lots of cases in school

[Noracora]

Local primary school and cases seem to be on the increase.
School have sent letters to the classes concerned and advise a PCR. I haven't PCR mine that are in the classes concerned but we are lateral flowing daily for the time being and so are a number of other parents. However there are some parents who have said they haven't done a PCR and aren't going to lateral either.
Should the school be recommending/strongly advising regularly testing whilst our school seems to have lots of cases?

so the school have recommended testing and you want to know if they should "strongly" recommend testing- what's the difference? Those that dont want to test arent going to no matter what the letter says. What would make you do the PCR as they suggested (rather than a lat)?

What would make you do a pcr? A strongly worded letter? Your also not doing what they've asked so I don't get what you mean tbh

I think the school are probably trying to protect their staff/vulnerable pupils and their families by asking for everyone in the affected class to be pcr tested. But if people don’t want to test there is very little the school can do.
I agree with @OnlyFoolsnMothers, we are now over 18 months in to this, people know the importance of testing To catch asymptomatic cases and if they aren’t going to test when it’s recommenced, they are not going to test when it’s strongly recommended either.
Why haven’t you gone for a pcr?

I don't have transport to get to a testing centre. If there was one round the corner I would. Also doing the laterals every day rather than just going for one PCR on the day we were informed of a case in the eldest class would only mean they didn't have it that day whereas with lateral we are testing daily so it can hopefully be picked up straight away.
I only asked if a letter strongly recommending regularly laterals because I know a couple of parents who are not willing to do PCR or regular laterals because there children have no symptoms.

@Noracora

I don't have transport to get to a testing centre. If there was one round the corner I would. Also doing the laterals every day rather than just going for one PCR on the day we were informed of a case in the eldest class would only mean they didn't have it that day whereas with lateral we are testing daily so it can hopefully be picked up straight away. I only asked if a letter strongly recommending regularly laterals because I know a couple of parents who are not willing to do PCR or regular laterals because there children have no symptoms.

I dont have transport either , thats why home pcr tests are a thing.

I dont see if people arent happy to do a pcr why they would be happy to do a lat flow- its the same testing procedure,

I only asked if a letter strongly recommending regularly laterals because I know a couple of parents who are not willing to do PCR or regular laterals because there children have no symptoms.

I'm intrigued what difference you think a strongly worded letter would make? If people don't want to test without symptoms then they don't have too it really is that simple. School can not make testing without symptoms mandatory nor can they discriminate or differentiate between a tested or untested child. I would also imagine there's a handful of people who don't actually test their dc and just tell school they do to save face

Thanks ladygindiva, I forgot about postal PCR's will order for the two that have classes with cases.

Constant PCRs are really quite distressing for many children and expensive to us parents when we have to bribe them.

We are trying to use our judgement when it comes to PcRs. My DD has Covid in her year group. Letter advised PCR. We did not get the close contact letter - its a different class. We have done a couple of LFTs but that's it.

Ds had a cough so of course we did the PCR.

I think LFTs are a good way of checking. Although again they are upsetting for the child so we tend to use them as little as we can.

DD’s school recently advised PCR’s. Of the cases it’s picked up so far (about 4) the two who have been open about it have said that LFT’s on the same day as the PCR didn’t pick up anything.

I wouldn’t rely on LFT’s if you’re a close contact.

My dd did lft with no indication of positive for covid. Pcr the same day came back positive. So my confidence in the lft has gone right down.

Glad to hear you are sending off for postal testing. Better to be safe than sorry.

You can't police other people's choices. Just have to do the right thing by you and your family.

There are loads of cases in primary schools round here. One local school was told to close their y1 class today due to 25% off with covid or symptoms after being told to take PCRs. Another local school has 50% off in reception but are still open - really not sure how the new PHE are deciding 🤷‍♀️

So many staff are off sick too and there aren't enough supply staff to go round.

I think your over stepping
If parents don't want to test their kids to force them into isolation for 10 days when they'll likely be mildly ill or asymptomatic then i don't blame them! Those kids are primary aged so then parents have to stay at home to watch their kids isolate for sod all symptoms - no idea why people still question this. You may not care but majority of parents could do without this.

My school can ask me daily to do a test and the answer will still be no

I work in a school in a high case area where the local authority has decided that children need to isolate, and PCR after 5 days in order to come back to school if they are a close contact of a household case. We've got parents doing their nuts about it, lying and sending kids in anyway - or sending them with LFDs. Cheers parents, that's really helpful to our staff.

My school can ask me daily to do a test and the answer will still be no

Selfish.

Constant PCRs are really quite distressing for many children and expensive to us parents when we have to bribe them.

Cornettoninja, in one of the years there is 7 cases and the latest two have been picked up on lft first.
Watapalava, I don't want to force people into making their children isolate for 10 days for a mild illness. What I am concerned about is that those that wont test without symptoms could have the virus and pass it onto another child who for example may live with someone who is vunerable and who covid wouldn't be mild for or even one of the teachers. I do care and I would struggle to work from home with mine off.
RuleWithAWoodenFoot sorry to hear what's happening at your school.

those people who are vulnerable are double if not triple vax.

Ruth - schools are not allowed to force a rule such as this and so i don't blame parents for lying

The gov have made it clear kids cant be made to have a test or be discriminated against either.

@Watapalava

I think your over stepping If parents don't want to test their kids to force them into isolation for 10 days when they'll likely be mildly ill or asymptomatic then i don't blame them! Those kids are primary aged so then parents have to stay at home to watch their kids isolate for sod all symptoms - no idea why people still question this. You may not care but majority of parents could do without this.

My school can ask me daily to do a test and the answer will still be no

And to hell with the teaching/school staff and the other children and families of those children, eh?

Threads like this always reveal just how much people hate teachers. Zero concern for our welfare or how covid affects us if we're vulnerable.

Your upset that other parents are doing PCRs when you aren’t either.

You are complaining about people not testing, when you haven't pcr tested your own children, even though it's been recommended? Lateral flow testing is okay, but not always that accurate! I can't see how you can be bothered about this when you aren't doing what the school have suggested yourself.

My DS has recently completed 10 days isolation for covid. He had a slightly blocked nose (but no coughing, sneezing, headache ,temp etc) for a couple of days and tested positive on our regular LFT. (Followed by a positive PCR) A large % of his school year were affected, some more poorly than others. After about day 3 you wouldn't have known there was anything wrong with him. Luckily I was able to work flexibly and WFH most of the time.

During the 10 days the rest of us tested every other day on LFTs and PCR on day 2 (DH - because he had cold symptoms) day 4 (me and DD) and day 9 (all 3 of us) and no one else got it.

@Watapalava

I think your over stepping If parents don't want to test their kids to force them into isolation for 10 days when they'll likely be mildly ill or asymptomatic then i don't blame them! Those kids are primary aged so then parents have to stay at home to watch their kids isolate for sod all symptoms - no idea why people still question this. You may not care but majority of parents could do without this.

My school can ask me daily to do a test and the answer will still be no

Do you not care about protecting the school staff, other children and their families?

There are a number of schools round here with large numbers of children off with covid and the teachers and TAs are also ill. The children have been testing so they can return to school and not be a risk to others.

Your approach is extremely selfish.

...but LFT aren't the same as PCR as most new lft are nose only while pcr has the throat swab. (Which i think is far more unpleasant)