Current rules on isolation are counter-productive

[Warhertisuff]

I can't be the only one who isn't doing lateral flow tests or overlooking mild symptoms because of the consequences to, not just my family, but the school community.

For instance, last week my 9 year old son had a headache and sore throat... nothing serious and a good night's sleep meant he was well enough to go to school the following day, and he was fine in the days ahead. I didn't do a LFT or get him tested as, had he been positive, he, and his entire year group, would have missed the last 10 days of school, with all the activities and end of year shows etc.

I took the view that the possible damage caused by him having Covid - if he indeed did have it which he probably didn't - and passing to other children (and other adults who largely would have had the chance to have been vaccinated) was less than having the end of the school year ruined for everyone.

If the rules were similar for other illnesses, which I'd argue they can be now that vaccines have made the impact of Covid more like the flu, then more people would take common sense precautions about keeping their kids off school if unwell.

That should say shouldn't be LFTing him

@Warhertisuff

All this isolation is doing is delaying the spread, not stopping it, and society needs to get back to normal. The "Covid cat is out of the bag", with most areas well over 100 cases per 100,000, this will only increase come 19 July. We might as well let it spread now, rather than continue with this futile "whack a mole"'approach that's only going to delay spread, not stop it. If we let it spread, we'll likely end up with herd immunity much sooner - which is when the CEV will really be safer - than keeping it bubbling away for years, never containing it but never allowing population immunity.

So your app was just a thin veil for you to spread your crappy half arsed, let it rip agenda? You are an utterly selfish twat who clearly has no-one important to them is CEV.

Revaluate your OP and imagine your DC has a best friend that has a Dad that is living with heart failure, just like my DH. He's not old and infirm, he is a middle aged, fully employed, fully engaged father of two children of school age.

Your stupid actions by sending your symptomatic, untested child into school could easily put his his life at risk - your child could easily infect his child and they will bring it home.

But clearly in your adled mind, end of year school activities are more important.

Thanks a bunch.

Your stupid actions by sending your symptomatic, untested child into school could easily put his his life at risk - your child could easily infect his child and they will bring it home.

He didn't have any of the Covid symptoms needed to book a PCR test?

I've tested my teenager (minor cold symptoms) she was positive and we are all isolating. But she knows many, many people in her school who just don't bother testing because they and their families don't want to isolate. Its happening. Most people in the real world have lost their fear of Covid and just want to ignore it.

I have been told by test and trace they want the rest of the household to do PCR tests on day 8 of isolation. I asked if this was a legal requirement and they said no, it's just strongly recommended. But if we aren't symptomatic but one of us tests positive, that's a further 10 days of isolation for everyone. 20 days in total. I don't think I'm going to do it. The 10 days is bad enough. Realistically most people are not going to isolate any more.

Covid is out in the community in massive numbers, many more than official figures and on the whole we are living with it. Yes, some people can become very I'll, but there are numerous viruses where this is the case, not just Covid.

People need to get Covid in proportion now. Colds, chest infections, flu and Noro virus/gastric bugs have always and will always pose more of a threat to vulnerable people. Ovid joins that threat, it's not the only threat. Unlike other bugs we have a vaccine for Covid that will protect most people from serious harm. We cannot keep disrupting education and economic effort to keep Covid away from the vulnerable. It's impossible and impractical.

Every year when the temperature drops hospital admissions go up. A Noro outbreak in a nursing home can kill multiple people, a strep throat outbreak in a primary school can lay low lots of kids. Disease happens. We can't keep regrading Covid as exceptional.

Regardless the OP states she belives her child has the delta varient symptoms and thinks a positive result was likely enough that they would get a positive result and have to miss school. That was the reson she didnt test and the reason she therefor should have

Do you really think that it would be better for them to all get covid than miss out on the end of year activities at school? Really?

Okay so lots of people have been vaccinated, but that's not everyone, and they're not perfect.

If you ask any of those children whether they'd rather miss a few days of school or lose a parent/grandparent/sibling I'm sure you know what their answer would be - because that's the reality of the situation at the moment.

