This is news to me! Households with children in primary and secondary are expected to perform two lateral flow tests at home each week ...

[justanotherneighinparadise]

is this common knowledge? I honestly had no idea. I knew secondary schools were going to do on site testing and that’s all I had heard.

My child’s primary mentioned yesterday to one of the parents that the expectation is that all the parents should be testing weekly and now we have literature from the local council saying the same. How has this completely passed me by?!!!

@Comeonmommy

Can I ask why people are not willing to do the home testing? My understanding is that a lot of kids are asymptomatic so the testing would potentially stop a child spreading it round the school. The test doesn't hurt and takes 15 minutes to do but could save more children and their families from catching it - do I have it wrong?

because it's very unpleasant. I'm emetophobic and am afraid of making myself gag. I would get tested if I had to as a one off but twice week, no way.

We have been told we CAN go and get them IF WE WANT.

I genuinely cannot add another shitting task to my to do list right now. Its a no from me.

It has been mentioned on the news most days last week, ahead of the school return. Ability to order LFT for school parents was opened 1 March so there was quite a bit of coverage I saw on BBC News 24 ahead of this, and in the newspaper (I read the Times, so not sure how well it was covered elsewhere).

Our DC's school also sent emails with letters from our local authority encouraging parents to go and collect LFT in order to participate. However, they made clear it is not mandatory and I know most parents here couldn't be bothered. I ordered a box of LFT yesterday for home delivery via the gov website and it's already arrived!

We are incredibly low risk so I’m not going to rush out and start getting the kits unless it’s compulsory
The rest of the class and the teacher may not be incredibly low risk though.
If only they had vaccinated the staff, then at least parental non cooperation would only affect the children.

I had heard about this on here, but NOTHING from the school about it.

@justanotherneighinparadise

My excuse is I have been some entrenched in home schooling that I just haven’t been able to keep up with all the information out there currently. Okay it’s voluntary is it? That’s something at least. We are incredibly low risk so I’m not going to rush out and start getting the kits unless it’s compulsory.

It's not about you being low risk, it's about the chance that one or a number of families have asymptomatic covid and are spreading it to other kids or teachers. You're also not.depriving another family of anything, they have a lot of kits and you are the target audience.

You can get them delivered to your door here www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests

We have declined to do it after ALOT of research and deliberation. Main reason is because the asymptomatic transmission is still not fully understood and (my take on it) is that if my daughter is asymptomatic but is wearing a mask all day now at school there would be very low chance she would spread it. Both myself and her dad are vaccinated and we are adhering to all the lockdown rules. And ('snowflake comments incoming') my daughter is 12, is already nervous enough about returning to school and lets be honest, I wouldnt let her go to a hospital appointment or doctors appointment alone so Im not happy about her going through the testing (at school) without me.

Our school have sent info out on it, but not said it’s compulsory. Our family doesn’t want to do them, so we are not, most people I know aren’t.

Mostly because of what Pommedeterre said tbh- I’m not adding anything else to my ridiculous to do list that is optional.

We'll probably do them as a household if/when the teens get sent home for another round of SI after someone in their class tests positive.

My secondary dc has to do them but not heard the same from the primary school. After testing my youngest (6 with sensory issues) a few months ago theres no way he will let me come near him again with another nasal swab, ill test him with symptoms but not without, that's not a battle I willing to have regularly.

Unless there is a medical reason not to do the tests then I think it is incredibly selfish to not do the tests. Yes they are uncomfortable. But these poor teachers (and potentially vulnerable parents of other children) are having to go in unvaccinated. I can't understand why people wouldn't be willing to do something that takes 2 mins to do for the sake of the wider population. Selfish.

We're both doing them. Our primary has asked us to, as have the council, and if it makes the school safer and leads to less closures I'm happy to be inconvenienced for a the couple of minutes it takes to do it. All school staff are also doing it.

We had them delivered to home.

If everyone did this then way more asymptotic cases would be picked up and it would help stop the spread in schools. It's a no brainier for me.

My eldest will be doing them hes 14 he can do it himself and understands the benefits for doing it . My youngest is 6 with SEN he certainly couldn't and wouldn't test himself nor does he have a mature enough understanding to realise the the reasons to test in relation to wider society.

Studies in China and Florida have shown asymptomatic spread extremely unlikely though this seems to be largely ignored . I shall not be doing additional tests unless somebody shows symptoms and then I will do the responsible thing

I've just ordered a home testing kit. You only get 7 tests so that's not even a week's worth for us. Closest pick up centre is 20 miles away (in a smaller town than this one) so my choice is place an order twice a week or a 40 mile round trip once a fortnight. Fabulous.

There is no compulsion to test anyone, but obviously if you are able to then, as a tool alongside other measures, it will hopefully help in keeping rated down whilst schools and wider society opens up.

My dd1 and 2 were both worried about doing the tests for school (dd1 has anxiety induced vomiting and dd2...in a cosmic joke style ironic twist....is emetophobic!) - but they have done them, and feel happy with continuing to do the tests to try and protect vulnerable people and try to curtail any spread of infection.

@JaninaDuszejko

I've just ordered a home testing kit. You only get 7 tests so that's not even a week's worth for us. Closest pick up centre is 20 miles away (in a smaller town than this one) so my choice is place an order twice a week or a 40 mile round trip once a fortnight. Fabulous.

You are only encouraged to do it twice a week - how many of there are you?

Had no clue this was desirable/expected/possible/anything more than a vague Bojo suggestion with no action attached (as per).

I have kids in 3 schools, none have asked or suggested this.

Nor have either of the local authorities informed/suggested

Perfectly willing to if it is going to help

((shrugs))

@Nerdygirl

Studies in China and Florida have shown asymptomatic spread extremely unlikely though this seems to be largely ignored . I shall not be doing additional tests unless somebody shows symptoms and then I will do the responsible thing

Asymptomatic spread is rare, not presymptomatic. There's a difference.

The primary school sent us an email asking us to register as part of a trial a few weeks ago- I've not taken part as the LF tests are pretty useless.

No, not heard about it regarding primary schools, and our school has not said anything to parents at all. I think it's a very good idea but it hasn't been set up well. Why don't the school have all the tests and give each child some to bring home with them each week?

@Lubiluxe

Unless there is a medical reason not to do the tests then I think it is incredibly selfish to not do the tests. Yes they are uncomfortable. But these poor teachers (and potentially vulnerable parents of other children) are having to go in unvaccinated. I can't understand why people wouldn't be willing to do something that takes 2 mins to do for the sake of the wider population. Selfish.

Calling other people selfish is out of order. How am I selfish because I have kept my children off school for 7 months in total, lost income because of this (self emploed and classed as a keyworker too). Havent seen my dad for a year and have purchased medical grade face masks for my 12 year old to wear at school. If she has symptoms we would test and isolate. Its not "selfish" not to have them if youve done the research, looked at the efficacy of the tests along with the "evidence" of transmission from the Asymptomatic along with the use of other things such as mask use etc. Its personal choice, this is my right.

Lateral flow tests aren't useless, they are a useful part of community surveillance. For example in my workplace it picked up some asymptomatic staff and people could be tested to confirm and then isolated before infecting their vulnerable patients.

@palacegirl77 the irony of your post is hilarious. We've all made sacrifices. I haven't met my brand new niece yet, who is no longer brand new, but I do it to help keep everyone safe. Yes you've had to homeschool, like many others have had to and I wish the schools didn't shut. As a keyworker you could have sent your child to school. But this is beside the point.
I still think it is incredibly selfish not to test as I think it will pick out some asymptomatic cases thus keeping others safe. But carry on not testing, this will only prolong things even further.