Nursery rejected DC because of Covid contact

[DinoRoar345]

DH has Covid. DS and I don’t (negative PCR and multiple LFTs). So I need to take DS to nursery and go to work. I said to nursery, if DS seems unwell please call me because he’s been exposed to Covid. And they said he can’t come in, please take him home!

Government policy is if you’re double jabbed or under 18 you do not have to isolate even if you’re a contact of someone with Covid. I need to go to work but now I have no childcare! Can I complain to council or Ofsted or something? I can’t stay off work for ten days when I don’t even have Covid.

Childcare settings can also have their own rules. A few schools round here are still sending children/classes home even though the government say they don’t need to isolate. At the end of the day it’s up to the setting what they decide to do in your case they have chosen not accept children who have been in close contact with a positive case.

@HardbackWriter

And I’m one of those who needs to go to work! How are adults supposed to go to work if nurseries aren’t abiding by government guidelines?

In your specific case you have a perfectly viable alternative - the child's father who is at home could look after them - you just don't want to take it.

This. There is no reason why your DH can't look after your child if he is well enough. Yes DC might catch covid but it's unlikely they'll even notice it.

However, the nursery cannot charge you for a place they are refusing to let you use.

I appreciate you don't want to take the risk that your DS might get Covid from your DH, but I think you need to ask yourself why you then think it's okay for everyone else to take that risk
They aren’t taking that risk. They’re not being exposed to someone who has Covid. Because DS does not have Covid.

Would you want a child with a sickness bug to be in nursery next to your child?
No but DS doesn’t have any kind of bug or virus. He’s completely healthy and has tested negative. If he did become ill I would remove him ASAP.

Would the grandparents be happy to have them in this situation?
Yes we are still seeing grandparents. Because DS and I do not have Covid.

OP is entitled because she assumes she is entitled to the nursery providing childcare so she can work
Yes I think it’s perfectly reasonable to expect to be provided with something I’ve pre-booked and paid for, when my child is perfectly healthy and able to attend. I would understand if DS was sick and they didn’t want him to pass it on. But he is not sick, he doesn’t have Covid. They don’t exclude children who’ve had contact with a case of chickenpox, or diarrhoea, or vomiting, etc. They only exclude the child if they themselves are sick. So I don’t see how this is any different.

Nursery are within their right to create and follow their own policies.

If you’re still seeing grandparents can they help out?

He tested negative at the time he took the test and that is the issue - it can take longer.

It is what it is OP - Covid rules never quite make sense or follow but the upshot is yes the Nursery can refuse and no there is nowhere you can complain. I have to say over 18 months in I am surprised this is the first time you have realised that there is often no rhyme or reason to the rules or guidance at all

So unfortunately you need to figure out a way to make it work.

Out of interest, what would your plan be if, in the next 2 days, while your DH was still ill, the nursery had to close completely for 10 days with no chance of providing care to any of its users because of a covid outbreak among the staff? May or may not have been due to contact with another child who nobody knew was carrying it.

@DinoRoar345

So are you ok if other child with household covid case was allowed to attend and potentially infect your child, and you had to take time off work because of it? Those are the government rules 🤷‍♀️ Honestly I wouldn’t have mentioned it if I thought they would kick DS out for a fortnight. But I checked the rules and it says quite clearly that contacts don’t need to isolate. So I thought it was fine to take him to nursery. I won’t be so honest next time!

It's not government rules it's government advice. Private nurseries can make their own decisions based on their staff. You would have signed t&C's regarding payment when you started the nursery and they should have updated it with covid. My child's nursery only charges a small retainer if absent due to covid. But you'll have to take it up with the nursery

Yes I think it’s perfectly reasonable to expect to be provided with something I’ve pre-booked and paid for, when my child is perfectly healthy and able to attend.

Whether you have pre booked and paid for it is irrelevant, all education settings have “rules” designed to protect their children from infectious diseases. Some nurseries and schools do indeed not accept siblings of children who have other infectious diseases even though they have not shown signs of infection (yet). That is reasonable too since they may have a viral load even before they are actually ill, every parent knows that the second of siblings to get eg chicken pox will often be more ill because they have been exposed to a greater viral load.

There is a pandemic on with very high case rates, your child is unvaccinated so they represent an even greater risk, and you do not know your child is not infected, you only know their viral load was not great enough to spark a positive test at the moment you did the last test. You admitted that by asking the nursery to let you know if they developed symptoms which actually acknowledges that you know they might be infectious and infect others. The Nursery are using the common sense and concern for others you clearly lack. However either you are being goody or you really are incredibly ………

@DinoRoar345

OP is entitled because she assumes she is entitled to the nursery providing childcare so she can work Yes I think it’s perfectly reasonable to expect to be provided with something I’ve pre-booked and paid for, when my child is perfectly healthy and able to attend. I would understand if DS was sick and they didn’t want him to pass it on. But he is not sick, he doesn’t have Covid. They don’t exclude children who’ve had contact with a case of chickenpox, or diarrhoea, or vomiting, etc. They only exclude the child if they themselves are sick. So I don’t see how this is any different.

