I know we are meant to send children in to school with a household covid case but it feels odd

[Revengeofthepangolins]

Am finding it really uncomfortable that DS (15, single based) will be going to school tomorrow although I have covid. He took a pcr on Monday which came back clear and will LFT but still I feel squirmy about it. I feel I should tell his school that I have it but also feel socially uncomfortable doing so.

Plus, it requires me to try to be really strict about trying to keep very distanced from him (staying in my room all the time) and it is making him feel really lonely (DH is away).

And if I do tell school and then he comes down with it later in the week, I will feel dreadful that he will have infected others. But under the new rules, he is meant to go in; it seems perverse to inflict isolation on him that isn’t required.

I was literally about to come on and post the same thing. DD is positive and other DD is meant to be going to school today as her PCR was negative.
School know she has it as I’ve had to share as reason she was off.
I’m considering keeping her at home for another few days. It’s rife in their school and it’s really no wonder why!

I appreciate you feel odd about it but try to frame it in a different way. Pre covid you would have sent him in if you had a cold or were unwell and he didn't/wasn't and bcak then you wouldn't be trying to maintain distance from him.

I informed school as I felt the same as you. They were clear for well children to LFT each day before coming, but not to come if they developed any symptoms(including cold), despite a clear LFT, until they had another PCR. They also said children should come while waiting for the results of the original PCR(as long as the lateral flow was clear).
The nurse was very reassuring, but I totally understand how you feel. It felt 'unnatural' to be sending them in to possibly infect others.

BTW, this was just the advice of my children's school, rather than the 'official rules'.

I am with you, the new rules are completely wrong.

I read a thread on Twitter saying we had to get our heads round the fact that our government has gone beyond not caring how many people die, which was plain enough, they actually want people to die. I was when I read it, but the rules are so reckless now I can see where they are coming from!

You should definitely tell school, but also you could get your son a PCR test too.

I understand too. DS1 adult took two lft both negative has asthma and was very wheezy. Managed to get a phone app. With GP next day and given prescription and told to do PCR. It came back positive yesterday.
DHtook prescription day before and I told him not to go in the house but he ignored me. He went in our local in the evening. I am furious with him. He said he thought DS had a cold.🙄 I have asthma and high blood pressure as well as anxiety from stressful job I have left. I am not leaving the house but it is a real dilemma isn’t it.

Ours was the same as winifredgoose so LFT every day and PCR at the beginning
DS is on day 9 now and DD is still clear (single jabbed and already had it)

I am outspokenly against lockdowns and the like but I have to admit even I am a little concerned about this.

For years I have bemoaned the fact that parents send siblings to school when another family member has a clear case of Norovirus (am emetophobic so I notice these things) and then it continues to spread like wildfire. I always thought it would be sensible to keep all children home until 48 hours after the last episode in the family. I guess really the same should apply to Covid.

Perhaps this should have been the strategy from the beginning rather than the horrendously damaging mass closure of schools. It seems like they are now being over relaxed to compensate for being over cautious.

Yeah it sits uncomfortably with me too but I think what was said upthread is true - I wouldn't have kept all kids off for a case of chicken pox or d&v.

We've gone for a compromise approach - the kids without covid are literally going to go to school and back (with their dad who is so far testing negative too) but we are stopping any other mixing including shopping, swimming etc.

I’ve decided that the LFT just aren’t reliable enough for the way we are meant to use them under the new system. When a positive case meant isolation we just used them to keep asymptomatic cases out of circulation, knowing not all would be picked up but some was better than none. Now we are using them to screen people who know they have been in close contact, they don’t seem up to the job.

DS tested negative on one an hour before he did a PCR which came in positive. We only booked the PCR as I was already positive and DH had tested positive on LFT that morning. Under the rules he could have had his PCR a couple of days later and returned to school while waiting for results. Madness.

DS (who has SEN) was ill last week and refuses to do the tests properly so we can't be sure it wasn't covid.

I got a call from the school about attendance, saying I should have taken him to the doctor to certify him for being off for more than 3 days, and that I should make him struggle into school even with symptoms if possible "as adults have to do this when we work". But to keep him home if he tests positive.

So they've reverted to the exact advice they used to give before covid. It's nearly impossible to get an appointment at my Doctor's and they tell you not to come in with colds, what stupid advice, without even the added covid risk.

