Can kids in households with Covid still go to school?

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When schools were last open, did you realise DC in households with Covid could still go to school without the school knowing?

Will this still be the case come 8th March, does anyone know?

I realised this before Christmas, when the mother of a child in DS's class tested positive for covid. DS's friend was kept home for two days then sent back to school to mix with all the other DC.

I asked the school what happens if a parent gets covid and they said that Track and Trace only gets in contact with direct contacts of the person with Covid, so if a child hadn't had a positive test, then they won't be informed.

At the time, you could only ask for a test if you had symptoms. The child had no symptoms and parents not prepared to lie to get one. So they sent the child into school, and did not inform the school there was covid at home.

School said nothing they could do as they had not been informed a child had covid. But surely he could have just been symptomless and still have it!

Is this how it works elsewhere? Does Track and Trace not advise to keep DC home if parents have it? Why don't they tell the schools if there's a child in a house with covid? Can we get tests without having to have symptoms now?

I am in a higher risk group (but haven't yet been called for a vaccine).

I'm desperate for the DC to get back to normality but I feel like I'm being asked to risk my life to facilitate this.

@CKBJ

The rules are very clear if someone in your household has symptoms the whole household isolates and person with symptoms gets a test, if the test is positive the whole household continues to isolate for 10 days (or whatever the rule is at the time, as it was 14 days). There is no exception for school children. They need to isolate as well. Assuming it’s not the child who has symptoms, school don’t need to do anything, only if the child goes on to get symptoms do school need to act and close down a bubble/isolate close contacts.

No wonder cases rocket when simple instructions can’t be followed. It should become a criminal offence to not follow the above.

It is a criminal offence.

We had a coughing child in school with a fever. Called parent to ask them to collect him. They wouldn't. He was in school for most of the day, in an isolation room. Asked them to keep him home and test him.
They sent him back the next day. Still coughing and still feverish. Asked them to collect him. Rinse and repeat.
A few days later we had to send the year group home because someone else tested positive. We don't know whether there was a connection.
Some parents don't know the rules. Some don't care. Some don't believe.

Yes, the rules are very clear - if a member of your household (or bubble) tests positive, then the whole household/bubble must isolate. T & T would make this very clear.

T&T only informs direct contacts of those who have tested positive (and even that is pretty hit & miss tbh). People are expected to take personal responsibility for isolating when they have been told to do so.

The problem is that many people are selfish and irresponsible. Any system that relies on a degree of personal responsibility will obviously entail some risk, because some people just don't give a shit.

There's no track and trace in schools. I have had close contact (in the same bubble), colleagues test positive and have never been contacted by track and trace only my Head teacher.

It is quite a problem in schools and parents should be fined heavily for sending children in.

All people in a household with a case should be isolating.

I'll be honest I'm not sure what laws and guidance are but if it's law then schools absolutely should be acting and have every back up to be doing so.

I also heard of kids coming in whilst waiting for test results and then getting a positive.

It's just such selfish, irresponsible and unsociable behaviour.

But I can also see why some families have been left with no choice because the financial support packages needed to prevent other issues if they didn't make this choice have been awful.

Our school was really explicit that if someone was even being tested for Covid, the children weren't allowed in until a negative test had been received.

Mine had to stay home for a week when I was tested and I tested negative.

Some schools are really hot on this and some aren't making the rules clear at all.

Schools are not allowed to ask for proof of a negative test though.

This happened at our school a few times. The school emails got more annoyed with each one sent!

My country had a covid flare and one of the three positive people was at high school. They have been whisked off to quarantine and the city was locked down while almost all pupils at that school - about a thousand - were tested. I can't even begin to imagine the outrage if a child was sent to school from a household with covid - though they'd probably be in quarantine so couldn't do it anyway.

Can't quite believe you are shocked by this - of course it's been happening. Teachers have been saying this all along. Unfortunately an email won't solve if - people know the rules and they choose to ignore them.

The rules are extremely clear, people just choose to break them and there's little a school can do to reinforce. The school don't need to send a reminder that a confirmed case of covid in a household means everyone has to self isolate they will operate on the basis that everyone follows the law. T&T don't need to specifically point out the household all need to self isolate- it's a given.

