Uni students coming home for lockdown

[Chocolatecake12]

As title says..... my ds is saying he wants to come home. His girlfriend came home yesterday, (different uni) and another friend came home today.
Out of his flat mates (Halls) only one out of 5 is going home.
I’m in two minds - id love him to come home, I miss him etc but I also feel he should stay until Christmas as government are advising.
He currently has two online lectures and two face to face. One if those is practical hands on.
He hadn’t had any advice yet from the university.

What are people’s thoughts? I’m not sure I’m Capable of seeing Things clearly right now!

Hearing from several young people at different unis, including my nephew, it seems quite a lot are going home every weekend.

@Goingdooolally think that's all we can do. Make the decisions we think are best for our families. Just call me Cummings 😊

I work with someone who's DC came back from university when it all started kicking off in early October. Child brought C-19 home with them. Colleague has been off sick for nearly three weeks. I get it's tough for them stuck at uni in these circumstances, but they really need to stay put for now if at all possible

We had the opposite. Dd came home for the weekend for a friend's birthday. I got a positive test - picked up before she came home, but didn't know as I didn't have the big 3 testable symptoms. I got tested due to hospital admission - seemed the symptoms I had that led to hospital admission were being caused by covid.

So she got stuck here at home self isolating for a fortnight.

I'm still not back at work almost 4 weeks later (though one week was half term) - seeing the GP at end of week to see if I am well enough to return.

Due to the timings though this post now makes me wonder if my colleagues might be thinking the same.

I know a nurse in a council nursing home who tested positive every week for 9 weeks after feeling better and was unable to return to work for nearly 3 months

That's daft surely! Why did the employer insist in this when it's been reported that the chance of being contagious after 10-14 days is very unlikely. There wouldn't be enough live c]virus remaining at that point.

I teach but currently off with covid. I tested positive just over 3 weeks ago, had symptoms before that. I won't be re tested before I return to work. I could have gone back on day 11 after symptoms started officially, with no test. As it is I can't due to complications, but I've not been stuck in the house the whole time isolating as don't need to.

@Aragog

I know a nurse in a council nursing home who tested positive every week for 9 weeks after feeling better and was unable to return to work for nearly 3 months

That's daft surely! Why did the employer insist in this when it's been reported that the chance of being contagious after 10-14 days is very unlikely. There wouldn't be enough live c]virus remaining at that point.

I teach but currently off with covid. I tested positive just over 3 weeks ago, had symptoms before that. I won't be re tested before I return to work. I could have gone back on day 11 after symptoms started officially, with no test. As it is I can't due to complications, but I've not been stuck in the house the whole time isolating as don't need to.

I don’t make the rules for Local Authority Nursing Homes and this was April/May so the virus was still very new to us so I can understand why they might have been erring on the side of caution and a blanket rule that no one who had a positive Covid test could attend a nursing home for duty. She was paid and the home remained staff so no harm was done.

Anyway, in other news, here is the government letter I received today through work.

I think it will depend on your DS's situation. How is he feel at the moment? Why he want to come home? Just because his girlfriend is home or something else? Is he happy at Uni?

My DS is rather to be lockdown with his friends at Uni, I think he has already had enough after staying with us for half year. All his lessons are online from the start of the term, but he has more social life in Uni, even he doesn't go to any party, he can still go out for a walk with friend, cooking with his flat mates etc.

The 18 and 19 year olds in my family who were due to go away for university this year all decided to go to their nearest university and commute or take a gap year and work as it seemed obvious that living in Halls was never going to work and there would be no social side. They are all doing well with their jobs or work and feel they made the right decision.

In terms of the nursing home, I work in one and the procedures in place are there to keep people as safe as possible in as quick a time frame as possible. A home can’t be declared “Covid free” by their LA after an outbreak until all staff and residents have tested negative through whole home testing and, yes, when we had an outbreak, staff couldn’t return to work without a negative Covid test. It’s a nightmare when it gets into a home and your residents (and some colleagues ) are dying and there’s nothing you can do to prevent it. We had staff who tested positive for more than 14 days and they also had to stay off on full pay. Maybe the chance of passing on the virus is low but the priority was safety and also lab staff don’t know Jane Smith isn’t newly diagnosed with Covid (despite first testing positive 3 weeks ago), the lab test results get passed to the Infection Control Lead who then passes on info to the Care Home Manager but it’s not up to Managers to make decisions when you have an outbreak, it’s Public Health and the LA that call the shots. So if they say “no one can set foot on the premises without a negative test” then that’s what has to happen.

Regardless of guidelines mental health MUST come first. I would want my children back home with me.

@ProudAuntie76 nearest Uni that does my DD's course is 2 hours away. Commuting is not a choice that everyone has. And no jobs here so would have been a year at home doing nothing.
Testing was the answer. Lots and lots of testing. But only a few Unis have done this.

The 18 and 19 year olds in my family who were due to go away for university this year all decided to go to their nearest university and commute or take a gap year and work as it seemed obvious that living in Halls was never going to work and there would be no social side.

Dd lost her place at our local university due to the exam debacle.she took up her insurance place which is 1.5 hours way. She didn't get into university halls, so we put her in private halls. That's had all sorts of issues though she is settled currently. By the time the exam stuff was sorted she had already accepted insurance, as at the time we just couldn't risk her losing everything.

No point in gap year unless it was already arranged.
Not all courses allowed them to defer last minute and there are basically no jobs locally and most that students tend to get were being lost or furloughed.
No chance of travelling for gap year either.
Only person we know who has done it is DD's best friend who already had an au pair job set up in Spain - she's there now but with no option to come home and see anyone, or anyone visit her, for the foreseeable future. She's liking her work but gets homesick at the idea of not being able to see anyone, and has had to cancel her Christmas with her parents.

