School with a sore throat?

[flowerycurtain]

Hi everyone. I'm not sure what to do. DD has been complaining of a sore throat overnight. I think it's the beginning of a cold E.g. sneezing yesterday evening and sounding snotty today.

She's been back in school for 3 days.

I'd normally just send them in with a cold but unsure what we should do now.

To clarify there's no temp, no cough and I'll check at breakfast if she can smell something!

What would you do?

if she doesn't have any of the 3 symptoms and is well enough to go to school then I would send her.

Id give 111 a call, someone else posted very similar yesterday and i do believe someone commented saying they tested positive and they had runny nose etc too. Fingers crossed its not

Hmm. My instinct was do you what @kimlo said as the guidance is quite clear it's the 3 symptoms.

However I also read the same thread as @Gin4thewin !!

I won't be sending mine with cold symptoms, because a) although it doesn't meet the test criteria in the UK, it still could be covid b) even though it is statistically more likely not to be covid, I don't want to spread other bugs at this time.

I appreciate other people's work situations are complicated so this might not be possible.

Usually I would say yes but I think right now the more colds and bugs we keep out of schools the better. More people thinking they might have symptoms will result in more people looking for tests which puts pressure on the system which is not coping as it is.

No cough, no temperature, no loss of smell/taste = they can go in if well enough. Personally I'd give it a day or two so she's less infectious (if she's very coldy) but you dont have to.

Wait a day
If it goes it was probably a cold and you've got the weekend to know for sure so it's only one school day missed

I was in a similar dilemma on Monday. My little one had cold symptoms but no cough or temperature, no loss of smell so I sent them in. I was worried but I thought I've checked for symptoms and he's showing none and it's the time of year for colds so on balance decided to send him to school. I think it's going to be like this through autumn and winter,

Isn't the issue with this that you would effectively have to self isolate for 2 weeks? All of you I mean. If you're taking an otherwise well child out of school on the basis of a sore throat effectively being COVID then you need a test and all to self isolate. If her sore throat goes in 2 days it's doesn't mean it wasn't COVID because so many children get it very mildly so further symptoms may not appear.

I am worried about how to handle this myself OP.

Mine currently has a cold. But as she's not got a cough, a temp and only can't smell because her nose is bunged up, she's happy in herself so she's in school. I work and can't take time off just like that so as none of the symptoms are the ones listed she's at school.

My Dd was the same. Slight sore throat over night that gave way to a bit of a snotty/drippy nose. Same pattern as every cold she’s had in her 6 years of life.

She’s not got the symptoms to merit a covid test. She’s fine to go into school today.

MIL has gone batshit though (why Dh had to tell her early this morning I don’t know) insisting she has covid and needs a test.

It’s a stuffy nose. We have to use a bit of common sense. Colds are rife when they go back to school. We’d be constantly testing all winter for every sneeze.

Wondering if the school will call today though. One child was sent home and told to test yesterday because they said they had a stomach ache. No idea what will happen but the parent wasn’t happy.

Update - took her in and asked the deputy head. They were happy for her to be in as long as she doesn't have the 3 main symptoms.

@flowerycurtain

Update - took her in and asked the deputy head. They were happy for her to be in as long as she doesn't have the 3 main symptoms.

That’s great. I get the feeling that many schools are over zealous. The ‘rules’ for testing are clear.

Hope she feels 100% soon!

Good. I would send in assuming they were well enough.
If children have one of the three main symptoms then that’s different but schools will know that general sniffles are going to be very widespread and if everyone took time off the kids wouldn’t be at school. And there clearly isn’t enough testing capacity to get all sniffles and colds tested.

Yes I think even Boris was saying only get a test if you have one of the three symptoms (probably as they are running low on tests but still).

For what it’s worth my DS had a bit of a sore throat on Monday. No temperature. Sore throat went away after breakfast so he went to school. Had a good nights rest and is absolutely fine today. Not even a cold. If we had kept him off we would have been self-isolating I guess.

It’s so tricky as all the usuals colds are going around and I think as the kids haven’t been exposed immunity may be lower? It’s going to be a long winter!