Be honest - what would you ACTUALLY do in this situation?

[ChampagneTastes]

Friends with a lovely, sensible mum at the primary school where DS goes. This morning she told me they'd got there early because her DS had been coughing all night. I gently suggested that perhaps she should get him tested and she said it was fine because her other son had had a cold the previous week. I pointed out that Covid seems to present differently all over the place and it might be worth checking. But I didn't do anything else. She's lovely, has been one of the more cautious parents at the school and is generally sensible but I can't help feeling she's got this one wrong and I don't know if I should do something. And if I should - what? The boy has gone into school today.

If a child is in OPs class and coughing

Again, why doesn’t the school notice this coughing and deal with it?

Honestly, I wouldn't doa anything.

Might ask my kid if the boy had been coughing a lot at school, and if he had did the teacher say anything?

But mainly to be nosey more than actually caring

MarshaBradyo
WTF are you talking about. Christ you are hard work. Id talk to the parent yes and depending on what the outcome was I may phone the school. I raised the vulnerability issue because there are vulnerable children and vulnerable teachers that deserve consideration whether your child is or not. A parent of a vulnerable child would obviously be more concerned and act accordingly. Ive obviously touched a nerve with you so you are either one of the idiots that send their kids into school with symptoms or someone who thinks its perfectly OK to do so and fuck anyone else. Either way not someone I can be arsed with

Again, why doesn’t the school notice this coughing and deal with it?
Maybe because by the time a teacher dealing with 30 kids in her class has noticed it he may have already infected someone else.

Honestly? I wouldn’t do anything.

@XiCi

MarshaBradyo WTF are you talking about. Christ you are hard work. Id talk to the parent yes and depending on what the outcome was I may phone the school. I raised the vulnerability issue because there are vulnerable children and vulnerable teachers that deserve consideration whether your child is or not. A parent of a vulnerable child would obviously be more concerned and act accordingly. Ive obviously touched a nerve with you so you are either one of the idiots that send their kids into school with symptoms or someone who thinks its perfectly OK to do so and fuck anyone else. Either way not someone I can be arsed with

Again, why doesn’t the school notice this coughing and deal with it?
Maybe because by the time a teacher dealing with 30 kids in her class has noticed it he may have already infected someone else.

And you sound.... actually cba

I was behind a parent at nursery who said their child had a bit of a cough and cold

Nursery let them stay and agreed to watch them

This would send some on here apoplectic or home. Or maybe they’d step in and Say Something

@skeggycaggy

Where I live the Covid rate is 0.0051%. I wouldn’t do anything.

Not getting the logic here at all, can you explain?

Tbh when my DC tested positive I didn’t think they had it because they only coughed at night on one occasion and I only heard it because I still use a monitor.

There is a child in their class who has an autoimmune condition and I kept my DC off and got the test for peace of mind despite being as sure as I could be it wasn’t COVID. It was.

I’m quite friendly with the office staff at my DC’s school so in your shoes I’d call them, ask them to check on that child explain why and ask for confidentiality.

I think people who call this curtain twitching don't, deep down, think more covid spreading is that bad. For whatever reason, they see blocking covid as not that important, so they can make it secondary to maintaining friendships and not being seen as interfering. Either that or they've got such a fear of officialdom for whatever reason that they instinctively see protecting other people from it (so not dobbing them in) as the only way of being a good person.

Lots (at least nowadays) wouldn't see reporting a drunk driver as 'curtain twitching', and yet both carelessly spreading covid and drunk driving can cost others their lives. I don't know why some people can't or won't see that link with covid.

@DontFaffAboutWills

I think people who call this curtain twitching don't, deep down, think more covid spreading is that bad. For whatever reason, they see blocking covid as not that important, so they can make it secondary to maintaining friendships and not being seen as interfering. Either that or they've got such a fear of officialdom for whatever reason that they instinctively see protecting other people from it (so not dobbing them in) as the only way of being a good person.

Lots (at least nowadays) wouldn't see reporting a drunk driver as 'curtain twitching', and yet both carelessly spreading covid and drunk driving can cost others their lives. I don't know why some people can't or won't see that link with covid.

No you are wrong. I take rules seriously and probably one of the most abiding, same as dc.

Also wrong about fear of officialdom.

I would say it’s down to the fact that processes are there which is good, and privacy is important. For the child too.

I’m not sure if people would call in reality or just easy to type on mn.

FlyingBurrito so 5.1 in 100,000 people have Covid in my area - although the population of my area is actually 90,000, so it’s even fewer actual people. In that context, the risk that a child who has a brother who had a cold last week doesn’t have the same virus as his family member but has Covid instead is vanishingly small.

