable - please don't send infection out into a large community of children and adults.

Covid that my teenage DS brought home from school has left me with perminant damage, Im also a carer for very vunerable family.

Dont be so fucking selfish, just because YOU are fine doesnt mean it wont kill someone else.

Just because you’re technically allowed to do something, doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Oh well done, passing it onto colleagues will make you very popular!!

Why are you still testing? Madness.

If he is well enough to go in he goes in, have no idea why you tested to be honest!

I think your cheeky little scatterbrain needs to stay home 😉

Can I ask a genuine question to those of you who’ve made posts along these lines?

What goes through your head when you see the posts from people explaining how disastrous catching covid (or any illness) could be for vulnerable people?

Is it that you don’t believe it? Or is it just a sort of ‘sucks for the vulnerable but it’s not my problem’?

And if so, are there no social scenarios where you’d hope that - even if not forced to do so - people would be considerate towards you and your children? Or would you genuinely prefer we all just look out for ourselves?

I’d love to actually hear your thoughts on this. As I’ve reasoned with myself that people who take this approach might simply be worried about work, childcare etc but surely that affects vulnerable people too - often more profoundly.

Why is everyone piling on the OP. The actual guidance is 3 days so if she sends her son that's fine.

You've answered your own question in a way..."how disastrous catching covid (or any illness) could be for vulnerable people?". Covid's no different from many other illnesses we have no test for, so there's no point in testing for it. "Ah good - negative test, it's not covid, it's only nasty flu" doesn't help the person you pass on the nasty flu to, who could die from that too.

There are 2 lots of personal responsibilities in any interaction between 2 people. Mine's not to mix with other people if I'm too ill (but that doesn't for me include testing for one particular thing if I have few symptoms). Most vulnerable people could reduce their vulnerability considerably by looking at their own personal responsibilities - taking daily vit D (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8541492/), vit C, zinc and quercetin (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9137692/) and attaining a good BMI - which would in most cases make them extremely unlikely to have bad or lasting effects from Covid.

YABU
What happens if he gives it to a child or one of their family members who are immune comprised? Everyone react different to it.
I tested positive on the Monday and my 8 month old didn't get it till the Saturday (I manage to test her when she was sleeping everyday) she ended up in hospital with it. So you and your partner can still get it.

If I was you I'd explain to your kid that he'll feel terrible if he was to give it to a fellow student who passed it on to a immune comprised family member which could kill them.
I'm surprised he'd want to go to school knowing this.

Surly the only answer is to test him again tomorrow and if he is still positive he stays home until he tests negative.

Do you want his teacher to end up off for at least a week and half his friends?

Also, if C19 is suspected, why wouldn't I have tested? Am I missing something?

I think people are saying if you're just going to carry on regardless of the result, why bother testing in the first place?

I get that. Because I'd feel less guilty about carrying on with symptoms I didn't KNOW were Covid than I would if I KNEW I had Covid.

What goes through your head when you see the posts from people explaining how disastrous catching covid (or any illness) could be for vulnerable people? Is it that you don’t believe it? Or is it just a sort of ‘sucks for the vulnerable but it’s not my problem’?

As callous as it sounds, the second one.

I have 3 dc. I've never sent any of them into school when they're too unwell in themselves. But if they have 'something' but are dealing with it ok, in they go.

If I kept them off every time they have a cold, mild cough, mild sore throat etc - any of which may be mild for them but serious for someone else, as is the case with most viruses - then in the winter barely a week would go past where all 3 were in school.

I'm not willing to restrict my children to that degree or affect my job to that degree. I don't know anyone that is.

My daughter’s immunodeficiency will not be fixed with vitamin D, unfortunately. She has always been a healthy BMI. I disagree with your assessment that ‘most’ vulnerable people are able to protect themselves in this way.

People who are on immunosuppressant therapy/chemotherapy will not be protected with vitamin D alone - my daughter has had it for years, she is still vulnerable.

It’s not even about testing. It’s about attending when symptomatic, even if those symptoms are mild. If your child is symptomatic, it’s inconsiderate at best to send them into school - even if they could manage. The same goes for any sort of illness.

If I was you I'd explain to your kid that he'll feel terrible if he was to give it to a fellow student who passed it on to a immune comprised family member which could kill them. I'm surprised he'd want to go to school knowing this

Fucking hell that's awful "advice". Kids were placed under enough mental strain with being told they were going to kill grandma in the early days. How terrible that you think that we should still be placing that burden on children's shoulders.

Thank you for your answer. I admire your honesty.

Yes, what the actual fuck?

I have an immunocompromised child who could get seriously ill if she caught covid. FIL is also vulnerable and could get very very poorly with it. I'm due to have much needed and long awaited major surgery 2 weeks today and i was told when I was give the date that if got Covid within the 7 weeks before, they wouldn't operate. All it would take to make a real mess in our family would be for one person to send their kid in with covid just because they didn't want to miss the first day back and DC could catch it, become seriously ill, pass it to me, surgery cancelled. Obviously we'd stay away from FIL but kids all pile into his local shop and he could get it there.

Please think of others before you send your child in with covid.

Is that burden worse than the anxiety felt by a vulnerable child/their family?

If the burden of protecting others and the anxiety regarding serious illness are equal, what do you suggest?