Anyone else worried about kids getting sent home to isolate just before going on holiday?

[goingslightlyinsane]

As title says- my Daughter is in secondary school due to break up next week for summer. We have a UK break booked (rented a house) straight after school finishes.

I feel like it's really closing in on us here- lots of kids already being sent home to isolate, daily emails from school of new cases. It's just rife!

I'm just wondering if this happened to you would you still go? Or do as your told and miss out on a very much needed holiday.

Although this hasn't happened (fingers crossed it doesn't) it could happen. Given that the isolation rules are changing on 19th August I would be inclined to just fu*k it and go anyway, even though this is rule breaking. (And do daily LF tests)

I'm just interested what others would do if this happened to them? As it will happen to some.

Honestly, I'd still go. We are going self-catering and quite rural, we would just get a supermarket delivery and avoid eating out/going to shops and have walks / beach etc avoiding people.

Mine isn't until the end of August but DS will be in holiday club beforehand so it's the same thing.

Bubbles were meant to end Monday but all news sites now saying 16 August for bubbles?

I just said they were isolating from a contact outside of school

@LittleRen

What reasons are you all giving? I am pulling mine out today three days early… do I tell them the truth or not??

Some excuses we’ve been given recently

Terrible hay fever

Bad toothache

Anxiety about rising rates

Sister/mother/cat has symptoms

Twisted ankle

Headache

Lost voice

Basically a load of stuff difficult to challenge or prove.

I couldnt say so in public of course, but I supported every parent holding their child back from school. The school closed and everyone on site went into self isolation, but those who had been kept home were unaffected

@Watapalava School teaching bubbles as a concept end from Monday and T&T are taking back contact tracing from schools. However contact isolation as a national legal requirement for everyone does not end until August 16th. They're two related but separate parts of the unlocking.

If you pulled out early at our school and were honest I think the school would be sympathetic but have to list it as unauthorised. I would be tempted to give another reason like sick bug if its for 3 days.

Re why first two weeks for holiday I originally booked that as we are doing the UK this year and that's normally the 2 weeks were it doesn't rain as much. I paid £35 to move it early on as DS seems to get every isolation going, strange the ASD kid who never goes near another child/never leaves house gets them and my very sociable other one always with friends and out never gets any. Though we did first two weeks last year and had good weather but the traffic on the way down was really horrendous esp as most were self-catering and Sat to Sat or Fri to Fri.

[quote BeenThruMoreThanALilBit]@OnTheBrink1

Covid has affected the whole world. I live in a city that was the world Covid hotspot for 3 months last year. I have lived through restrictions the likes of which the UK hasn’t experienced at any point during the pandemic. I haven’t been outside my city since January 2020. Your comment is embarrassingly insular.[/quote]
And yours is embarrassingly egotistic. You know nothing about the restrictions or sacrifices I’ve had to make this past year, just the same as I don’t know about you. I don’t presume to tell you how to deal with the next couple of months.
I wouldn’t dare to presume I know anything about any other countries and what people have faced there this last year. How dare you

@RedRiverShore

Aren't the school holidays about 6 weeks, why is everyone booked in the first 2 weeks, this has been going on for ages, surely people would have thought of this when they booked, people could have booked for early/mid August.

Because I booked it back last September when things looked good- larger family so I had to book really early? Would never have thought that we would still be here a year later

If you go late, you run the risk of not going back to school on time. Everyone can't go in the middle 2 weeks, plus it needs to conicide with when parents can get leave, which was probably booked months ago.

I'm supposed to be going to Guernsey in 2 weeks. DS is 15 and will have to be tested on arrival. I'm beside myself with worry. I will test him before we get on the ferry as him testing positive on arrival would be a nightmare as we would all have to isolate for 14 days, but we are only there for a week. It's so fucking stressful, I'm going to be a wreck even if we get there.

I suffer from anxiety anyway and holidays always make me anxious, add a pandemic to the mix and it's just shit. But we all need a holiday and this was postponed from last year.

@RedRiverShore

Aren't the school holidays about 6 weeks, why is everyone booked in the first 2 weeks, this has been going on for ages, surely people would have thought of this when they booked, people could have booked for early/mid August.

In our case, we're going to an outdoor youth sports event that has fixed dates. We have no control over the dates which have been the same for decades.

Our mid-August family holiday - self-catering in the UK - was booked in April 2020, about three weeks after a global pandemic was declared. I doubt we were alone in thinking it might not be an issue by August 2021.

@BeenThruMoreThanALilBit

The point of testing isn’t to spoil holiday plans. It’s to stop the spread of the virus and reduce the likelihood of further restrictions come autumn and winter.

The more we slow the spread now will later the next peak will be, and the more likely it will occur in autumn and winter when other factors are more likely to conspire to make matters worse! Unrestrained spread may ruin many people's summer, but it puts us in a better position to deal with the winter ahead.

DS1 (who is isolating) tells me that his school have told 6th form they can choose to go home today and do the online lessons if they wish.

