My 6 year old has just had a Covid test, worried about school.

[QueenofmyPrinces]

On Thursday evening he said he had stomach ache, last night before bed he had a sore throat and this morning he has started coughing. He doesn’t have a fever and is his usual happy self but we though we should get him tested just in case.

All I’m thinking though is how this may affect his class and I actually feel guilty!!

He’s in Year 2 and there is no social distancing in his class at all - they are pretty much allowed to interact with each other as they did pre-Covid. They aren’t allowed to share pencils though....it’s all very odd.

I can’t find any guidance on the schools website about bubbles, isolation and their rules so I am nervous about the knock on effect if he gets a positive.

I can’t see how if he got a positive then me and DH would have to self isolate for 10 days, but all the children he’s been mixing with at school are still fine to go there?! There’s no sense in it.

Has anyone had a child be told to isolate based on another child in the class having had a positive result?

There is a school local to me that has had a child with a positive test & yes, the rest of the class have to isolate for 14 days.

We got sent the nhs guidance - If someone in the bubble is positive the whole class has to isolate but not other members of the family. Which also makes no sense.

You couldn’t have the rest of the family isolate. In a typical 4 person household, one positive case in a primary would lead to 30x4 = 120 people isolating. In secondary schools of 250 sized bubbles, that could be well over 1000 people isolating from one positive test. It’s probably a good idea scientifically but it’s not exactly getting people back to work.

I also presume young children that should be isolating, would have to go along on the school run if their siblings in other bubbles still needed to get there. Not everyone has someone who can step in to do their school run 10x a week, particularly if they are then risking being a contact and having to isolate themselves.

@AriettyHomily

We got sent the nhs guidance - If someone in the bubble is positive the whole class has to isolate but not other members of the family. Which also makes no sense.

It does make sense because even with no sd, presumably most of the other children won't get it.

However I think they should all have to test.

But we don't have enough tests for that

I also presume young children that should be isolating, would have to go along on the school run if their siblings in other bubbles still needed to get there.

This really should not happen!

Please don't feel guilty. The government guidelines are strange because they don't want to isolate a lot of people because they want people to go back to work. So best to follow atleast the minimum that's being directed.
Please inform the school about your son's symptoms and that he has taken the Covid test.

Don't feel guilty, it's not your fault and you are doing the right thing! Yes, his school bubble would need to isolate but the test is much more likely to come back negative than positive. Are you able to get to a testing centre today? If so, you should hopefully get a result before the end of the weekend 🤞

Are you able to get to a testing centre today? If so, you should hopefully get a result before the end of the weekend

He had one at 8.30am and my DH had to drive over an hour to get him there. We had initially called our local testing centre but they didn’t have an appointment until Thursday!! Ridiculous.

My husband was told we should get the results in 2-3 days.

What a pita 🙈 Well done for getting sorted so quickly, I hope you get your result soon.