Will there be Keyworker care?

[Amonite]

If a school bubble or bubbles close is there still keyworker care as there was in the summer term?
Our children went to school throughout as we both have frontline keyworker roles. We are in a local lockdown area, if the children are sent home for 2 weeks surely keyworker children are exempt and can still attend?
We have no childcare options

Time to reduce the quarantine for kids. Make it 5 days, if no symptoms after that time, or they had symptoms and now feel better, back they go. It would reduce the pressure on tests.

Not great but it's much easier to work around 5 days (some of which may fall on non-working days) than 2 weeks. And yes, as SS suggested, as a part-time worker I absolutely would work on other days to make time up. I don't see what's outrageous about that? Better than taking AL or unpaid leave.

Yes I know that people can show symptoms much later, but we need to balance risk and practicality.

Time to reduce the quarantine for kids. Make it 5 days, if no symptoms after that time, or they had symptoms and now feel better, back they go. It would reduce the pressure on tests

Isolating rules need to be followed and certainly not shortened as more convenient for parents. We need to control the virus not fuel it more. Many In schools will be vulnerable or have family members who are. Risking those in favour of free childcare is an awful suggestion imo.

My concerns are not financial at this stage but for the wider impact on my organisation. We are so ridiculously short staffed that some shifts have ONE person covering an entire area. The maximum we have is 4 response officers on one of our shifts!
We are barely functioning as it is.
If even one person is wiped out at home for an entire fortnight there is nowhere else to borrow one from for cover. Lots of us have kids and at least two are single parents so this is a very real problem over the coming weeks.
We are at the point where even grade 1 emergencies aren't being attended quickly enough because we simply don't have the people to go to them. So yes, Covid has the potential to kill people but this isolation rule does too.

@cologne4711 quarantine for children should not be reduced. As a PP said there are school staff who may be clinically vulnerable or who have family members living with them who are. They should not be put at additional risk especially since the staff are working in close contact with the potentially infectious child with no masks, no SD or, in my schools case, access to visors either but expected to sit next to children to hear them read and mark their ei

and mark their work. If children are included in the government’s rule of 6 then it has been acknowledged that they can transmit Covid therefore the same quarantine rules should apply to them as everyone else.

[quote Roowig2020]@middleager they were told to by the school 🤷‍♀️, though it was a bit pointless because they still had to isolate. [/quote]
Thanks. The reason I ask is that my healthy child is having to SI due yo a case in one of his options classes.

We are not getting him tested, nor have we been advised to.

The poster's nephew was sent back in similar circumstances I believe so why was he tested?

Time to reduce the quarantine for kids. Make it 5 days, if no symptoms after that time, or they had symptoms and now feel better, back they go. It would reduce the pressure on tests

And their adult teachers?
What about teenage children?

I do think many people seem to forget that schools don't only house children, and especially not just young children?

So as someone who teaches children I am expected to look after, with no masks and no SDing, children who we know have had close contact with a positive case now?

I am clinically vulnerable. The last thing I want to be doing is being in close contact with people we know have been in contact with someone who I know for sure tested positive!

This thread has prompted me to email my line manager to ask what our approach is. We are lucky to be able to do our jobs from home and employer has been very flexible while schools were closed but there has been radio silence on what happens now if schools send children home for a fortnight.

Time to reduce the quarantine for kids..make it 5 days

I actually agree with this as its generally a minimum of a few days from the child showing symptoms to getting a test result anyway. What's the point of quarantining kids for 14days on confirmation of a positive result if there's already been a significant amount of time between contact between them and the infected child.

@GingerAndTheBiscuits

This thread has prompted me to email my line manager to ask what our approach is. We are lucky to be able to do our jobs from home and employer has been very flexible while schools were closed but there has been radio silence on what happens now if schools send children home for a fortnight.

I started talking to our HR (again, big company that's dealt with it all well so far) about two months back about this and so far radio silence too.