Quite a few of my students are coming home- I think the messages around not knowing if lockdown will finish on Dec 2nd and therefore if students will be able to come home at Christmas are non-existent or muddled, so many have decided to make the jump now. This is very bad news for spread- as there's still a lot of hotspots and asymptomatic students around, but it's probably sensible and what I would do if I were a student or a parent in this situation.

I can completely understand why these young people want to come home, because there does seem to be some uncertainty about whether the lockdown will end or not on the 2nd of December.

I do worry though, that this could cause a massive increase in spread, with people travelling all over the country from higher risk areas and their parents still going to work and siblings still going to school. Quite often these young people are asymptomatic.

I’m not sure what the answer is? Maybe if they get a lift home at the parent should isolate? Or they should get tested before being taken home?

Interestingly, someone in the same student flat as DS was planning to go home but got a 'just in case' test before their planned departure date.

Asymptomatic, but I suspect there may be some additional testing around the uni to make it possible.

Positive test. All now isolating. In many ways it's the best scenario - positive case remains with young fit students for lockdown, not going home to older parents or travelling to an area with lower incidence - but it shows exactly what will be happening all over with students going home without the capacity to be tested.

@cantkeepawayforever

Interestingly, someone in the same student flat as DS was planning to go home but got a 'just in case' test before their planned departure date.

Asymptomatic, but I suspect there may be some additional testing around the uni to make it possible.

Positive test. All now isolating. In many ways it's the best scenario - positive case remains with young fit students for lockdown, not going home to older parents or travelling to an area with lower incidence - but it shows exactly what will be happening all over with students going home without the capacity to be tested.

Students should have been tested on arrival to stop covid being taken into the Unis in the first place. They should be testing before they go home for Christmas and then testing again upon their return to Uni in January (if they do). It's the only way when there are hundreds of thousands of people moving around the country. Either test them on each movement or just accept that they stay at home to do online learning. If we don't do something, it will spread through Unis again in January.

Students should have been tested on arrival to stop covid being taken into the Unis in the first place- do you mean before arrival? It was the asymptomatic carriers that infected our 'hot spot' in the first place, by arriving from other areas of the country. Once they were here, it was too late, as they spread it into households, or though social contact (not necessarily parties, even a cup of tea at another household). It's not spreading on campuses, that's what public health tell us and they locked down the households and not the campus as a consequence.

Students should have been tested on arrival to stop covid being taken into the Unis in the first place- do you mean before arrival? It was the asymptomatic carriers that infected our 'hot spot' in the first place, by arriving from other areas of the country. Once they were here, it was too late, as they spread it into households, or though social contact (not necessarily parties, even a cup of tea at another household). It's not spreading on campuses, that's what public health tell us and they locked down the households and not the campus as a consequence.

Crossposted from Higher Ed:

I'm so fucked off with dd2's situation.
She arrived in Liverpool (for a masters) promised 3 days a week face to face teaching. A few days later Liverpool was classified as Tier 3, and her teaching changed to 2 days online and Thursdays f2f. She is in a uni flat with one other post grad - she is following all restrictions, he is visiting other people.

The university have given no guidance, so her course leaders are just making up a plan. They want them in this Thursday for a f2f day. Then next week is reading week, and then they think the next 3 Thursdays all be online due to lockdown, and then the last two Thursdays of term will be back in person.

This just seems like worst possible combination! By making this Thursday face to face they are effectively blocking people from going home because of the guidance that students should stay in one place.
And by insisting on face to face sessions for the last two weeks of term they are making a safe "go home/see elderly relatives for Christmas" impossible.

Just seems stupid.

I'm off work till next Wednesday, so could get her tomorrow, but she's worried about missing Thursday's sessions. I could get her on Friday, but dh is telling me I'd be breaking the law! I don't want her doing a 4 hour train journey to come home and risk bringing home god knows what, and she wouldn't do that. She's suffered with mental health issues for years and I'm worried about her. Argh

He wants to come home to go and get frisky with his gf!! Tell him to stay put til after his practical

Also I think send the students home for xmas and make it all online until april. As otherwise it will spread like wildfire.

The government guidance has now been released saying that students should not return to their homes before 5th Nov and must not during the lockdown.

It's really tough, I don't know what I would advise if I had a dc in this situation.

I do fear that if a large number of students return to their families now, the same spread of virus that happened when they moved into halls will be taken back to their families.

Hi. My daughter can’t return to uni until September because of the government guidelines so she is living at home with me. I receive JSA so therefore get full housing and council tax benefit. Will my benefit be affected now she is at home. She gets the maximum maintenance loan but doesn’t have a part time job. Does anyone know? Thanks

Hi @Hun40xx this is a zombie thread, you'd be much better off starting a new one.
And no, I don't think your payments are affected.

@Hun40xx

Hi. My daughter can’t return to uni until September because of the government guidelines so she is living at home with me. I receive JSA so therefore get full housing and council tax benefit. Will my benefit be affected now she is at home. She gets the maximum maintenance loan but doesn’t have a part time job. Does anyone know? Thanks

DH is a benefits advisor, I've just asked him. As she's a non dependant adult living with you your benefits will be reduced. If you had a spare room (ie your DD's room while she was away) were you paying bedroom tax?

She'll be paying board I expect so hopefully that will cover any shortfall in your benefits. Best to contact them today to clarify everything.

Thanks for the reply

Thanks