Toddlers & coughs - how realistic is quarantine each time?

[Stinkywizzleteets]

My kids returned to school /nursery 2 weeks ago. Already had to have youngest tested in first week back due to temperature at nursery - it was negative but scary for everyone involved from nursery to ourselves and of course our toddler having a throat and nasal swab done in a car park.

They’ve now got a cough. Eldest has a cold (sneezing, no temp, no cough) My toddler always seems to have a cough with a cold. Based on previous years, it’s likely to last a long time and so is unlikely to be covid but this scenario poses a problem that parents of toddlers and asthmatic kids are going to experience again and again.

It seems so impractical that everytime they have a cough they have to be tested and stay off Nursery 14 days or longer until it’s gone. For us, that will probably be next March now as they have persistent winter coughs and have had every winter since birth. Going by guidelines that means the whole family is in Quarantine for 14 days each time but what if, like previous years it lasts weeks at a time, has a few days respite then starts all over again? Are we to write off work & school completely until next year or a vaccine? Nursery say they don’t really know what to do as all kids will get bugs, snotty noses and coughs and the long term isolation of lockdown means toddler’s immune systems have not had to fight shared toddler bugs and so they’re going to get everything.

I just don’t know how this is going to work longer term. Employers aren’t going to be happy with staff off all winter cos they have susceptible kids & with so many looking for work, it won’t be long before people are being replaced. We’re going to struggle paying for nursery with statutory sick pay for a place the toddler can’t attend and my eldest who rarely ever has a sniffle is likely to miss a lot of school in their final year of primary because their sibling catches everything.

What are parents going to do? What’s reasonable when covid is unlikely but there are still symptoms?

It really annoys me Nursery’s are adopting this even if you test negative, you can’t come in for 10 days’ .. if a child (or adult) is at the point of displaying Corona symptoms, then a test will come back positive if they have it. The incubation period has passed by the point symptoms display. Symptoms = enough corona virus in your body to pick up on tests! So if it’s negative, the symptoms are from something else!

My nursery is doing this 14 day thing & it’s infuriating! My child has coughs all winter. I’m happy to test her as much as needed but I can’t afford to keep her off nursery for weeks & weeks at a time. I’ll loose my job 🤯

@Oly4

No there is a lot of confusion over that NHS guidance but if the test is negative they should be allowed back into school or nursery. If it’s positive you must isolate. Check the policy of your nursery again. They say you must stay home even if you have a negative test? That can’t be right! I think we’re all going to be testing our kids multiple times over winter, that’s just how it is

I can not see anywhere on NHS guidance where it says 'you can return with symptoms if your test was negative'.

Everything refers to not having been tested, or having a positive result.

My understanding was you had to stay off with symptoms.

Otherwise everyone will get the non-covid bug, starting a wave of unnecessary testing.

Better (for the institution) for one person to be off for a week or so, than loads off for a day or two waiting for tests, surely?

if a child (or adult) is at the point of displaying Corona symptoms, then a test will come back positive if they have it. The incubation period has passed by the point symptoms display. Symptoms = enough corona virus in your body to pick up on tests!

Sadly this is an incorrect view, up to one in four negatives are false. The test is very dependent on exactly when it is done (which day of your illness)

Our issue is with a temp. DS2 has a bowel condition which means he gets a temperature in the run up to a flare. He's absolutely fine to be in school (not infectious, just needs an increase in his meds) and will have no other symptoms. This happens every five to six weeks, and has done since he was 2 (he's 7). He's spent a lot of time off school already because of hospital appts, tests, and surgery so I really don't want to be having to pull him out (and DH and I out of work) and put him through a test every time when we know exactly what it is. Obviously, if he had other symptoms, or a change in his usual pattern we'd get him tested, but what are the kids whose underlying health issues trigger isolation supposed to do?

I posted similar in another thread... but I do understand why nurseries are insisting on exclusions after a negative test. Even if it is just a cold, if they go into nursery and then give that cold to a handful of other children, they can't take your word for it that it's just a cold. They will all need to get tests, and their parents and siblings would need to isolate until the results.

To be able to get through this winter, nurseries and parents are going to need to be super strict, and keep kids off when they have the slightlest cold. Hopefully, this will mean they catch less of them, and it will end up with less time off overall.

Surely thought keeping kids at home with "symptoms" is what happens anyway? Even in a normal winter?

With all this regular testing very likely over the autumn/winter it may be the first step in the reset in education. How many times children are sent to school dosed up with calpol, clearly unwell, falling asleep in class when they should be home, spreading their germs around, I’ve lost count. Covid or no Covid unwell children should be at home (just like staff) all this soldiering on, 100% attendance certificates etc need to be a thing of the past. Education needs to go back to being education NOT a childcare service.

Yep. I envisage a winter with my 3 year old off nursery constantly. They just cough all winter.

We need clarity on whether we are accepting negative tests or not.

Who are all these people commenting that unwell children should be at home. Stay at home parents or non parents?

They are mildly ill all winter...shall we just quit our jobs and keep them in for 4 months a year? I’m not suggesting a child with a temperature should be in nursery but most of them have a cough for a lot of winter. It’s just snot making them cough. Grim but normal.

@Florrieboo

Surely thought keeping kids at home with "symptoms" is what happens anyway? Even in a normal winter?