You absolutely can lft a primary child my 2 are 10 and 11.
My 15 year old has routinely lft tested all year.
But last month covid hit primary schools in area badly and local senior schools linked to my children primary with siblings who attend seniors.
So yes I have lft tested them twice a week the last few weeks.
My sons class have back to back 10 isolation so year 6 miss everything fun.

My eldest year group has collapsed but term ends next week and her close freind is postive.
We lft tested negative however when I tried book pcr test yesterday with 119 despite zoe saying official symptom of delta and close contact wouldn't let me book.
Will try website again today and say she has a temp and hope website works.
Keeping her home for next 10days but her term ends next week anyway and so many self isolating.
Me and husband in 40s and only had 1 jab.
Dare not see grandparent despite them both being double vaccinated.

I think you selfish since our primary had cases more parents been doing lft and some pcr unfortunately in sons bubble its spread to 9kids in 7days their parents and siblings.
Causing 61 kids and 4 staff to self isolate for 20 days!

@SilverGlitterBaubles

Well thanks OP, my DC has Covid and is ill due to parents with attitudes like yours. Parents sending their DC in has resulted in cases spreading like wildfire among DDs year group with a domino effect meaning siblings in other schools, teachers, parents and so many are impacted. So many are sick or isolating that every end of term event is cancelled anyway. We are now all isolating, missing work and other things planned for the next 10 days.

I'm sorry your child's been ill and the end of term events have been cancelled...

As for my son, he wasn't ill the next day, and have never kept my son off for feeling "under the weather" the night before. I can't imagine anyone does.

Say he had had Covid, had I got a test, the year group would have had to isolate and the end of the term activities would have been cancelled. The fact I didn't meant they weren't.... Were I a parent at your school, my actions would have helped end of term activities to proceed and minimise disruption!

It's not getting Covid that leads to the disruption, it's the testing for it and the required isolation for groups afterwards for an extended period.

You do realise that when he then passes it to a child of a responsible parent who tests their child the bubble will still close it’ll just potentially end up being for longer. Not to mention that there are still clinically vulnerable children in classrooms who are unvaccinated and clinically vulnerable parents such a blood cancer patients where even two vaccinations provide little protection.

IT's a PITA that your DC may miss the fun activities towards the end of the school year, but think about school leavers, most of whom have missed out on any significant marking of this rite of passage - no proms, leaving assemblies. You are being very selfish given the impact it could have on the whole school (parents and teachers too) potentially. It could just push the whole problem further down the line into school hols and impact on people's planned holidays withink the UK and abroad. YABU for sure.

You've technically done nothing wrong, you didn't need to test because he didn't have any of the main three symptoms.

Until the NHS/ government change the list of symptoms requiring testing, there will be people with covid carrying on as normal because they have different symptoms.

I know of people who aren't getting tests even when they have the main listed symptoms!

@LindaEllen

Do you really think that it would be better for them to all get covid than miss out on the end of year activities at school? Really?

Okay so lots of people have been vaccinated, but that's not everyone, and they're not perfect.

If you ask any of those children whether they'd rather miss a few days of school or lose a parent/grandparent/sibling I'm sure you know what their answer would be - because that's the reality of the situation at the moment.

Yes, I'd rather my child get back to normal and run the risk that they'll get Covid. Given Covid is here to stay, they're going to get it at some point anyway.... Even if we kept restrictions, he'd get it. It would just be delaying the inevitable.

Vaccinations have changed the game in terms of deaths and serious illness, so it's wrong to argue as though we were still in 2020.

As for the CEV who are immune-suppressed, I get their anxiety. Presumably they'd need to be very careful anyway, as it's not just Covid that can have serious implications... but dragging out the process of getting population immunity to Covid surely won't help them to get back to normal. Allowing numbers to rise sharply, and then fall (Covid won't be sustained at high levels long term if enough people get it) is better than a no-man's land of moderate to high levels of infection for the foreseeable future as we delay the inevitable by an ineffective whack-a-mole strategy.