It's utterly irresponsible to be telling parents to send kids with cold symptoms in, even with a negative test. And they didn't tailor their advice to me after I said how hard it was to get DS to do a test.

As I understand it, the Delta symptoms are much more like a cold than the earlier versions of covid?

I would inform the school and see what they say. If they insist he goes in then they cant moan when he tests positive. Some schools maybe giving a heads up to CEV families some may say keep at home.
I know the government now say to go in but some schools while not able to refuse the child to go in are able to support parents keeping child home ie ensure child has access to online learning or by how they respond will tell you they agree

W@shesellsseacats

how silly of the school. The GP isnt going want to see a possibmy positive child that isnt in need of medical assistance now either.

Our school is much more sensible, children testing negatove so far but agree it is better to keep them home as they had significant contact with a positive person.

I have been thinking this too. One child positive but youngest child who has a cold tested negative. He is very difficult to test though, cotton bud barely gets in his nose. I am a little concerned about accuracy.

My son's school have said students can go in when they have a household case, but if they prefer they can attend via google classroom. Which seems a common sense approach.

I agree!

I'm in the opposite situation. Working in a care home where staff's kids are testing positive in school and half the staff aren't even bothering to tell us and still
coming into work as the law has changed and household contacts don't have to isolate anymore if they've been double vaccinated (over 6 months ago now). We have a good boss who would pay them full pay not to come in as he just doesn't want covid in the home. But the staff aren't even bothering to tell us they've got kids off who have tested positive and think it's fine to come in. It feels like Russian Roulette. We have routine testing twice a week (two lfd and one pcr) but there's still a chance staff could spread
it in the three or so days in between tests.

Then of course, as it's being allowed to rip through schools and as our boss is paying staff to isolate, it's costing him a fortune already for the staff who are being honest about cases at home. I think the home might have to close this winter (we aren't a posh chain, no top up fees charged, just low fully state funded beds). We were already underfunded but the pandemic and the way the government has handled it has finished the care sector off.

I guess it's tike they was all in school more, my friends sons caught it off each, all 3 of them a week apart so that would be weeks isolating. Then in school in there are the different cases that's potentially another ten times 10 days isolating. When does it stop?

Not everyone can afford unpaid leave or assisting with homeschooling multiple times.

The reason it feels odd is because it is odd. Very odd and very stupid.
There are already over a hundred thousand children off school with Covid. There will only be more. Once teachers start getting it in high numbers, schools will close (many supply teachers have left the profession for other jobs, or, retired like me, won’t be willing to risk it).

The problem is that covid is endemic, it's not going away. Pre covid if you had a cold, a cough etc you still went to work or school - cev always were at increased vulnerability, covid is no different, but we didn't shut down our lives every winter.

The first wave through of covid shocked us with the numbers who died, but it was because none of us had immunity, but now because of vaccination and many people catching it it's just a virus and we need to get used to it just being around

I have 3 different schools with 3 different sets of rules to navigate. My ds had to have a day off and PCR yesterday as a classmate had tested positive. He's been allowed back today, as his test was negative, but I had to confirm on the phone that there were no positive cases or symptoms in the family! This is a primary school. My other ds was considered a close contact and had to LFT each day for 10 days but otherwise carry on as normal - secondary school within the same foundation. DD hasn't been exposed at school yet, so we will have to see what happens when she does! There doesn't seem to be a standard approach - each school is making up its own rules. I don't think dc should be denied an education at this stage - as many kids in school as possible - they are low risk and all adults have been given the option of a vaccine and are as protected as they are going to get.

Really interesting to hear how different families and schools are tackling this.

Bit of a mixed bag where I am, some have sent them in, some haven’t. School have been fine either way and supplied work to be done at home. I think the rules are assuming single household cases are isolating from the rest of the household, which we’ve already decided we won’t be doing - so I would keep all my kids off school.

I have this dillemma. DT1 and I have Covid.
DT2 going into secondary. We are waiting on PCR, no symptoms and he had Covid last year.

His school was so rife eith it that he spent 70 days in isolation, over 7 isolations between last September and Dec.

He has missed so much school and is Y11.

We were already underfunded but the pandemic and the way the government has handled it has finished the care sector off
So much for "ring of protection", how awful