AIBU That we learn to accept COVID is here to stay!

[Jakie7700]

That now a massive number is double vaccinated those who want to be and that teenagers have started to be offered them, it seems so ridiculous that kids are still losing out on school because they are being sent home as they have a minor cold with minor cough. Covid will still be around in years to come, so will children still be sent home then with a mild cough due to colds?

Many missed days of school waiting for PCR results, parents usually mothers missing work over and over. Nobody seemed to care two years back when these same children were spreading flu, chicken pox etc which can all kill or cause serious complications both in adults and children.

Nothing is going to change you can get COVID again like a cold. Just last week I heard of two friends kids being sent home because of mild cough (coughed three/four times the whole day) missed days of school waiting for results only to be negative and then told this will happen every time they have a cough which as most will know in primary children will be alot over winter! These same parents who have nearly lost jobs due to having to juggle childcare through lockdowns. Surely it is just time to accept COVID is isn't going anywhere and stop making kids espeically suffer.

Even on the day when we had 250+ off with confirmed covid, test results were still only taking 24 hours. That's not an inordinate amount of time.

PCRs are taking around 18 hours where I am.

My recent PCR came back in three and a half hours. I missed half a day of work.

So schools should ignore government guidance and local public health guidance?

Schools should be in the business of making public health decisions, contrary to those made by people whose job it is?

OP whilst I don't agree with all your points it feels like you are being ganged up on here.

@noblegiraffe

So schools should ignore government guidance and local public health guidance?

Schools should be in the business of making public health decisions, contrary to those made by people whose job it is?

Er no, i don’t think anyone said this.

@MrsHamlet

Even on the day when we had 250+ off with confirmed covid, test results were still only taking 24 hours. That's not an inordinate amount of time.

If you miss 1-2 days of school every month , yeh it is.

@Jakie7700 Bit of moral support for you. I agree with you.

@CallmeHendricks

My recent PCR came back in three and a half hours. I missed half a day of work.

Well this is definitely unusual.

Er no, i don’t think anyone said this.

Read the OP.

@noblegiraffe

Er no, i don’t think anyone said this.

Read the OP.

Yeh I did. That’s not what it says.

So if you're well enough to do the work set, do it.

Slight tangent, but isn't it interesting how many people hear "Covid is here to stay; life must go on and we must learn to live with it," and think that it means we can go back to 2019 conditions with no consequences.

@Franca123
Thank you

Schools sending pupils home with a cough to get a PCR are wrong, according to the OP.

But government guidance is to get a PCR with a cough, not ignore it because it came with cold symptoms.

Incidentally, how many pupils are missing 1-2 days a month of school in order to get PCRs? Do you have any data for this claim?

@noblegiraffe
Yes it is government guidance the same guidance that states only get a PCR test for the three main symptoms, but dozens on this thread are saying they don't follow that guidance and tick they do have those symptoms when they don't. So if you want people to follow all the guidance the government set out why aren't you calling those people out for contradicting themselves?

Lateral flow tests are actually very accurate (95%) at detecting covid if you do the test when symptoms start

The problem is, early symptoms aren’t necessarily the classic symptoms - my 14 year old’s only symptom was dizziness. He tested negative on lateral flows 2 days in a row and then finally on the third day he had a positive PCR - but I only went that far because we were away and I needed to know if I had been exposed because I was the only driver. If I had dismissed the dizziness, we’d have carried on around who knows how many tourist attractions and I would likely have struggled to get us home - my symptoms only started a further 7 days later.

"Incidentally, how many pupils are missing 1-2 days a month of school in order to get PCRs? Do you have any data for this claim?"

Likewise, any data to back up how many parents have lost their jobs as a direct result of their child's school requiring them to take a PCR test (in line with Government advice)?

