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Original poster

Send kids to school with positive household member or not?

92 replies

MissSkate · 14/10/2021 17:56

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

OP posts:
Cousinit · 15/10/2021 09:28

How ridiculous that you're supposed to send them in. It makes no sense and of course it's going to lead to more spread. Totally irresponsible but no surprise I guess, given the government's track record Hmm

onthinice · 15/10/2021 09:49

Does anyone else feel like the government actually want all school kids to catch it? Get the next generation better natural immunity, that they can pass on to the next generation when they start their families later on. If they really wanted to protect children they would have made sure the vaccinations had happened before the beginning of the school year.

zombiedog21 · 15/10/2021 10:19

yes, we sent them in when DH had Covid. And DD went in when DS had Covid! We did LFTs, they were negative, off she went. But then again, I also went to the cinema that week too. (masked, negative LFT), so maybe I'm a terrible person.

MarshaBradyo · 15/10/2021 10:21

I’m relieved the rule has changed as isolating a negative test child is too much now.

hpstitch · 15/10/2021 11:01

@MarshaBradyo

I’m relieved the rule has changed as isolating a negative test child is too much now.
The thing is if one child catches it takes time for a sibling to catch it, it's not instant.

My DS sat next to a boy on Monday he was then off illl and tested on the Tuesday, getting a positive. On Friday my DS tested positive on LFT getting symptoms Saturday and a positive PCR. So seems like keeping them off 5 days is a sensible policy. The whole class now have Covid, literally there are 3 left in.

MarshaBradyo · 15/10/2021 11:09

I’m fine with it as it is. I don’t think repeated isolation is sensible for children at this point. Keep it to a minimum.

We have to do LFT anyway and over last few weeks and it hasn’t changed from negative for sibling.

Ds had the positive PCR as did his friends (even with vaccination) but ten days out and now back.

DistantSkye · 15/10/2021 13:14

I would, and as a secondary teacher I'd be ok with parents doing it too. Kids cannot keep doing repeated isolations and missing so much school.

We've been back at school since August and whilst cases are high, things feel steady enough and it's not the catastrophe you always seem to read about on here.

hedgehogger1 · 15/10/2021 13:30

The school I work at are insisting that close contacts come in. Case numbers are sky high, Some classes are missing half the kids, there's supply teachers everywhere. Some staff have been off sick for over a month now. As a policy it's shit. If you can keep them home, do it.

pommedeterre · 15/10/2021 14:44

But it is the government guidelines. Which we are entitled to follow, just as we followed the guidelines for lockdown.

I sent mine in. They never caught it off their sister nor did they give it to anyone else. For them to have wasted their time at home would have been madness.

I understand for the covid cautious it is punchy. These people should be given all the information necessary for them to decide if they want to stay at home and the rest of us will crack on now.

Fallagain · 15/10/2021 14:46

My understanding is they can go as long as the positive person is isolating within the house hold. It would be impossible for us to really isolate, well maybe if it was just DH, so no I wouldn’t send in my child.

pommedeterre · 15/10/2021 16:07

fallagain - the head asked us if dd1 was isolating (she was, we gave it our best shot at any rate) but I don't think that's an enforceable rule. How would you prove it?

Fallagain · 15/10/2021 16:12

Like a lot of the covid guidelines and laws, in facts most laws, it relies on people doing the right thing because they want to do what is right and keep people safe.

bumbleymummy · 15/10/2021 16:18

Except if the child is already immune/doesn’t develop covid then you haven’t done ‘the right thing’ or kept anyone safe at all, have you? In fact, you’ve done a terrible thing for the child by keeping them away from school/their friends etc for no reason at all.

minisoksmakehardwork · 15/10/2021 16:33

We chose not to when 2 other people tested positive over the weekend after our eldest dd tested positive on the Friday. Having now had all pcr's come back (adults and eldest did drive through, younger children had postal), we are up to 4 positive, 1 negative and 1 unclear. The unclear has been symptomatic second longest so we feel justified in keeping them off.

But; my symptoms are just those of a cold. So had I not been daily testing for work as a result of the first pcr positive, I would have assumed I just had a cold.

pommedeterre · 15/10/2021 18:01

I wouldn't assume I just had a cold nowadays, to me that's not right.

I would however send my kids to school with a positive sibling as keeping them off when they were healthy is ultimately heading towards some kind of abuse if you ask me.

WE ARE NOT IN 2020.

pommedeterre · 15/10/2021 18:02

@bumbleymummy

Except if the child is already immune/doesn’t develop covid then you haven’t done ‘the right thing’ or kept anyone safe at all, have you? In fact, you’ve done a terrible thing for the child by keeping them away from school/their friends etc for no reason at all.
Exactly!
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