Quick question :if I need to test, am I required to keep DC off school?

[stirling]

Or do I wait for results and then if positive keep them off?
Thanks.

Keep them
Off

You all need to self isolate until you get the results

Apologies if it's already been asked /addressed. Search not working well.

🤦🏼‍♀️

Until you know. Everyone isolates. And if you're positive, they isolate for 14 days from your first day of symptoms too

Thank you both!
Will do

Ps. No question is a stupid question. Hope you get the all clear

You all isolate. If positive, you all continue isolating, if negative, you can all come out of isolation.
This concerns me that after how many months people still are not clear of the rules.

You're not the only parent knowing this. My school and my child's school both had a child collected in the middle of the day when a parent got a positive result and thought that it was only then that they needed to have their family isolate for.

If you've got symptoms then you all need to isolate. If you've been asked to test for any other reason then just you isolate until results

@ShinyGreenElephant
If the test is for a genuine reason other than because of symptoms nobody has to isolate in most cases (for example ONS surveillance tests or weekly tests in care home staff). The only exception to this is tests prior to a planned hospital admission for which the requirements vary by trust and may include the whole family needing to isolate.

Yes we had a child at myschool collected mid morning because mum had tested positive after 4 days of symptoms 🙄

Thanks for asking OP to make sure. Teacher here and really appreciate you checking and not sending them in! Hope you feel better soon.

If you have symptoms then everyone in your household isolates til you get a -ve result.

If you don't have symptoms, and are testing for another reason (e.g. before an operation) then no.

@StatisticalSense oh right, I thought if you were testing you always had to isolate. I stand corrected!

If someone in your household has reason to test then you all isolate until you get the result.

Thanks all.
The silly thing is that you can only get a test if you have one of the 3 symptoms which I don't have. I'm not impressed because friends I've spoken to in the past 4 weeks who have had covid in their families have said the same thing to me :their symptoms were more head cold than anything else
No fever, no persistent cough, no loss of taste.
Argh.

Symptoms were a mixture of :'felt achey, felt all bunged up, it was like having tonsillitis...

I feel like I have a head cold and a bit shivery but no temp. I'll keep kids off anyway.

If you have symptoms then the whole household isolates until the test comes back negative.

The vast majority of cases it's keep them off

HOWEVER there are a minority of people who have been told to be tested without symptoms and been told to carry on working till results are back - in that case send them to school (for example my local hospital had an outbreak ALL staff who had been in that hospital in the past 5 days had to be tested - they were told to work unless symptomatic or test positive, I wouldn't expect their families to stay home

@stirling

Thanks all. The silly thing is that you can only get a test if you have one of the 3 symptoms which I don't have. I'm not impressed because friends I've spoken to in the past 4 weeks who have had covid in their families have said the same thing to me :their symptoms were more head cold than anything else No fever, no persistent cough, no loss of taste. Argh.

Symptoms were a mixture of :'felt achey, felt all bunged up, it was like having tonsillitis...

So you don't actually have symptoms that warrant a test? I'm confused. If you don't have symptoms you don't need to isolate and child can go to school.

Oh I see, this is a hypothetical 'what if' question.

Uh... you don't have symptoms then! No need to isolate your kids Just stay home if you have a cold!

My symptoms mirror those of friends who have tested positive for covid. Though these are NOT the classic "3 symptoms". It would be really irresponsible of me not to test, yet getting one is going to be impossible unless I lie.

So how did the other two families get tested without the classic symptoms? One had a test for some reason via work... The other family paid privately.

The main thing I understand is that if you, or children have cold like symptoms only - then don't test.
This is crazy!

One of the years in my sons school had to self isolate as a girl in the class had a test on the weekend but because she ‘felt better’ the parents sent her into school.... on the Tuesday afternoon the test came back positive so the whole of year 2 have to stay off for 2 weeks including staff.