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?

• should have said "inherent weakness"

@Raindancer411
This is what worries me, the amount of tests a child could end up with. My son would struggle with one and definitely refuse and others in future.
Then you’ll have to be keeping them off for the 10 day period each time then unfortunately

We just have to do what we have to do. Get tested if guidelines state to do so. Every time. Or isolate. If the nurseries policy is not to take them back until symptoms free then they'll just keep sending home. Individual places have differing policies for all sorts of things pre covid too.

Otherwise there is going to be a hell of a lot more disruption with closures!!

I think parents would be more willing to keep their kids off nursery if they weren't going to be losing £50ish each day in wasted fees, and potentially loss of earnings as well if they have to take unpaid leave to cover the exclusion. You just suck it up for the normal amount of illness absences and holiday time, but repeated isolation for every cough or temperature will end up costing parents hundreds this winter. Not to mention the goodwill of their employers in many cases. It's an absolute nightmare.

I have 48h post fever plus negative test in my mind from somewhere.

Change of taste or smell is impossible to detect in young children (certainly if pre verbal) and I'd be surprised if my 5 year old could be relied on to describe that either...

So focussing on temperature checks (I'm doing the family daily) and looking out for a cough (unrelated to inhalation of water...)

I still cough a little on exertion after some form of respiratory bug in February...

This is what I am dreading (despite looking forward to them going back) my DS is asthmatic, he has a cough from October to March, last year we had an entire half term where I was called in to assess him 3-4 times per week and give him extra inhaler. I’ve cancelled any plans for the next 6 months, it’s a good job I am currently a SAHM, as I think they’ll be out of school as much as in. Does anybody know if siblings also have to go home until a negative test? And how many times they can send them home?

@CazM2012
Yes, siblings would have to go home as it will be treated as the Government guidance is, that other household members have to isolate until test results back. As for “how many times can they send them home?” - that’s unlimited, as many times as they feel they need to.

@CazM2012 - have you spoken with an asthma specialist about use of his preventer inhaler? If he's given the correct dose and uses it consistently each day then even cold air shouldn't have him coughing constantly, he may not be on the correct dose or not using it correctly? An occasional cough when going out into cold air due to known asthma wouldn't need testing, that's clearly different than coughing all day due to a virus. The asthma website is a very useful resource if you haven't looked it up before; my DH has had asthma all his life, but after following their recommendations and using a spacer to inhale better he improved significantly, he just hadn't ever been told some of the things to do. The website is here: www.asthma.org.uk/advice/.

@CazM2012 - particularly asking because one of his issues was overuse of the blue inhaler and underuse of the brown, it's a fine balancing act.

[quote MRex]@CazM2012 - particularly asking because one of his issues was overuse of the blue inhaler and underuse of the brown, it's a fine balancing act.[/quote]
He is on a preventer but last winter was awful for constantly having to use his blue inhaler, I’m still waiting for an appointment I asked for during last winter. The department is already stretched and obviously haven’t been seeing anybody for a while, I will follow this up this week. Thank you for the advice, I’m hoping it won’t be as bad this year as his cough was continuous for so much of last winter I don’t think any of the DC will be in school for long at all this year

@CazM2012 - good luck with it, I hope the website is useful for you as some things were not at all intuitive. You can buy a spacer at pharmacies or online if you haven't been issued one, it's very useful with the whistle identifying if he's breathing in too fast.

I think that is crap of the nursery. How many other parents are also going to need to isolate for 3 days while they wait for test results now?

I don’t think it’s crap at all, seems like an efficient way to manage things within guidelines. Honestly, I think refusing children with symptoms who have tested negative is an overreaction.

Kids get colds, and they spread in nurseries etc. Always have and always will. That is how they develop their immune system for goodness sake!

Test results were back within 14 hours... So parents would potentially miss one day of work, perhaps 2 days. Less than waiting for a never-ending non-COVID cold to clear up.

@merename the Scottish government gives daily totals of tests taken it’s easy to compare the rising numbers. Home testing is a UK government initiative. We’ve had no issue getting a test at Glasgow airport the twice it’s been needed. One was the same day one was the following day so no delays either.