Unfortunately, it doesn't matter what policies, procedures and laws there are in place, some people will think themselves more important and do what they want anyway.

my concern was more at the school's lack of concern! I would hope they would want to encourage parents to tell the school if there's covid at home, not shrug and say, effectively, oh well if T&T haven't told is, it's beyond our responsibility

What is it you think schools can do? This is why I keep saying it needs to become 'punishable' by a massive fine if it is discovered a family has knowingly done this. It is not fair to every family that is risking their jobs and who knows what else to do the right thing by keeping their children off and nor is it fair to school staff and all families who have to be in contact with said child. Unfortunately, the prevailing wind is that schools should take all children, all of the time, regardless and that teachers are just moaning and stupid.

I’m shocked 😳
If anyone in your home tests positive for covid the WHOLE family has to self isolate for such and such days regardless if they have no symptoms after living like this for nearly a year some people just plain stupid (I’m sorry it’s common sense )

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

Unfortunately, it doesn't matter what policies, procedures and laws there are in place, some people will think themselves more important and do what they want anyway.

So why doesn't track and trace inform the schools then? Why do they leave it to the parents?

We had parents forward us their child’s Covid test result (following our insistence their child had a test due to symptoms and was not coming back into school until this had been done) and they had simply changed the word positive to negative, but left the rest of the email unchanged.
Most parents know exactly what they are doing.

So why doesn't track and trace inform the schools then? Why do they leave it to the parents?
Probably because they assume people won't lie. The system is predicated on everyone doing the right thing. They don't.

This happened a lot here as well. School was sending out emails on a weekly basis about staying at home if anyone in the house had symptoms and was awaiting a test/result or had a positive case at home or was a contact of a positive case, but still they were having children sent in because people apparently didn't know/understand the rules.
Honestly if this was dealt with alone (but i've no idea how it would be possible to do so) it could have a potentially huge positive impact on cases within schools.
Same with a child who is unwell on a weekend (cough/temperature) not being tested but returned back to school on Monday or Tuesday when they are 'feeling better' without having ever been tested.

I’m a bit confused by the OP.
The rules on this are perfectly clear... if anyone in your household has symptoms of Covid, you must stay at home while they get a test.
If the test is negative and the rest of the household have no symptoms, they no longer have to isolate. If the test is positive, the whole household must isolate.
Obviously the people at your school are deliberately ignoring the rules. Track and trace won’t inform the schools as they will expect people to follow the clear rules (as I imagine most people do).

Also test and trace deal with tracing the contacts of the positive case (in this scenario, the parent) not the contact of the contact (the child).
They inform the parent who has Covid that the entire household must isolate and expect that to be adhered to.
If they started informing contacts of contacts their job would increase hugely.

It also applies to support and childcare bubbles as well and I don't see too many people understanding that. If someone in the bubble you have created between 2 households has symptoms or tests positive then even though they don't live in your 4 walls everyone in the 2 bubbles still needs to self isolate.
I know many people who have support/childcare bubbles with their parents but they never seem to be isolating both households just the one that has symptoms in it, despite having had close contact and no social distancing between the bubbles.

We’re in a support bubble with my mum (lives alone). She’s had symptoms once so we all isolated until she got her results.
Our household of 5 has had 7 separate incidences of having to test for symptoms so my mum has had to isolate 7 times while awaiting our results (thankfully all negative). Luckily she can work from home.

A positive test should mean telling schools and workplaces so a person should be made to hand over that data so they can be advised and large fines/criminal record if not.

The same should apply re fines etc for those that go out whilst waiting for test results or with a positive case in the household. I’ve seen posts about people going to the supermarket etc.

It's Test and Trace BTW

School will not be informed as it wasn't the child who tested positive. Its up to the parents to make sure the household isolates while waiting for a test result/on receipt of a positive test.

I found out from a friend that the parents of a child in my class had both tested positive a couple of weeks ago.
They didn't inform the school and still sent the child in (one is a key worker but both work from home)
My Father (in my support bubble) is now in hospital with covid.
I'm struggling to put in to words how angry I am with that family right now.