Parents of primary aged children - are you doing regular LFT’s?

[Shibees]

I’m a little unsure on what we are supposed to be doing as parents of a primary aged child.

School sent a letter regarding return to school with the usual info on drop off times, mask wearing etc and just a short sentence at the bottom saying that we are able to order LFT’s online.

No guidance or information on whether we have to do these. Other mums at the school are not doing them so I just wondered if others are?

@dreamingbohemian

Ok to reiterate for everyone saying I can get tests at home.

There is nowhere to pick up tests anywhere near me (according to the gov.uk website)

If I go to the official website to get tests sent to me at home, the instructions say I am not eligible to request them because I work at a university. But my university says I am not eligible to get them because I am working from home.

So again: for me to test twice a week means going to the actual test site which is at least 30 minutes away.

I don't think it's selfish and lazy to not spend hours a week doing that in the absence of any symptoms or contacts. It also increases the likelihood of coming into contact with someone who does have covid (we would have to take public transport as well).

So click on the bit that says you're requesting them because you have a child in school instead of you work in education. And if you're picking up 14 each go that would cover you for 7 weeks or even 14 if you did one a week.

If you don't want to do them because you don't want to do them fine, but the "oh I would if I could but it's just so hard for me" is pointless when you can tick to say you're a parent and get them sent without proof

@SleepingStandingUp that's not what the problem is, saying I work in education. The website says:

You cannot use this service if you go to university or a higher education college, or work in one.

So yes I would have to outright lie on a government website, I know everyone will say 'who cares' but it does make me nervous (having had some scary experiences with the Home Office over immigration stuff).

Do people really think it's okay to break the rules for this? If so I might go ahead then.

They should really take out that rule about universities though.

@dreamingbohemian honestly you’re entitled to them as a parent and it makes sense to order them if you can’t access them through work. If it reassures you, they don’t even ask for any details at all if you collect from a test centre they just hand them over. You’ll be fine.

I just get through to this page? Honestly I'd say no on the logic you're getting them for your children

My husband teaches at a university (completely remotely atm).

He just walked into the carpark centre and asked for some as a parent and was given 2 packs of 7. Noone checked if he worked for a uni (I've only just read that here) or wrote his name down or anything - just handed out!

(It kind of reminded me of the rush for argos catalogues when they were released and the big piles of them!)

Okay thank you both : ) I'll go ahead then.

No, I'm not. I'm concerned about false positives as I can't afford to keep taking time off work.

No, it's optional, so we're not. I get jabbed tomorrow though!

As a family of 5 I was given 4 boxes of 7 tests to take home last week. Was passing by one of the hubs so popped in to collect. They dont ask for any details.

Family of 4 - 1 in primary, 1 in secondary. I’ve picked up 2 packs of LFTs when passing a pick up centre. No questions asked, just handed 2 packs. We’ve done them twice now.
The first test was quite an operation with mirrors, hand washing, nose blowing etc; the second time we felt like pro’s and it took us less than 5 mins (+ waiting time obv).
I’m happy to do this very regularly if it helps keeping staff safe and keeping schools open as I have found the last lockdown very hard.

I'm not doing them personally but my 2 older dc have to do them twice a week for secondary school. DH works out the home and does them now and again but not twice a week.

No. Dh and I have both had covid and I have had my first vaccination. Chances of a false positive are therefore higher than getting a true positive.

I am.

I am but not logged the results.
I work out of the home(with kids) so important (I only get them as I’m a parent though, not through my work)
Husband has done 1 but is not particularly motivated as wfh and doesn’t go anywhere

I’ve not picked any up. I can’t really see the point if I’m honest. The only way we could realistically catch covid is if the kids come home from
School with it in which case it’s already in school. If we worked out of the home or when we start going out to shop or socialise I’d start but for now I’m not. We’ve done lots to try and keep things as safe as possible for others and my kids already missed most of a term of school that over half their classes got to attend (including a decent number of kids with one key worker and one stay at home parent who could have managed home schooling a lot more easily than we did). I’d rather not risk the kids missing any more school due to a false positive (which seem to come up often enough that they are as common as real positives).

@Rainbowsandstorms

Me and my husband are. Unless people have a good reason not to do them I think it’s really selfish not to. In the absence of being able to test primary age children, it’s the only thing we have and if it helps reduce infection rates and keep people safe I fail to understand why people wouldn’t do them. For those where it isn’t practical to collect them others have provided the link you can use to order online. I hate that so many people aren’t bothering simply because it’s optional, it amazes me how selfish so many people actually are. Testing myself and my husband is of no benefit to us, as if we pick it up it’ll be via my daughter however if we can help to keep her classmates and teachers safe and well we’ll do it. I also completely fail to understand people refusing to do them because they aren’t that accurate. False positives are very rare and if tested at home a negative PCR test over rules it. False negatives are fairly common but they do also pick up positive cases that will otherwise be missed which could literally save lives. The only result that means anything is a positive, don’t assume a negative means you are negative and ensure you get a PCR test if you are showing symptoms. The more people who take some personal responsibility and test themselves the more chance we have of schools staying open and cases reducing and simply less people will die. There are still many clinically extremely vulnerable parents being forced to send their children to school, who still only have partial protection from one vaccination or who have conditions where the vaccinations don’t provide much protection. Please all of you who simply can’t be bothered please think about these parents, we all need to play our part. Once you’ve done it a few times it becomes much quicker and easier.

I completely agree and couldn't say it better than this.

Yes dh and I are doing the tests twice weekly. I order them online and they've arrived in less than 24 hours both times. I also work in a university and have not had any problems ordering them online.

Yeah I don't drive so got mine sent in the post. It's a small thing to do to help stop this virus spreading.

We’ve been doing it. We got our tests by post as nearest collection place
was 30 miles away. It’s pretty straightforward.

Yep I'm testing every Sunday and Thursday. Mainly because I train face-to-face with my PT and it just gives me that little bit of peace of mind that I'm not spreading the virus anywhere (I am also vaccinated)

No we aren't doing it. I suppose if you don't mind having your kid and their whole class sent home for two weeks when there is nothing wrong with them then go for it. My kids have only just settled back in and I will do anything to stop them being messed around even more as they have suffered enough.

@dividedwefall

No we aren't doing it. I suppose if you don't mind having your kid and their whole class sent home for two weeks when there is nothing wrong with them then go for it. My kids have only just settled back in and I will do anything to stop them being messed around even more as they have suffered enough.

This is precisely why we are doing it! To stop the spread! A positive LFT on a parent will not cause the whole class to be sent home. What it will mean is that the parents and the household will isolate whilst a confirmatory PCR test us taken. If the PCR is negative then the child goes back to school. If it's positive then the household continues isolation, but the whole class is not sent home unless the child themselves tests positive, which would have only been taken if the child was symptomatic. The purpose of the testing is to try to stop the spread

You are confusing the LFTs for households of primary school children with the LFTs for secondary school children that were taken at school. LFTs for parents cannot cause the whole class to be sent home!

Yes. Twice week. I ordered and got them delivered.

I saw the government advertising (on facebook) and have also been informed by my children's school. It is very clear that all parents of school age kids are being asked to do this.

@BlackLambAndGreyFalcoln fair enough. I thought the home LFTs were to test the children at home so that is better than I feared.

We're not because DH and I don't go anywhere. We both work from home, and get shopping delivered. I meet the odd person for a walk, but always outside. I figure we can't spread it anywhere if we did get it.

If I end up going back into the office I'll start doing them.