We are actually going to be testing our kids all the time aren't we

[yukka]

Dd (1yr) got sent home from nursery with 'a bit of a temp' yesterday, it just about reached 38. She had the MMR jab on Wednesday. She was poorly Wednesday, better Thursday and fine Friday am hence sent her in on Friday. By 1:30 her temp was up.

We had to go for a covid test as she's not allowed back until we confirm it's not that.

Thankfully the process was straightforward but it really made me realise how often we will have to do this over the next year.

Because she had a temp on Wednesday (surely from mmr) you have 5 days from first symptoms to get a test. if the test is inconclusive we can try another one tonight/ tomorrow or we have to assume she has it and isolate.

It's really hard to get a stick down to your 1 yr olds tonsils for 10 seconds... I have a gut feeling we will be isolating. And gutted as she only started nursery on Monday having being delayed due to covid and was doing really well.

On the flip side, of course hoping she doesn't have it and mmr is masking symptoms. We've followed all the rules throughout this pandemic it would be a shame if her first week of normality led her to be sick.

I’d be surprised if this government got its act together to test every child in the UK this thoroughly.

But, as you say, if they do it will be a nightmare.

We’re screwed either way.

My youngest has sensory issues so I am completely dreading having to test her (and she gets everything going when she's in school) . I refuse to hold her down to do it against her will so not sure what we will do.

Yes it's going to be a nightmare.

Also, many pupils I teach with autism and other sensory needs will be very hard to get a test from.

Ds 2 had quite a bad reaction to the mmr; it rattled on for 4-5 weeks including a very mild rubella rash and temps again. And when he had scarlet fever around 18 mo it was incredibly hard to get a swab.

I just hope mothers aren't penalised and loos pay as a result.

If she was in our school, the whole class would be out until you're test came back. We don't drive so can't use a drive through so it'll take us a week to get tested each time. It's a nightmare

I fear this too, OP. :(

Yes it ,s going to be hard my son has severe autism and learning disabilities and goes to a special school, the policy is ( not sure if this is all schools or just his) is that every time they have a cough ,cold etc they have to be tested and stay off untill the result comes back ,god knows how we can get a swab from him

But what's the alternative? Imagine a child does have Covid and unknowningly passes it on to 30 other children who then pass it on to their family who then pass it on etc etc!

Lots of testing is the only solution imo.

It's going to be very disruptive for all parents. I'm concerned about time I'll have to take off as a teacher and the impact on teaching there.

Plus normal colds are around.

The answer is getting low infection rate in the community generally so that schools aren't negatively impacted.

If cases do start to rise and children are testing positive there will have to be quick action across all settings as schools will be chaotic and will
Struggle to remain open.

I don’t think our classes are to be shut down because one person has a temp. I have read the guidance and it states symptomatic people have to stay home and engage in test and protect.

I just really hope the tests remain very accessible and that it is just a couple of days off work.

Yep. And for some children it's going to be fairly horrible to have it done, so parents will stop wanting to do it to them.

I mean, I don't want to have one done every week or whatever it is they are doing to some medical staff, so why would a child.

Need to develop a trustable spit test.

And the accuracy of the tests, if they won't help you get the sample from your child they could be void or inconclusive and your on 2 weeks isolation anyway. How many times could that happen?

Really hoping I did a good enough job at getting the sample but my gut says I didn't.

A good spit test would be the ideal.

Even if we managed with some of our kids, they'd unlikely to take a second one!

No, classes won't shut when one person has a temp. It's the wider impact of slowly increasing cases meaning for example, that a teacher's children could be infected or the teacher, or they've been in contact with someone so quarantining for 2 weeks and the impact on staffing. The more community cases, the more it will slowly impact schools.

Testing is definitely the answer; it's not going to be a smooth winter for schools.

My son had a temp for the first time since lockdown on Thursday eve, luckily I'm a teacher, so at least on holidays. So drive through test 10am Friday. Result at 7am this morning. Tbh I couldn't have hoped for better, but my partner still missed a day of work, I had to cancel my car service and couldn't go for a run that day. Minor, but if this happens once a month, and continues into school time it's going to be quite disruptive!

Roll on quicker tests!

Oh he was negative!!
Forgot to add that bit.

Also I was worried I wouldn't have done the test properly but u think they are fairly idiot proof!

I refuse to hold her down to do it against her will so not sure what we will do

You have to follow the 'symptoms npbut did not test or test inconclusive' advice on the NHS website. That is currently to isolate for 10 days

I fear so

I had to do it the other week and now I'm dreading all the inevitable future ones as now she knows she hates it !

I hope they are fool proof! I got it in her mouth and up her nose twice but that was it. We were 3:30 yesterday so hoping results come soon.

It's probably mmr but obviously did need checking.
Mmr is live attenuated i think so better probably not to expose to other germs at the moment i guess.

It isn't ideal at all but what is the alternative? We have to keep on top of testing and tracking with positive results. Am I worried about time off work? Yes! But we have to get control of the virus and the only way we can do that now is social distancing where possible and testing with symptoms. A temp is a symptom. Likely the jabs she'd had but not impossible to be covid!

I’m not too bothered about testing all the time if it means quick return to school, I work for the NHS and can’t see them being too understanding if I need to be off for 14 days potentially every couple of weeks as my children get every cold going

Just to be clear no-one is saying we shouldn't be testing. It's the reality of what that means that this is about when we are talking about children.

I had exactly the same this week. Sent home from nursery with a high temperature and told DC wasn’t allowed back to nursery until they have a negative test result. Thankfully there were appointments the same evening and we go the results back within 24 hours.

I feel for those who can’t drop everything to drive to a test center and will lose pay whilst isolating and waiting for results when their child has a temperature for hundreds of reasons that aren’t COVID related.

And this will affect parents so much more than non parents when we become unreliable employees. As if it is not hard enough being a working parent and trying to do your job to the best of your ability.