Can I drive my children to school if I have covid?

[petitdonkey]

Sorry to ask here but I’ve searched and searched online and just this.
Advice is clear that children have to attend school but how do I get them there? There are no buses as we are rural.
Dh took them yesterday and today then came home and tested positive. Putting them in a taxi is an (expensive) option but seems to put the driver at risk…
So I’m wondering if I’m okay to get them if we all wear masks and keep windows open? Obviously wouldn’t step foot out of the car.. Have any of you done this?

'As pp notes, you can’t just opt in for ten days of school transport.'

Oh come off it, schools will do whatever they can to accommodate in a situation like this. Great you can pay for a taxi, well done.

My exasperation?! Well is it any wonder when folk have covid and supposed to be isolating but they're seriously asking if that actually applies to them..

COVID is never going away. We have to start applying some common sense otherwise children will continually have their education disrupted. It needs to become like any other illness, stay home if you're unwell and go about your life if not.

We're going to be in exactly the same situation next year and forever. I just don't get what the long term thinking is here.

OP of course drive your kids to school, provided you feel well. Cancel the taxis.

It’s not illegal- you meed to leave the house to fulfil your legal obligation to get your kids to school. There’s no problem.

Legally it might not be ok. But this is the UK so I would be gobsmacked if anyone would stop you.

My friend was raped and has to wait 3.5 years for her court hearing. If a rapist can walk the streets totally unchallenged then I think your law breaking is piss in the ocean tbh.

One of DD’s classmates mum was positive a few weeks back and test & trace suggested it was ok to drive to school providing she didn’t get out the car. The class ta, teacher or staff member would collect her from the car outside reception and take her in. She was only 4, so too young to go alone. She never got out, they wore masks. A few of us offered to take her or walk her over but that sensibly was the best to minimise spread, risk etc. I will have to do similar so driving and not getting out seems reasonable to me.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

Who is actually going to stop you in the car and check if you are covid positive? No one.

What is the chance of a breakdown, crash etc ? Minuscule

What is the chance that if the above happens (unlikely) you then go on to infect whoever attends to you? Zero

Lets be realistic here people.

This.

Look I’m not saying that if you have Covid you shouldn’t be avoiding people and trying to stop the chain of transmission but we’re so many months into this thing that we should be honest about what is risky and not risky behaviour. Going on a solo walk in woods near your house - technically breaking the law but putting no one at any harm whatsoever; driving your kids to school - very low risk activity and in some circumstances entirely justifiable.

It’s going to be really weird the day they stop PCRs for people who are otherwise well and let people sort it out by themselves because we’re all going to have to accept different behaviour overnight.

I'm a single parent household with two under 5's. I was HOUNDED by the school to ensure they went to school

Even though I had no help or support to get them there

They had to stay off. And I'm glad as one child got covid too

The rules make absolutely no sense

@Blupblup

In our case, we don't normally use school transport as I drop the kids at school on the way to work. So the only way to get a school bus place is to apply for one in advance, and pay for the entire term. It is no help in an emergency.

Same with us, you have to book and pay in advance for a place on a school bus, I did ask once in an emergency pre covid if dd could travel on school bus for 3 days and was told no.

Tbh in your situation I would drive them. Expensive taxis twice a day isn’t very realistic.

@JaniieJones

'As pp notes, you can’t just opt in for ten days of school transport.'

Oh come off it, schools will do whatever they can to accommodate in a situation like this. Great you can pay for a taxi, well done.

My exasperation?! Well is it any wonder when folk have covid and supposed to be isolating but they're seriously asking if that actually applies to them..

I don’t know where you live but here you have to apply for (and pay for if not eligible) a term’s transport in advance. You apply online and then you have to wait to hear if youve got a space, pay and then await your travel pass. It’s just not accessible at short notice.

And bear in mind, news reports say that testing and mandatory isolation could end in March. That’s the governments way of saying we have to get on and live with it, which to a degree I agree with, and I have just got over quite a bad case of covid and fully expect that I will get covid again, I’m also double jabbed.

