Possibly daft question re schools

[8catsisnotunreasonable]

Hi, DGSs are at school with a child in Y1. Y1 child has sibling in Y2 who has tested positive for CV. Y2 bubble have been sent home to isolate. Shouldn't Y1 bubble also be sent home as they were in close contact with the Y1 sibling? I've looked at various government/council websites for the information but it doesn't seem very clear? Apparently Y2 teacher is off too... Given the ages of the children I can't imagine SD has been brilliant. Can anyone definitively advise please?

No. The line has to be drawn somewhere, and so far it’s drawn at third-hand contact. Without the sibling having symptoms it doesn’t make sense to isolate their contacts.

Official guidance is that the sibling should isolate but the Y1 class would only need to if that sibling later tested positive.

No, I’ve looked into this too. I personally think all the bubbles with family members in should pop to stop onward transmission.

Only if Yr1 sibling shows symptoms. There are no guarantees the Yr1 child will actually develop Covid, and they aren't in school anyway.

It's contacts, not contacts of contacts.

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss that's what I thought too? I totally understand that it has to stop somewhere but the siblings are obviously in close contact and Y1 child may be asymptomatic and transmitting the virus. Surely popping the Y1 bubble would limit the risk of further transmissions?

Surely popping the Y1 bubble would limit the risk of further transmissions?

It might, but equally the yr1 sibling may not get the virus and then you've made an entire year group miss 2 weeks of school just in case.

Thanks everyone 👍🏼 I'm not convinced that the system is right but there's obviously a consensus that Y1 doesn't need to isolate under the rules 👍🏼

What if they also had siblings in y3 and y5. Four year groups isolate for two weeks. And then a relative of a y5 child has a positive test, and that child also has a sibling in y1. That’s a month off school for y1 and y5 for third hand cases.

So you send the Yr1 class home. In 2.5 weeks time, another Yr1 child's mother test positive... Send them home again? 3 weeks later, its the teachers partner...

It could get never ending. A lot of families could struggle financially with that. It's the balancing act between transmission and reality.

I totally understand what you're saying @ProfessorInkling, there's a huge knock on effect ☹️I'm wondering what will happen next at the school, given Y2 teacher and Y2 child have tested positive within 14 days I'm fairly sure that they step up the classification to being an outbreak? Watch and wait I guess...☹️

I know of a class which spent a day in the presence of what turned out to be a positive case. The whole class isolated for two weeks (as they should) but not one of them developed the virus and everything has been back to normal for weeks now. Too much fear surrounding the virus imo.

@musicalfrog there has been similar at our school. Y5 teacher tested positive after working with what they thought was a cold, then lost sense of smell and tested positive. Y5 due back on Monday but as yet so cases from the class.

@usernotfound0000 fingers crossed for you 🤞