[quote Jakie7700]@noblegiraffe
Yes it is government guidance the same guidance that states only get a PCR test for the three main symptoms, but dozens on this thread are saying they don't follow that guidance and tick they do have those symptoms when they don't. So if you want people to follow all the guidance the government set out why aren't you calling those people out for contradicting themselves?[/quote]
Look over there! Not at me and my OP of the thread that I started! Argue with those people instead!

"Yes it is government guidance the same guidance that states only get a PCR test for the three main symptoms,"

This is not true you might have put symptoms in an app like the Zoe app or be a close contact.

"but dozens on this thread are saying they don't follow that guidance and tick they do have those symptoms when they don't"

Lots of people have pointed out the tickbox says "symptoms of coronavirus" as opposed to do you have a cough fever or anosmia.

What other people to do if they are worried about coronavirus does not change the fact that schools have a duty of care towards other pupils so should send home pupils with coughs, high temperature of anosmia.

You yourself have no problem with people breaking the guidance based on their circumstances so it does seem rather hypocritical of you to complain that some people follow guidelines and others don't.

Institutions have to be far more careful to follow guidance or at least try to even if it as clear as mud

@noblegiraffe
Again never said to argue with anyone. You said I am contradicting myself and chose to call just me out. When dozen of other posters have admitted to only following the government guidelines they choose too.

But of course you won't call them out as they argee with you opinions. I see you never commented on all the nasty comments directed at me by other posters when I pointed out it is ganging up and bullying. Why would you because that is your plan.

@walksen
Please read the whole thread. I have said sooo many times I am not talking about being asked too or told you need too because you are a close contact. I am talking about the posters who say they have a runny nose or a headache. Decide to go on gov.uk tick they have one of the 3 main symptoms to get a PCR test. When in that situation the government guidance tells you not too.

You said I am contradicting myself and chose to call just me out.

This is your thread! Why did you post it if you didn't want people to engage with you?

Why would you because that is your plan.

to come onto a thread that you posted and try to discuss your opinions that you started a thread about?

Oh flipping heck I’m afraid I agree with OP. If I got a PCR test every time I had a headache, sore throat or runny nose I’d never ever be able to leave my house other than for testing purposes!! I have hayfever and other allergies (which anti histamines never completely cure) plus very often suffer from stress headaches due to mental health problems. I take LFT twice a week and have taken a PCR once when I felt particularly bad (negative) but honestly the number of scared people here worries me more than the pandemic. Yes Covid is real, yes we have to be careful and considerate but…. There has to come a point where we draw the line. If we take time of work or school for every little niggle then the economy would soon collapse, especially schools and childcare! Children with less than 90% attendance at school have lower grades than others as a rule and most of the time these things are not Covid.
Also look how much worse flu is this year thanks to mask wearing and lockdowns etc - if these things really worked to eradicate such viruses then surely colds and flu would be better this year? Lockdowns etc are only to stop pressure on our healthcare systems. Anyone thinking they will magically get rid of Covid or make it totally not a problem is deluded - the only way that would happen is for lockdowns to be permanent or for people to either be vaccinated or to have caught it. Most people who are able to have been vaccinated and many more are getting vaccinated, we need to engage brains and critical thinking now rather than just listen to the media.

Oh and I say this as someone who has NHS workers and high risk people in her own family and they all agree. My high risk relative is scientific and is fed up and wants Covid to run its course. They say the lockdowns are only making things last longer. (And I struggle with saying all this myself as I’m worried about the deaths and don’t see them at all as ‘acceptable collateral’, but then again I don’t see those suffering mentally or financially or in other ways thanks to missed work/school etc as acceptable collateral either. It’s such a tricky situation with I feel no totally correct solution.)

I have read the whole thread. Have you? Because you seem to be selectively quoting information, ignoring points others have made which don't suit your narrative.

I will repeat that schools as institutions have follow guidance more closely than individuals do.

Schools aren't going to ignore it because some random on the internet are selecting a tickbox that says "do you have symptoms" as opposed to " do you have any of the 3 official official symptoms", or maybe saying they are part of a survey when they aren't etc.