@MarshaBradyo

I’m not sure if people would call in reality or just easy to type on mn.

Oh I'd definitely call in, but I'm pretty unpopular.. so have given up giving a fuck!

Hazey your version I could get as at least you are calling to say your own dc wasn’t coming in. Made sense.

If you genuinely cough all night you should be tested but "all night" usually means 10 minutes while you try to get to sleep. Only the boy's parent knows which it was.

Different situation but I have rang school in the past when I know 100% that a child has been poorly all weekend, vomiting with a sickness bug and I then see that poor pale faced child being dropped off at school Monday morning.
The school ask the child if they've been poorly, child tells the truth, parents get a call to collect.

I wouldn't be happy about the situation but I wouldn't grass to school.

I honestly wouldn't do anything.
Despite social distancing we have had a number of colds as a family I suspect brought home from school. One of my kids always ends up with a cough at night when she has a cold. Initially like dutiful citizens we tested her even though she struggled with the swabs, even though I knew it was a cold. 3 negative tests later and each one getting more distressing than the last. We've all been suffering again at end of last week. Same child got a night time cough but is fine in day - I'm not testing her this time...

No you are wrong. I take rules seriously and probably one of the most abiding, same as dc.

You're kind of illustrating my point though, as you talk about rule following rather than about wanting to avoid spreading covid for its own sake. What I'm getting at is that people who see it as curtain twitching are less likely to see avoiding spreading covid as something with its own inherent value - something that would be worth doing even if there wasn't a rule about isolation for coughing. They are less likely to see it as an intrinsically dangerous thing that should be avoided, so their personal assessment of what to do doesn't give as much weight to stopping that dangerous thing happening as it does to other things (in your case, protecting a child's privacy; in other people's cases, not getting someone into trouble with officialdom).

Whether or not someone is right to prioritise things in that way is a separate issue. I'm just observing that contacting the school in this situation is related to how much someone does or doesn't think stopping a bit more covid spread really matters - so how dangerous they think it is - not on whether they are a nice person or a nasty interfering curtain twitcher.

@jillandhersprite

I honestly wouldn't do anything. Despite social distancing we have had a number of colds as a family I suspect brought home from school. One of my kids always ends up with a cough at night when she has a cold. Initially like dutiful citizens we tested her even though she struggled with the swabs, even though I knew it was a cold. 3 negative tests later and each one getting more distressing than the last. We've all been suffering again at end of last week. Same child got a night time cough but is fine in day - I'm not testing her this time...

I don't really understand this - if there are symptoms, yes it could a cold....but just because the last 3 times it was a cold, doesn't mean this time it isn't Covid!

I wouldn't do anything. Loads of kids have colds now they're back at school. If the school are concerned, they'll ring the parent to come and collect their child.

@DontFaffAboutWills

No you are wrong. I take rules seriously and probably one of the most abiding, same as dc.

You're kind of illustrating my point though, as you talk about rule following rather than about wanting to avoid spreading covid for its own sake. What I'm getting at is that people who see it as curtain twitching are less likely to see avoiding spreading covid as something with its own inherent value - something that would be worth doing even if there wasn't a rule about isolation for coughing. They are less likely to see it as an intrinsically dangerous thing that should be avoided, so their personal assessment of what to do doesn't give as much weight to stopping that dangerous thing happening as it does to other things (in your case, protecting a child's privacy; in other people's cases, not getting someone into trouble with officialdom).

Whether or not someone is right to prioritise things in that way is a separate issue. I'm just observing that contacting the school in this situation is related to how much someone does or doesn't think stopping a bit more covid spread really matters - so how dangerous they think it is - not on whether they are a nice person or a nasty interfering curtain twitcher.

No I still disagree.

I follow the guidance as it makes sense to me.

It’s still a personal decision even if others think they are rebelling or doing more by not following or intervening and calling school.

I do recognise that privacy is key for me though, especially when it comes to children and to health issues of others. So child plus health is double whammy.

So no I wouldn’t pick up phone and say the name of another child.

If you were in position as I was, out of interest, where you were in line waiting at nursery or school and staff let a child attend with a ‘bit of cough and cold’ what would you have done?

I wasn’t hugely happy about it but the nursery has its procedure. Would you have gone home with your own dc? Or other

Really @C25?
But by the time they're sent home, they could have infected other children and staff!

@FunnyWonder

Here here.
Couldn’t have said it better myself!!

I would definitely have rang. I already have and named the child. I am CEV so why wouldn’t I!!!! Turns out the head told me she had lots of parents calling about said child already.