If the symptoms are a severe cough and high temperature then yea you would probably keep them off anyway. If the symptoms are a tickly cough and a bit of a snotty nose, you would usually send them in. The first time my daughter had a runny nose (pre covid) I rang the preschool and asked if she should come in, they said if everyone stayed off for a minor cold they would never be there, send her in. That will be what its like this winter - lots of absence for symptoms which arent even covid.

@latticechaos

if a child (or adult) is at the point of displaying Corona symptoms, then a test will come back positive if they have it. The incubation period has passed by the point symptoms display. Symptoms = enough corona virus in your body to pick up on tests!

Sadly this is an incorrect view, up to one in four negatives are false. The test is very dependent on exactly when it is done (which day of your illness)

What's the point in doing tests then, if we are supposed to assume a negative test is a false negative. What about false positives?

@LadyPenelope68 Thanks for the heads up. Will it only be if he shows symptoms and not his baby sister, or even if she does? X

Ok so to clarify for those who asked. Two weeks ago when we returned my youngest got temperature in the first week. They tested covid negative which was considered reliable as he was symptomatic at the time of the test. The nursery said he could return as soon as he was symptom free -that is local authority policy . Thankfully his temp went away before he returned so he could go back.

The coughing issue is that it doesn’t go away all winter. So he won’t be symptom free as per
Local authority policy until winter is over. If we waited 10/14 days and sent him back as per NHS policy, how would we know if he’s still coughing whether it was the old cough or if he had contracted covid /another bug the following week/month when he’s still coughing or it gets worse?

I’ve also just been informed by my eldest’s school that they can’t go in with a runny nose, and I’m now waiting to here the case even if it’s only likely to be hayfever.

I want to do the right thing but it seems nobody knows exactly what that is.

Thankfully I’m in a position to stay at home right now (albeit not earning) but others won’t be and it needs clarification.

What's going to happen when teachers are off for this reason, or inevitably unwell? Will schools have to close if there are too many teachers off?

@KitKatastrophe

I think they are not so much 'false' negatives as in a fault with the test kit, but people either don't shove it far enough up their nose or they do it on day six, seven etc.

Unfortunately the tests are not perfect.

@Raindancer411

If baby sister, or anyone else in the house, shows symptoms then the child would have to stay away from school until the baby or whoever in the house showing symptoms has been tested. If negative then they can go back, if positive then the child would have to be off 14 days, as is in the regular guidance for households displaying symptoms.

@EdwardCullensBiteOnTheSide

Yes, bubbles in schools may have to close if they can’t be covered.

Government/Department for Education guidance documents. Contain links to relevant other guidance.

Schools

www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools

Early Years Settings

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures

I refuse to listen to the false negative clan on here. We cannot go about life assuming every test is a false negative. We may as well fully shut down again until their is a vaccine. Which is strikes me half of mums net would 🤦🏼‍♀️

Thankfully, our nursery have clarified that children can attend with colds & runny noses. They are looking specifically for a persistent dry cough, temp or loss of smell/taste. They’ll also allow children back in if after 14 days they test negative again but are still coughing.

I’ve regularly sent my daughter to nursery with a cold & cough. Obviously, if she’s really under the weather I wouldn’t but she has minor colds & coughs constantly in winter. I have to work to keep a roof over my head so I can’t keep her off for every sniffle.

@LadyPenelope68 Thank you :) This could be an interesting time to have a baby then...

I think people have to accept that this winter is different. Normally, I would send DC in with a cold - he had a cough for the entirety of last winter, for example. It would be utterly selfish to do that this year though.

If I need to get a test for my DC, keep his brother off school, and DH and I isolate for 2 days waiting for test results every time he gets a cough, I will not be impressed at people sending their kids to nursery with a cold without a second thought for anyone else.

If everyone keeps their kids off for a few extra days, then there will be less bugs going around, and fewer instances of sickness.

I don't know if this helps but I'm in Australia and we're near the end of winter where our schools have been back. What we've seen is that there are far fewer bugs, colds, coughs going around as no one goes anywhere if they have even the slightest sniffle. My DD and I are asthmatic but she hasn't needed her steroid inhaler all winter (unheard of) and only the odd puff of ventolin. We'd usually have 2-3 colds and coughs that would run into each other.

At the start of winter there was a lot of complaining with kids who had hay fever, asthma persistent coughs etc but they have missed a few days, had tests and importantly the schools got online schooling sorted which made people more willing to keep older kids home. Employers won't let you come to work with colds either so staying home with a kid with a cold is suddenly really acceptable.

Now it seems as everyone is generally a bit healthier as there's no colds around to speak of.

We sent 28 children home today (ages 3-11). Several sibling groups though.
We “know” they just have colds/runny noses/ coughs but we can’t take the risk unfortunately.

Our nursery send home if temp or persistent cough. Negative test and they can come straight back. I work in the NHS and if everyone had to be off with their kids for 2 weeks for every cough or temp we’d have no staff at work!

My youngest has had a cold for the past few days, properly snotty but no temp. He’s been at nursery as usual. Wouldn’t occur to me to keep him off.

School have the same policy - negative test and you can come back if well enough.

@Incrediblytired
If people stay at home whilst symptomatic from any infection the numbers of infections being caught should be significantly lower than in a normal winter. The measures put into place to reduce the prevalence of Covid-19 should also reduce the incidence of other viral infections that cause similar symptoms and therefore this year should be nothing like a normal winter in terms of getting a cold every other week.