In proper lockdown it was "do what you can" which was kind of ok when everyone was on the same boat, but isn't as good when it might just be you in your department who needs time. One fortnight off can be juggled with annual leave and parental leave, but any more than that and no one will have enough annual or rights to more unpaid leave.

I'd take half hours for half pay as a temporary fix, maybe. Seems one potential solution.

Yet again, a problem that will long term shaft working parents mothers

What's the point of quarantining kids for 14days on confirmation of a positive result if there's already been a significant amount of time between contact between them and the infected child.

It's 14 days from the last time you were in contact with them.

So say:

(day 1) Thursday - child a and b were sat in class together at school
(day 2) Friday - A doesn't come to school as feels poorly
(day 3) Saturday - A has symptoms and starts to isolate themselves
(day 5) Monday - A gets a test
(day 7) Wednesday - A gets a +ve result and lets school know

B then isolates for 14 days from the previous Thursday. They are already on day 7 - so they then isolate for a further 7 days.

@Aragog I’m not sure that’s how schools are doing it though, most seem to be sending classes home for a fortnight

'Two cardiac surgeons were less 'key' at the height of the pandemic than the bloke who did Tesco grocery deliveries'

Did no one have an MI during lockdown?

NHS workers can get access to tests via an NHS route including for their families so hopefully that helps with if child sent home to get tested quickly, as for bubbles, sounds like no keyworker provision but perhaps grandparents/ friends would be more willing to childcare if you have been tested negative.

NHS family testing only extends to 1 member of the household. Not the entire family.

@HeyBlaby

'Two cardiac surgeons were less 'key' at the height of the pandemic than the bloke who did Tesco grocery deliveries'

Did no one have an MI during lockdown?

Yes. And a large proportion of them died at home because they were too scared to present at hospital.

@frozendaisy if you're children are home because the bubble burst they are supposed to isolate as well. Not seeing anyone.
I mean you're right, friends and family will probably help out, thats what i would do. But they're not supposed to.
What choice do people have though.

*Seriously, there was a paediatric surgeon and his wife a cardiac surgeon both having two weeks off due to lack of testing. That's two weeks of cancelled operations etc.

You can't seriously compare that to a shop manager or a marketing bod.*

Two weeks of operations have been cancelled by the NHS due to lack of tests when they have access to over 70,000 test a day??

I can't believe that is true especially as I have not seen it mentioned on TV or online.

I may have missed it so if you have a link that would be great.

Even if it is true you cannot say ALL surgeons this and ALL shopkeepers that.

I wouldn't expect keyworker care when a bubble has been sent home. I think there will be chaos if schools close, as is likely, because of not having enough teachers to stay open as then keyworker spaces are unlikely to happen.

This thread is ridiculous- of course as many nhs staff need to be in work as possible.
It’s going to be bloody awful- already is a bit.

So the government needs to come up with a strategy quickly....

www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/covid-19-talking-children-families-about-returning-school-guiding-principles

I’m not sure if this has been posted before.

I agree that this is a problem, especially for front-line NHS staff. Earlier in the pandemic everyone knew that these children would be heavily exposed via their parents, and yet they were still going to school. Of course it was much easier then because they were all in a single bubble together (a high exposure bubble).
But an NHS worker could also be working on reception in a GP surgery who are not seeing patients face-to-face (like where I live)

Time to reduce the quarantine for kids..make it 5 days
As long as COVID knows that the incubation period must now be 1-5 days instead of the 1-14 days that it currently is believed to have.

There needs to be provision for frontline workers. No need for anyone who can do their job via zoom etc
Quite frankly the lack of testing is a disgrace- I spent substantial time with a patient last week, if I was an asymptotic +ve his surgery could be delayed or worse.
I’m appalled by the lack of testing.

@Pomegranatepompom

There needs to be provision for frontline workers. No need for anyone who can do their job via zoom etc Quite frankly the lack of testing is a disgrace- I spent substantial time with a patient last week, if I was an asymptotic +ve his surgery could be delayed or worse. I’m appalled by the lack of testing.

It's not just about the keyworkers children though is it? Who should take priority - a keyworkers child or a child who has GCSEs next year?