@NewModelArmyMayhem18

IT's a PITA that your DC may miss the fun activities towards the end of the school year, but think about school leavers, most of whom have missed out on any significant marking of this rite of passage - no proms, leaving assemblies. You are being very selfish given the impact it could have on the whole school (parents and teachers too) potentially. It could just push the whole problem further down the line into school hols and impact on people's planned holidays withink the UK and abroad. YABU for sure.

Yes, but if he was positive and I got tested, then there's a 100% chance that the year group's end of term would be ruined.

If he was positive and I didn't test, then there's a chance he didn't spread it, or only spread it to others who also had mild or no symptoms (they're primary age after all so barely at risk), so some chance that the end of term would be ok.

I'd argue what I did helped ensure the end of term wasn't ruined... that's why I did it! I seems to have paid off anyway. Everything was fine last week!

A local secondary school send a year group home 2 weeks ago. 9 days later, and during their isolation, kids were still testing positive - there ended up being over 40 confirmed cases and possibly more.

Many teachers have not been double jabbed yet, so still have very little protection.

If you suspect your child could have Covid, you should deal with it appropriately to ensure more people are not affected 🙄.

I agree op.

In everyone’s haste to lay into the OP, they’re ignoring the important point she’s making.

It doesn’t matter if you think what she’s doing is ‘right’ or not. A large proportion of people are avoiding testing for all kinds of reasons. Some of them perfectly justified (threat of losing household income for example) some of them less so.

A more sensible and proportionate response would get more buy in and that would probably keep people safer.

@BlackLambAndGreyFalcon
Our local education authority has told us that for any of the following symptoms we must get a PCR test not a LFT: Head ache, Sore throat, Upset tummy or tummy ache, Fever, Cough, Fatigue, Aches and pains

I wonder if you’re in the same LEA as that’s what now being advised. The school I teach in had to close on Friday as they were told to by Public Health, due to the high numbers of positive cases over a short period of time. One of my colleagues has had both vaccines, has none of the “classic 3” Covid symptoms but has now tested positive and is quite unwell. Apart from 1 child, all others who’ve tested positive had symptoms in the list above, not the 3 always mentioned.

@Warhertisuff you are an utterly selfish individual to act the way you have and have put other children and staff, at risk.🤬

I’m not sure it would occur to me for a headache and sore throat they slept off. I’d just assume tiredness (I always am like that when I’m tired)

My brother tested positive on Wednesday (he'd been ill with a 'cold' for a few days before but hadn't told us)

My son was with him for about 15 minutes on Wednesday morning. Brother lives with my parents who'd been with him then with ds for a couple of hours on Wednesday afternoon

We're isolating ds. My parents are isolating.

My brother is at his girlfriend's who also tested positive. He's claiming that the "Covid people" rang him this morning and said he's allowed out on Tuesday.

Ds and my parents are in till Friday. Does this seem right? He's a selfish shit in general so not sure whether to believe him.

You followed the rules about testing. I don't see any need to offer it up for discussion.

I didn't do a LFT or get him tested as, had he been positive, he, and his entire year group, would have missed the last 10 days of school, with all the activities and end of year shows etc

And medically vulnerable adults and children could miss out on the rest of their lives if they died due to covid. You really are an extremely selfish person. Or aren't you stupid, just thick, to not realise the potential impact of your actions?

You've actually really annoyed me. If one of your DC or their close family members were clinically extremely vulnerable to covid, would you be happy with a parent acting the way you've acted?

I really can't understand your logic OP? If he had a negative PCR test then the bubble would have only had to self isolate until the negative result? I can't understand why you would send your child to school thinking they have Covid. I say this as my year 1 son is on his second lot of self isolation (pretty much back to back) and 9 kids in his class have now tested positive and looks like the school will be shutting completely. I hadn't even considered that one of those kids parents sent their child into school suspecting they had Covid. I agree bubbles need to end but they haven't ended yet.

Your argument is foolish and reckless. The more you argue, the more stupid you sound.