You aren’t allowed to, but in your shoes I probably would, especially if your kid is in y13 and hasn’t got his ucas form in yet, however as someone on day 10 of covid there may be days where you aren’t well enough to do so.
As for the poster who went to get petrol really wtf, talk about the worst of both worlds, breaking the leaving the house law and panic buying when you definitely weren’t going to need it ( see above re being illegal to leave the house)

Apologies, I've not rtft. But I was in a similar situation recently. We're rural, and even though we're just less than 3 miles to school, it's not deemed to be a safe walking route (country roads, no pavements) so we're entitled to free school transport, even though we don't use it normally.

The school transport team were fantastic and said they would sort us taxis if needed (in the end we didn't need it because my husband and I didn't overlap covid isolation periods, so there was always someone available to take the kids)

@JaniieJones - I don’t want to get into a fight with you but you’re being so goady. I came here to ask because I have followed the letter of the law throughout and really want to continue to do so. I don’t know what schools you know that can magic up transportation to schools but mine wouldn’t (my children go to independent which I guess will piss you off some more) I wasn’t looking for a ‘well done’ that o can book a taxi, more of a genuine question of what I should do if I couldn’t.

As I mentioned before, sometimes we use mumsnet to ask for collective wisdom when there is differing advice. On the other thread multiple people were told by 119 that they were allowed to drive children to school, plus the point about legal obligation.

People get anxious because people like you get all shouty and act like I’m asking the question because I ‘think the rules don’t apply to me’. Nothing could be further from the truth, I have followed the rules throughout and contracted covid at the primary school I work at.

Thanks yo everyone else who is just offering different, but measured, opinions.

'There are actually a whole host oflegal reasons to leave your home during covid isolation - anything from providing care to seeking a vet!'

Not when you have it. If you have to isolate if a close contact yes you can leave for certain reasons but not if actually positive.

'mine wouldn’t (my children go to independent which I guess will piss you off some more)'

Why would that piss me off? Nothing against independent schools just people with covid asking if they do indeed need to isolate.

I did a couple of times when needed.
I didn't get out of the car and had no contact with anyone new.
Using my common sense my dc could be mixing with 30 other kids in their class whilst being positive before testing so me in a car wasn't going to put anyone at any more risk.
The rules make no sense and sounds like they may change again.

Common sense says that ofcourse you can drive your child/children school. They've had enough disruption to their lives already. It's fine.

And still no actual solution offered…

How are the petty-minded curtain twitchers going to cope when there are no longer any Covid rules where they can berate people for not following to the letter...

@madamecake

No, you are breaking the law by leaving your house.

Can someone else pick them up and drop them back home? Imagine if someone rear ended your car, or you got a flat tyres etc? Could you avoid other people?

@madamecake

This is batshit crazy. How can it be better to put someone else at risk by transporting the OPs children to school (who may well
be infectious) than for the OP to transport them herself?

@JaniieJones

My exasperation?! Well is it any wonder when folk have covid and supposed to be isolating but they're seriously asking if that actually applies to them.

You seriously think transporting children by car to school is a factor in Covid's spread...

Is it the child doing the ucas form who has already had Covid? Chances seem high that the other child will be positive soon, I wouldn't send them in. Think of all the other students and staff who could be posting similar dilemmas next week...

@petitdonkey

And still no actual solution offered…

Because there isn’t one without putting others at risk.

For those saying use common sense, common sense says people in the same household shouldn’t be going anywhere. But yet, here we are!

@Warhertisuff

How are the petty-minded curtain twitchers going to cope when there are no longer any Covid rules where they can berate people for not following to the letter...

Petty minded curtain twitchers . Always the argument used by people who cba to follow guidelines or don't understand them.

I'll be quite happy ro live life as we used to thanks. For the hard of thinking though, if positive you must isolate. Jesus.

I absolutely understand I must isolate. I was asking for suggestions as to how to transport children who legally have to go to school. Our child that hasn’t had covid is testing twice daily which seems excessive but I went from negative to positive in less than eight hours. As for the suggestion that it seems likely he’ll test positive so I should keep him off, when dd was unwell she tested negative several times then slept in my bed as she was feeling so ill. When she subsequently did test positive, I didn’t.. I’ve also been in a school that has had several outbreaks and it’s taken until now to catch it. My two colleagues in my year group have not caught it although exactly a third of the children in the year group has.

I could keep him off now but for how long??! Ucas handed in tomorrow thankfully!