Oh for goodness sake!
We are not in the middle of a chicken pox pandemic or a sickness and diarrhoea pandemic, we're in a covid pandemic, and mitigation measures need to take place to minimise the spread of that. No one needs to isolate from society with chicken pox or a tummy bug (although I'm sure we'd all agree you should while you're sick), but you do when you have covid. Therefore we need to protect others from the knock on effects having covid has on our lives.

Stop being selfish and keep your child at home with your DH.

Covid is endemic. We need to adapt. The relaxing of government guidelines is part of a strategy to move us away from a pandemic situation.

They aren't going against advice though. They aren't saying he has to isolate, just that they won't have him in nursery. There is no law that they have to accept him.

Same if he'd been sick. He can't come back until they know he isn't contagious.

Most people I know have taken the stance that whilst legally they are not obliged to self isolate that there is a moral/ethical obligation to do so - especially if they can work from
Home - this is supported by their employers who don't want covid breaking out amongst staff.

You'd be the first to moan if they accepted another child whose dad had covid and it caused an outbreak, meaning they had to close for weeks. Then all the parents would be struggling for childcare not just you.

And when the nursery is closed because all the staff have covid because someone took their kid there, you ok with that?

Oh goodness, how will you cope without your child potentially harming or killing other children and staff?! It must be so difficult x

Gliderx Oh for pity’s sake stop the broken record unless you are the owner of a crystal ball. An unvaccinated child from a house with Covid can be considered an infection risk by a nursery whether it is pandemic, endemic or sky blue pink, because they are. It is a highly transmissible disease and if they do not take steps to prevent there is a risk it can end up with staff off, the virus spread to other families and even having to close so nobody has childcare. I am sure by this stage they have enough experience to make an informed judgement on the risk and unless we actually manage to get a lid on cases or vaccinate the under 5s the factors affecting that judgement won’t change whatever the name for what is happening. It is pretty clear that most of us on here think this is sensible infection control. We have no idea what lies ahead and neither does the government, however much you might wish it so.

zero … She's already said her dh can't look after him as she doesn't want her ds to catch covid.

So she doesn’t want her ds to catch Covid from his dad, yet will still send ds to nursery to infect others IF he’s carrying it it’s ok to infect others

He can still catch Covid from his dad without actually touching and seeing him - surfaces, atmosphere …

Irresponsible behaviour all round, no other words.

@Namechangehereandnow

He can’t catch covid from his dad if his dad is in a different room…. But maybe he had before dad knew he had it and was contagious.

@DinoRoar345

If it’s risky for a child with a household contact to attend an educational setting then why has the government said it’s permitted? 🤷‍♀️

Because its incompetent.

Some areas have local guidance where household contacts have to isolate.

Can you not see why the nursery wouldn't want your ds to come in ? If staff catch it from him and nursery has to shut then every family is screwed.

Chris Whitty said that he expects every child who hasn't had Covid to inevitably catch it this winter. Delta (and now Nu) are super transmissable.

Do you really think the change in guidance is because of scientific evidence ? Of course not. The old rules created problems (remember the word pingdemic?) and as party donors are business leaders who need workers at work, Johnson is happy to oblige. Personally I think the policy for children is herd immunity by stealth. Johnson wants your child to catch it because he'll probably be fine and not need a hospital bed and the rest of society benefits from his immunity until he reaches the age that he can have a jab. (Age 5-11 are probably getting jabs next year in the UK and I think they are doing clinical trials on over 2s now)

[quote OnceuponaRainbow18]@Namechangehereandnow

He can’t catch covid from his dad if his dad is in a different room…. But maybe he had before dad knew he had it and was contagious.[/quote]
Of course he can … his dad is hardly gonna be literally in a room 24/7, not coming out for a drink, food, shower, toilet, not touching anything along the way, wearing a mask the whole time?

@BoredZelda

And when the nursery is closed because all the staff have covid because someone took their kid there, you ok with that?

Like ours, now closed due to a lot of staff testing positive in the last couple of days. It's a guess, but we are thinking having the children of infected parents (at least 3 families) in the setting is probably the source. I really wish if parents can avoid using nursery in that instance, please do!

So you don't want to risk your child getting it but are happy to risk others?! Then go on to say you wish you hadn't been honest...

This has to be one of the most selfish posts I've ever read on here.

Shameful

Government policy doesn’t say you have to keep your child off nursery if they have a mild cold either, or were in contact with a chickenpox case, but that is the policy they have all had pre-Covid.

If your child is young, maybe they weren’t in nursery pre-pandemic so you don’t remember, but nurseries are always absolutely rigid about keeping sick or potentially sick kids at home. I remember ours sending a whole room home for a week after one got chickenpox. It isn’t a covid thing, it’s to stop any illnesses ripping through the nursery. Use a nanny or childminder if you want more flexible sickness policies.