They've had another batch of positive cases after the match on Sunday - particularly the boys who were in the crowd outside Wembley.

We got the text from school at 10 last night. Positive LFT in DD's school bubble.

They're taking a confirming PCR this morning, but if it comes back positive, that's it. She's Year 6, so it will mean yesterday was her last ever day of primary. She'll get no final assemblies, no prom, no shirt signings, no teacher gifts, nothing. Just the faff of getting her stuff back once school is over, a posted report and done.

It's made worse because it's a two class year, and the other class are still in, and doing all the final 'things' (and rightly - it helps no-one if they all miss out) but it means she'll get to listen to the chatter and excitement and see the pictures on social media. Her two closest friends are in the other class, so unless I stop her from speaking to them for the next week and a half completely, there's no way to avoid it.

She's coped brilliantly so far, but this was her final straw. She went completely to pieces last night when we told her. It's the fourth time she's had her school bubble go (the 2nd this half term!) and the impact is horrendous for her.

And, I know there are kids in her class whose families are booked to go away, and they're in bits. There's one lass who should be flying to Spain on the 22nd to see family they haven't seen for nearly two years. If it's a positive test, they can't go.

@ginnybag

We got the text from school at 10 last night. Positive LFT in DD's school bubble.

They're taking a confirming PCR this morning, but if it comes back positive, that's it. She's Year 6, so it will mean yesterday was her last ever day of primary. She'll get no final assemblies, no prom, no shirt signings, no teacher gifts, nothing. Just the faff of getting her stuff back once school is over, a posted report and done.

It's made worse because it's a two class year, and the other class are still in, and doing all the final 'things' (and rightly - it helps no-one if they all miss out) but it means she'll get to listen to the chatter and excitement and see the pictures on social media. Her two closest friends are in the other class, so unless I stop her from speaking to them for the next week and a half completely, there's no way to avoid it.

She's coped brilliantly so far, but this was her final straw. She went completely to pieces last night when we told her. It's the fourth time she's had her school bubble go (the 2nd this half term!) and the impact is horrendous for her.

And, I know there are kids in her class whose families are booked to go away, and they're in bits. There's one lass who should be flying to Spain on the 22nd to see family they haven't seen for nearly two years. If it's a positive test, they can't go.

And that's why people aren't testing.

I'm guessing the differential between confirmed and actual cases is larger than it's ever been as there's even more incentive to disengage from the process, and less guilt that they may pass
on Covid as it's so rampant and the vulnerable are vaccinated (who have chosen to be). The fact that cases are more focussed in the young where symptoms are likely to be less serious is probably also causing the gap to be wide.

Our year 6 went on a trip today.
Positive test confirmation came at 9am. Bus turned back. They were supposed to finish in a week. Lost the trip and their last week and all the fun they were going to do. No doubt some holidays affected too. This is not right.

@kookiekook

Honestly, I'd still go. We are going self-catering and quite rural, we would just get a supermarket delivery and avoid eating out/going to shops and have walks / beach etc avoiding people.

Mine isn't until the end of August but DS will be in holiday club beforehand so it's the same thing.

it won't be because isolation for fully vaccinated adults and under 18s ends in mid august

Taswama

The letter from school is a legal requirement. They act on behalf of Test and Trace. Always been the case.

The app is guidance only.

The date confusion is due to the two departments not having done lateral thinking.

Bubbles finish officially on Monday (be warned though - some LEAs are keeping them !)
T&T are going to be the contact tracers rather than it being delegated to schools.

However isolation for under 18s and double vaccinated doesn't stop until August 16.

Therefore your child could still need to self isolate even after 19 July.
Close contacts will be whoever is deemed to be 15 min plus at 2m+ and a minute or so at least distance. In primary, especially lower, this is still likely to be whole classes. At secondaries with seating plans it may be fewer numbers of students.

@LittleRen

What reasons are you all giving? I am pulling mine out today three days early… do I tell them the truth or not??

We just said we didn't want ds catching covid didn't see any need to lie. They've marked it down as unauthorised absence, fine by me 🤷‍♀️

Well poor dd3 got pinged today. Isolate till Sunday so not too bad but means she misses the wedding we were going to on Friday. I'm going to stay home, other family members can still go. She's being so sensible about it. I am planning two takeaway meals that day and have ordered a three metre pool for us to luxuriate in in the garden as a surprise. She's 14. Obviously others could test positive extending the isolation so our weekend away with in-laws weekend after this is now looking a bit dodgy. But what will be will be. Have emailed school and said Im not sending her back as risk of disrupting our holiday from end of the month is now too high and in and out then in then out isn't good for anybody. Lovely reply saying they totally understood, will put it down as unauthorised but won't be acting on it in anyway. I also thanked them of course, poor sods have worked so hard this year to keep these kids safe and in school.

It's a paddling pool obviously.

My local education authority has confirmed that they are keeping the bubble system up until the end of term on 22 July. We are supposed to go away on 23 July.......

We have just had a whole year group now sent off by the school from an lft awaiting pcr.

I'm cancelling self isolating the day school ends.