Dd has a bit of a cold - send to school or not?

[Besom]

Dd has a mild sniffly cold. No cough, temp or anything. Normally would just send her but at the moment - what are we supposed to do?

[LouiseNW]

MadameBlobby

Oh God I’ve got a teenage boy. If he ever had a loss of appetite I’d be seriously worried!!

yes, loss of appetite and incredibly polite and gentle = something’s up!

[MadameBlobby]

Oh God I’ve got a teenage boy. If he ever had a loss of appetite I’d be seriously worried!!

[LouiseNW]

Sorry, that was to indoctro”

[LouiseNW]

Very interesting report on radio 4 last night, not sure of programme came in half way through, about 8.45 pm, possibly Inside Science?
Anyway, the latest large Scale study that reassuringly describes the likelihood of young children dying from Covid as vanishingly small also highlighted another very important fact.

Young children do not exhibit the same symptoms as adults. Rather, they experience headache, fatigue and loss of appetite, with some very young children showing a rash. Most do not have high temperate and/or cough,

The presenter stressed this is a really important development in knowledge that parents must be made aware of.

[jessycake]

Just this thread shows just how bad our government is handling all this , there needed to be clear and concise rules for all schools and parents to follow . We should have had local test and trace , a plus health care team to give schools advice and keep them up to date with any new developments .

[Rassy]

@tootyfruitypickle Great advice. I need to adopt your attitude too!

[MRex]

Immune systems won't have forgotten every virus because of a few months in lockdown, most illnesses are "remembered" for decades. Having measles can make the immune system forgetful, possibly one or two other severe diseases the same, but that's due to active disease not lack of disease. Children need some diseases gradually over time to prime their immune system, a few months off will actually be of benefit to any who had struggled to shake off viruses because they aren't ever given recovery time.

[MadameBlobby]

@Indoctro

The current testing or concerning symptoms are

Loss of taste/ smell
New persistent cough
Temperature

Stuffy cold is not a symptom and child should be sent to school

Apart from we have been told kids not to be sent to school if they are unwell at all.

[Besom]

Well I kept her off anyway because she was moaning, although miraulous recovery by lunchtme. The school said to send her if she was well enough and did not have any of the three symptoms mentioned.

[tootyfruitypickle]

Testing for everything ok if results are instant. I’m on day 3 now of waiting and won’t be bothering for a sore throat again! Don’t mind if it’s a quick test and yes or no but the current system doesn’t work. I’m better now . I keep dd off anyway if she feels ill but a sniffle is just Par for chiwinter

[Indoctro]

The current testing or concerning symptoms are

Loss of taste/ smell
New persistent cough
Temperature

Stuffy cold is not a symptom and child should be sent to school

[allfloopy]

Guidance in Ireland is it's ok to have a runny nose. As long as they have no other symptom etc.

[montventoux]

All staff and students at DS's school are being tested before they go back (independent school). Of course they could subsequently pick it up elsewhere, but at least they start with a 'clean slate' within the school (and half of them are boarders so it makes a bit more sense). They're hoping to catch early or asymptomatic cases to prevent an initial spread, I think.

[tootyfruitypickle]

I’ve woken up this morning and decided for my mental health, that in future I will only test us for actual symptoms - twice the Zoe app has asked me to test for a sore throat now. No symptoms - life goes on as normal. It’s just going to be a path to insanity otherwise as we get a lot of colds in our house!

[MadameBlobby]

@latticechaos

If you keep them off school for testing for every single thing that is not listed as a reason for testing by the government then you may as well keep all schools closed.

But the more testing we do, the more likely schools are to stay open

But despite numbers of tests going up for kids since schools went back there aren’t more positive cases. 49 out of 17500 tests were positive last week

[MadameBlobby]

@LittleSwede

The NHS/PHE really need to add sore throat to the list if symptoms. My friend and partner both tested positive for Covid (also antibodies later) back in April (both in Sweden) Only symptoms were sore throat and fatigue. No fever or cough.

I have pretty much a permanent sore throat. I’d have had about 100 tests if we had to tests for that! Funny though as I am sure when we first started hearing about it from China they said it could Initially cause a sore throat. I had a horrible bug back in Feb that started with a severe and unusual for me sore throat. I guess I’ll never know what that was though.

[latticechaos]

If you keep them off school for testing for every single thing that is not listed as a reason for testing by the government then you may as well keep all schools closed.

But the more testing we do, the more likely schools are to stay open

[latticechaos]

@LittleSwede

The NHS/PHE really need to add sore throat to the list if symptoms. My friend and partner both tested positive for Covid (also antibodies later) back in April (both in Sweden) Only symptoms were sore throat and fatigue. No fever or cough.

Agree with this.

Our list of symptoms is ridiculous compared to other countries! Done to stop testing getting overwhelmed presumably.

[LittleSwede]

The NHS/PHE really need to add sore throat to the list if symptoms. My friend and partner both tested positive for Covid (also antibodies later) back in April (both in Sweden) Only symptoms were sore throat and fatigue. No fever or cough.

[Yellowbutterfly1]

It’s not to much to ask for people and places to use some common sense.

Most of these children have not been around many others for months, so their natural immune systems are not going to be the best and are even more likely to pick up cough, colds, sickness bugs then ever before.
If you keep them off school for testing for every single thing that is not listed as a reason for testing by the government then you may as well keep all schools closed.

[FippertyGibbett]

No, phone school for advice.

[latticechaos]

Sorry, here best = honest

[latticechaos]

@MadameBlobby

Yes, quite. The testing is a false reassurance imo, we have to do it of course, but it doesn't help schools much because most children display no symptoms or mild symptoms, which really doesn't help to stop the virus.

I totally agree it isn't your job or my job to go further. But being here best, testing isn't really much help for schools.

Better than not doing it, so we must, but not enough really.

[MadameBlobby]

@latticechaos

My son had a sore throat on Tuesday, no Covid symptoms but I kept him off. He didn’t develop any Covid symptoms so he went back to school. I’m happy to keep them off with colds to stop spreading those too but it’s completely ridiculous that parents are getting tests for their kids when they don’t even have symptoms of Covid.

And herein lies the issue with our testing - because he could have covid with no symptoms of covid.

We are not really ready to open schools the way we are imo, as both testing, and track and trace are below the level needed.

But then anyone could have Covid with no symptoms of Covid by that reckoning. What are we meant to do get a test every time we feel under the weather with any ailment whatsoever?

I’ll stay home and keep my kids home if we are unwell. I’ll book tests if we have symptoms. If the government want me to get my children tested when they don’t have any of the symptoms set out by them as requiring one, they can change the guidance. I’ve done their job enough for them this year without having to second guess whether my child has Covid without any symptoms. It’s my job to follow the guidelines, not to take it on myself to go further.

[Iminaglasscaseofemotion]

We are in Scotland. Mine are both full of the cold so I'm keeping them off today.