Send kids to school with positive household member or not?

[MissSkate]

I'm interested to know if others have sent their kids to school if a member of their household has tested positive for covid19 or kept them off? I know guidance is to send them in. I kept mine off even after negative pcr's as it feels wrong to send them in especially as they could still be asymptomatic

Not got there yet (luckily) but I would now.

I would make them do a LFT every morning though.

I wouldn’t. My friend was in same situation, LFT her kids every day, on day 6 (for her)they both tested positive. She was incredibly careful and completely isolated in her bedroom from the moment she found she had COVID.

Presumably you mean if the parent/sibling had tested positive and they had not recently/knowingly had COVID themselves?

In that situation you are supposed to send them to school, but it feels morally wrong.

However I know of a family where the children all tested positive on same day and the parents were negative for the next 10 days. As soon as the kids were 'free', the parents both tested positive. In that situation I wouldn't have a problem with the kids returning to school, as having literally just recovered from COVID they are not likely to be spreading it in school.

I wouldn't want to, but the school are insisting. So yes

I wouldn't send them to their extra curriculars though or visit friends/family etc.

I would.
That’s what the rules say. Plenty of the dc’s friends have been in school with positive members of their family.
School would count it as an unauthorised absence if they didn’t go.

The law says you send them in. We did so (with LFTs every morning).

I dont trust LFT as I was always negative despite being positive on PCR. Technically my son can return to school but I am having to isolate for abit longer so his school have agreed to keeping him off as there is no one other than myself to do the school runs

Yes, I would send them in, as per the guidelines.

Yes myself and my oldest dd tested positive my dh told school of youngest dd and They said she could keep coming in as long as she didn't have symptoms. It is absolutely insane to be honest that half our household has covid and the other half can go about their day going wherever they want as normal! Dh and youngest dd are so far negative and no symptoms but still feels wrong

Yes, the guidelines say to send them in. I think we need to move away from keeping children home on the off chance that they might get sick. Many children are already immune anyway.

I would. It’s an unauthorised absence otherwise.
Plus it’s ripping through our school regardless, my kids can’t afford anymore time off!

Yes, guidelines say they must attend school as normal.

I would have done until last week as otherwise they are marked as unauthorised absence. However our local authority now wants children to isolate for five days if a household member is covid positive and needs a negative PCR before returning to school.

Yes, we're just going through this now. We kept DS off when DD and I got a positive PCR, but sent him back in when it came back negative. Then he got a cough so we pulled him out again for another test. He's tested negative on 3 PCRs and a handful of LTFs in less than 2 weeks so there doesn't seem to be a good reason to keep him off school.

I work on the other side of this in a school and just today have had a long conversation with our local council about this very thing. We're all finding the same scenario:
One child in family has COVID, DfE say send kids in but have a PCR straight away and think about repeating on day 5. Meanwhile NHS Track/Test and Trace don't contact close contacts as they don't have their contact details, neither do they ask the school if they have them , because schools aren't supposed to be close contact tracing or contacting. All PCRs negative on day 1, siblings come back into school and then have PCRs on day 5. PCRs are positive, kids then taken out of school in the middle of the day and then realise that the mild symptoms (non-COVID symptoms) they've had for the last 2 days have been COVID after all. LFTs have been done daily but only turn positive after the PCR positive result (LFTs then done just to see if they're now picking up the positive) It's a joy for all, but we're all stuck between a rock and a hard place, including the Government.

No. I know that they should go in.

I had a PCR and was waiting for the results, had I sent my child in then I would have had to break the law to go and get her from school, no backup so I would have to have gone.

I’m positive and DS is negative, I’m a lone parent and have no way of getting him there. I spoke to the head as they break up for half term on Friday and asked if I could just keep him home without it being unauthorised absence and she agreed.

Yes I'd send them into school unless both me and DH were positive and that meant I couldn't physically get them to school. Older dc are in high school so walk by themselves anyway but youngest in primary would have to stay home with us.

I’ve got 4 kids, 9,8,3 and 1; the 8 year old tested positive on Monday so have kept the 9 year old off as well even tho negative - I don’t want to be shining any half terms by her unknowingly having it and passing it on. The childminder doesn’t want the 1 year old and Pre school won’t take the three year old!

You have to send them in now unless there is no other option. Both DH and I are covid positive this week but DC still testing negative. I told school they weren’t coming in today as we both have covid and we have no one who can bring them in to school. school called and asked if one of us was well enough to drive and if so we could drop them off and collect by car from school grounds as long as we don’t get out of the car and as long as DC have a negative lateral flow before school every morning. So I had to do that. If we aren’t well enough tomorrow or next week though then it’s tough luck I’m afraid, they can set up Google classroom.

I tested positive last week and DS’ nursery asked me to keep him at home until the end of my self-isolation period. Meanwhile, DH has been expected to go into work as usual 😑

Fortunately I’ve not felt too unwell with it so have been able to care for him. I would have preferred to have sent him in as usual though as the sudden change in routine has really unsettled him.

My son is positive, me and the little one are negative so she has been going to school, she had a negative PCR before she went back which is what school advise to do but don’t enforce. We are doing LFTs daily. It feels wrong though and I feel like we shouldn’t be doing it but at the same time it’s the guidelines and I couldn’t work with her here 🤷🏼‍♀️

Feels really wrong doesn’t it.
My sister did this and then sure enough on day 5 they tested positive. (Parents had it first)

I think I would speak to school and offer to keep them home. I’d struggle to get them there and back anyway.

Our schools have suggested we don't send them. They can't say 'don't' because of the change in rules but they definitely don't want us to. I'd speak to the school

We did when dd had it. We did an extra PCR test. None of the rest of us got it from her so we were proved correct. I think that the rules are there to minimise disruption and we should try to act accordingly to the guidelines.

DD did a good job at keeping separate and very cleverly caught covid during that Indian summer week in September so we basically left all doors and windows open day and night. She had a very mild case as well. It may have been different in the dead of winter and if she had been very sick.