Does 4 year old DS legally have to isolate for 14 days?

[isolationhelp23]

DS is in year group that has closed due to positive case in a different class - told not to go in this morning. Letter from school states 'we have contacted close contacts separately', but due to sharing of toilet facilities we have to close. All children in reception need to self isolate for 14 days and return on 14th December.

DS was off school yesterday as he had a hospital appointment, so probably not been exposed and is also not in same class. Do we legally have to self isolate or can he go for a walk etc?

Legally he has to isolate

Thanks, is it 14 days from today (the date of the letter)

Only close contacts have to self-isolate.

It sounds like you haven’t been contacted as a close contact so don’t have to isolate at all?

It's 14 days from the child's symptoms so I'd clarify this with the school as 14th means they got symptoms yesterday and had a positive yesterday...... if symptom a came saturday/Sunday it would be different.

Anyone who has to isolate has to isolate from 14 days of the last contact, so 14th December would be that the child was in school yesterday which I find unbelievable that they would be in school on the Monday and have the test result by Tuesday morning.

Yes the letter states close contacts have been contacted.

But in the next paragraph it also says all children in the year need to isolate for 14 days...

I'll clarify with the school, thanks all

It is possible that that due to lunch/playtime arrangements in that individual school then the whole year group has been freely mixing so may have come into close contact with the positive child. (but why differentiate between close contacts and anyone else if that is the case).

Ifthe child developed symptoms yesterday and your child was not in school yesterday then your child definitely does not need to isolate. If however the child had symptoms on Sunday or Saturday and your child was in school Friday and would have b=come within 2 metres for more than 15 mins or less than 1m for a minute then they would need to isolate.

As schools are supposedly cintacting people on behalf of the local authority they really should get this right. The letters from my daughter's school have given enough detail to still remain anonymous but make it clear who needs to isolate.

I would interpret that as class closed , all kids stay home. Close contact isolate. I'd do walks if away from others

The letter says you need to self isolate so not sure why it’s unclear.

I wouldn’t assume because he was off yesterday he had no contact, the child could have spread it prior to the weekend.

If you can find out when symptoms started, then you go back 48 hours. So anything before that and the person doesn’t need to isolate. That’s what Test and Trace did with us.

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss if that's the case and it was spread last week then surely isolation should be less than the 14 days stated from today? That's what I'm not clear on.

I would imagine the exposure must relate to the Thursday/Friday of the week before.

DS was informed on a Sunday and initially the school stated isolate until Monday 7th - that was then changed to the correct Friday 4th

So yes I think he probably does as I suspect it will revert to the Thursday/Friday of the week before he was in contact as they should not have been in

Its sucks we are 2 more full days to go

It sounds to me like your school is closed so your DS cannot go in - but he is not a close contact and has not been told to self isolate.

My DS was contacted by school and told to self isolate as someone he was in near contact with had a positive test. We were sent a letter notifying him to self isolate and very specifically listing the date that he has to self isolate until. He cannot go out but the rest of the family are not required to self isolate.

Now the rest of his year group have also been sent home and school is online as too many staff are off sick. But those kids who don't have specific self isolate letters don't have to stay in.

So you should be free to take DS out for walks if he is not specifically told to self isolate.

For I’m the letter I think so, otherwise it might be a day off for a deep clean and then back in.

Personally I think asking everyone who shares toilet facilities to self isolate is overkill. We have had only had one positive case in my children’s primary and they sent a very limited number of close contacts home. I think (in Scotland ) there have to be two cases for public health to be involved and then a team convene to decide if classes have to shut.

I’d call the number in the official letter you have from school and challenge this. I did this abs the change their minds for a whole class because they were so in the wrong (abs a bit stupid).

My dd had to do 14 days isolation because of a positive case in another year, because the two classes share toilets facilities. They have separate playtimes. And before parents picked them up the children were specifically told they couldn’t go for walks. Test and trace contacted us to confirm they had to isolate too.

I woukd take it that your child is not a close contact so doesn’t have to isolate.

My child had to self isolate for 10 days when a child in his year group but not in any of his subjects sets was tested positive. School told him not self isolating carries fine of £1k. Also risks spreading virus. Keep them in it won't kill them.

Do they mean something like self-isolate for 14 days (from last contact) and return to school on 14 December when it re-opens.

Even though your child was off for a day, staff and other pupils were there, so they are taking the 14 day period as starting from then? Presumably same letter went to everyone.

Classes won’t be able to start until teachers are back. The way the weekend falls might just make it sensible to wait till the Monday. And even if the positive child was not in school last Monday, they could have transmitted it to others who were in on Monday so it’s just erring on the safe side.

@Iremembertheelderlykoreanlady

Legally he has to isolate

Based on what?

He's not been at school since Friday. More than 48 hrs since he might have had contact with the child.

School have chosen to close, he's not a close contact.

I can't see any reason he can't go for a walk.
He's no more/less likely to have COVID than any other child at any school

We are in the same position. Sons year group has had to close for 10 days but letter stated that some pupils would be contacted seperatly and they would be self isolating for 14 days. I don't know where the 10 days has come into it but he does not have to isolate but cannot attend school as his whole year group were sent home.