NHS Test & Trace have contacted me - need to take DS to school!

[SaintVal]

Apologies if this has been done to death but I have just been told by NHS test and trace to self isolate for ten days as someone I have been in contact with has tested positive! I have no idea who this is so can only assume it's someone who checked into the same restaurant as me last Thursday. So... how do I get my DS6 to school? Single parent. Nightmare!

I have deleted the app from my phone, no app, no message 😬

Sorry but I have had enough of being told what I can and can’t do, wether I can go out of not. I have had both vaccines, most the people I see have had both too. I don’t want the stress of being scared to go for a meal incase I get a message to isolate for 10 days, I have 2 disabled kids to look after and no one to help me so I would be a bit stuck if told to isolate.

I still have the app but I only use it to check in, I've always had the contact tracing switched off from the earliest stories on here of people being "pinged" because someone walked past their kitchen window or something.

DH and I don't have the ap. DH left his phone in his car and got pinged and told to self isolate. we just give our details if we eat out.

I reinstated the app last month so I could check in when out and about. That's all I have it for - to show I'm doing the right thing.

I got told to isolate but ignored it and carried on as normal. So shoot me.

If you can drive, does the school have a drop off bay for this purpose? Ours has a marked out space in car park where child can be dropped off to school staff but without the self-isolating person needing to leave the car.

The couple of places ive been lately said we all hav to check in regardless-dont see the point but maybe its a new rule

Personally I'd do the school run in the car, pull right up to the gate and stay in the car and watch DC go inside? Just don't leave your car?

@RichardMarxisinnocent - that's rubbish. That's exactly what check ins are for & how it works.

@PseudoBadger

It is now a legal requirement for all over 16 year olds to either scan the QR code or leave contact details at designated premises

Is it? I wasn't aware of this and one of my DC has recently turned 16. Can you link to gov legislation? Particularly for Scotland.

@Notstrongandstable

I can't believe people are pretending to scan the app or leaving false details just so they can go to the pub! Complete asshole behaviour

Yup. I agree.

Common sense and perspective here. Take your kid to school

@NotSorry

PP's are saying delete the app, but what do people do when they go to a restaurant (for example) and the restaurant is saying to check in with the NHS app (if they have deleted it)

My phone is too old to have the app. I just give my name and phone number in when I arrive at the restaurant.

And delete the stupid app. It's completely pointless and is just adding nonsense stress to you just like this situation you currently find yourself in. If you were ill then you would know it.

[quote luckylavender]@RichardMarxisinnocent - that's rubbish. That's exactly what check ins are for & how it works.[/quote]
It's not rubbish and it is how it works. It's all explained clearly if you click on about the app from inside the app and then how it works. I'll try to find a link.

Hopefully this works faq.covid19.nhs.uk/article/KA-01312/en-us?parentid=CAT-01033&rootid=

@Notstrongandstable

I can't believe people are pretending to scan the app or leaving false details just so they can go to the pub! Complete asshole behaviour

I dont go to pubs And there’s no way I am having my life curtailed because someone is 50 feet or more away has tested positive. I have obeyed the rules for over a year including 2 local lockdowns and I have had enough. All my friends and family are vaccinated, my kids take tests twice a week and I wear a mask in public Might make me an asshole but at least I’m not having to spend 10 days stuck in the house for no good reason

I give my name and phone number whenever I go somewhere which requires the app (there is always this alternative). And no, I don't give a false number .

You’re officially supposed to try and isolate from your family at home but that’s not particularly practical in most cases

I thought that was only if you have symptoms/actually have Covid yourself.

@HarebrightCedarmoon

You’re officially supposed to try and isolate from your family at home but that’s not particularly practical in most cases

I thought that was only if you have symptoms/actually have Covid yourself.

No, it’s also if you’re self isolating at home as a contact.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/self-isolation-and-treatment/if-youre-told-to-self-isolate-by-nhs-test-and-trace-or-the-covid-19-app/

Ok, we weren't told that by school when DDs had to self-isolate through contact at school. Though they stay in their bedrooms a lot anyway!

Ignore it. It's picking up people walking past you a few times in a supermarket, and people sitting in the garden next door etc.

@RichardMarxisinnocent - I know quite a few people who have been pinged after being in a pub or restaurant where someone tested positive. They were contacted just because they'd checked in at the same time. It's how Track & Trace works

They will have been pinged because Bluetooth picked up that they were close enough for long enough to consider them a close contact. The app is not Test and Trace, they are separate

The thing is, I panicked when I got the alert and now the school know and won't let me do the runs - that's ok as DS's Dad will cover it.

If I have genuinely been exposed to Covid then it makes absolute sense for me to self isolate. However, what I didn't know, until I'd started this thread, was how easily you could be alerted via Bluetooth simply by people being in the same block of flats, walking by you outside or in a car traffic jam etc.

The whole system is massively flawed; people deleting the app; switching it off; giving false names at check in - what is the bloody point of it existing?

My friend works for a large retailer and she told me they've been told to turn it off otherwise they'd be forever self-isolating and have no staff in the shop!

@SirSamuelVimes

Fuck it, at this point I'd just do the school run but stay back from other people.

Yeah yeah, I'm a terrible person, third wave, vulnerable people, variants... But vaccines are working, hospital admissions are flat and if we aim for zero cases / transmission we will be doing this shit for the next five years or more.

I totally agree, just carry on doing the school run but avoid stopping and chatting. The self isolation rules are not fit for purpose if they let other members of the household continue mixing etc anyway.