Positive parent, would you send kids to school?

[pinacoloda]

DH has tested positive for covid. I have no symptoms and LFs all negative (I’m double jabbed).
2 primary age DC have no symptoms and negative LFs.
I know by government guidelines they are allowed to go to school and legally should be going to school.
It just feels wrong to send them in though!
I also have to work in the daytime and DH is feeling very poorly so not really able to watch them.
I wish the guidelines were whole house isolate still :( it’s a rubbish situation to be stuck in.

Personally I’wouldnt but also couldn’t as am a LP with nobody else to take DS to school. Sort of relieved actually as is a genuine reason for an absence and therefore would have to be authorised.

If your DH had flu would you send them in? Yes of course. There are many viruses we might spread. Learning to live with Covid means living normally again. I would send them in!

@Beecham

If your DH had flu would you send them in? Yes of course. There are many viruses we might spread. Learning to live with Covid means living normally again. I would send them in!

Flu and covid are not the same thing. I am so tired of comparing them, falsely.

Ignoring covid is not working.

I have a child in my class whose parent has covid atm. She's in school. I'm not bothered tbh.

this is the frustrating situation for health professionals, schools etc.
whilst you can send them to school with a negative test - its early in the quarantine process. Very likely that at d8,9.10 they will test positive and then have exposed so many others.

potential contact across a restaurant - sensible plan for back to school with a negative test etc
prolonged exposure ONGOING at home to a positive case - i think should be isolating.

I'd keep them home and get PCR tests sent out. It's not the end of the world if they miss a couple a days while the results come back.

I don’t understand why they changed the rules, fair enough for double-vaccinated, or for whole-household isolation when there’s unconfirmed case. But unvaccinated under-18s in a house with confirmed covid case seems crazy. I feel like I’m in a really horrible situation with this :(

I think they changed the rules because children have missed so much school. It has come to a point where keeping Covid negative, well children at home for 10 days is hard to justify.

It is hard. It’s a huge decision and it’s also not fair that some schools will mark kids as unauthorised absence if parents choose to keep them off, on the other hand, those are the rules… it’s a very very hard balance to get right.

Also many employers simply won’t let you isolate if you’re double jabbed but PCR negative… they’ve lost enough, and so follow the rules exactly.

It’s very hard.

I totally understand vaccinated adults not needing to isolate, also understand no longer needing to isolate after being in contact with someone.
It’s the no isolating for unvaccinated children with a confirmed case in the house which just seems a step too far to me :/
But at the same time you’re right my children have missed so much school already that I would also feel guilty for them to needlessly miss potentially another two weeks :(
It’s an impossible situation

@CallmeHendricks all teachers have been told to go in regardless if household is positive, if they are double jabbed. I am really not happy about doing it. I am waiting on a pcr test result for my ds and have been told to go in. It's ridiculous.

We had this - we went to drive through PCR test centre are there any near you?

DH stayed in the bedroom from the minute he got his positive LF.

Once I had negative PCR tests for kids they went back in and we tested LF every 2 days.

[quote phlebasconsidered]@CallmeHendricks all teachers have been told to go in regardless if household is positive, if they are double jabbed. I am really not happy about doing it. I am waiting on a pcr test result for my ds and have been told to go in. It's ridiculous.[/quote]
I know that. But I'm wondering if parents would be happy to know that their child will be in close proximity to that teacher in a relatively confined and poorly-ventilated space all day.

@CallmeHendricks

I'd be really interested to know how people would feel if their child's teacher came to school with their household all positive. Would you want to be informed of that? And if so, what would you do with the information?

I personally wouldn’t have an issue with that.

Op if you've ordered a home postal test already it would probably arrive tomorrow you can test straight away and post back to a priority post box and you should have the results some time Thursday - it's surprisingly quick

I think a vaccinated teacher or another adult in school would be better at keeping others safe than a child if positive case in the household . Kids hold hands after picking their nose, don't always wash their hands well etc etc

I am covid positive myself and have kept my daughter off for 5 days until postal pcr has come back negative, school called me today saying my 5 year old would be a unauthorised absence if I don’t send her in 😷. You can’t win

My 16yo is positive and I’ve had to send my three younger children in. They’ve had two PCRs and done a LFT every day and so far (6 days on) we’re all negative. Fingers crossed we’ll stay that way.
It does feel very wrong for them to be at school and I offered to keep them at home but was told no.

@lannistunut

It's no longer a false comparison to compare flu and Covid. Before the vaccine then yes. But not any more.

[quote Beecham]@lannistunut

It's no longer a false comparison to compare flu and Covid. Before the vaccine then yes. But not any more.[/quote]
Hmm, the entire medical establishment disagrees with you, but I'm sure you're right!

How many times have hospitals shut their operating rooms in Aug/Sept for flu? We're currently (in summer) running at far higher covid deaths than we'd see in a bad flu year. And long covid will disable far more people.

Medical profession discussing reclassifying covid, as it is far more than just a respiratory disease.

Covid is nothing like flu, except we are stuck with it.

Once they’ve had a negative per test then yes, you have to send them in. A negative lateral flow isn’t the same. I have had a number of children in my class over the last month in this exact situation. I’d be furious if they were in without negative pcr tests.