DD has been back at school one day.....

[SabrinaTheTeenageBitch]

And got a phone call to say teacher who she was with yesterday has a cough and is self isolating awaiting results. She hasn't been asked to stay away from school yet but I am feeling a bit defeated that she's potentially been exposed to covid already. Its going to be like this all the time isnt it?

Chill.

Yes it is.

Yes

Potentially, yes. The new normal, for now, anyway.

Think about a usual primary school parent assembly or school production. How many coughs would you hear from children and adults? So many in normal times. And for most of those people coughing, they would have no way of knowing, when that cough starts now, that it is one of the usual winter coughs, but instead a Covid cough.

So they have to test. Isolate snd test, then hopefully (and statistically likely) a negative test and most of them are back into school the next day or the day after.

But it is better to err on the side of caution with this.

A woman was coughing in church on Sunday. It struck me that it is months since I last heard anyone cough in public, when you used to hear it all the time.

Teacher is being cautious. Coughs are common and 95% of the time won't be covid

I highly doubt she's been "exposed to Covid". Its not like coughs weren't a thing pre-2020

Potential isolations will probably happen a lot

I should add she attends a sen school and is vulnerable (but not shielded) and I was quite anxious about her returning so probably being a bit dramatic! Just didn't expect to be dealing with the 'has she been around someone who has it' scenario quite this quickly

0.8% of tests are positive. Pretty unlikely that it's Covid.

I work at a school. I was told in the summer they don't want us in with cold symptoms, not just the main Covid symptoms. I haven't been told otherwise on my return. I guess it's better to be safe than sorry as no one knows how it'll affect them and others they pass it to.

It's very good that your child's teacher has acted responsibly and taken a test. Positive tests are less than 1% so there's a very low chance that the teacher has covid. I hope the results come through quickly to give you peace of mind.