If you have Covid in your household are you still sending your negative kids to school?

[JamieNotJames]

I think this is more a question of what is morally right and not legally right.

DS 8yrs tested positive on Sunday and was immediately kept off school to self isolate.
DD 5yrs has still been going in to school this week and we've been doing LFTs each day which continue to be negative.

I tested positive today and something doesn't sit right about still being able to send her in to school. If DH was to also test positive are we still able to take her to school?

Also, DD has a couple of activities and parties at the weekend. If both her and DH remained negative would you send her to these with (triple jabbed) DH?

There's covid in my house. My child is going on as normal as they have no symptoms. Neither I nor the child have tested. It's a cold.

DH, DD9 and myself are all positive. I have still sent my DD5 to school as that's what the school want. I meet her class mates mum at the school gate in my car and she walks in with them. My DD9 is testing negative now but I'm going to Keep her home for the rest of the week just because I think it's probably best.

My DS2 has not been allowed to go to nursery though, despite testing negative

In this position and school have said that our negative school aged child must attend (primary school).

Agree it didn’t sit right with me sending her in but we did! After the first week of covid in the house (older daughter) and both me and my husband testing positive on the following Friday/Saturday we took her for a PCR - she was negative and kept doing daily LFTs for the week.
In the end she never tested positive and I’m glad she went in as she would have missed two weeks of school - it took 5/6 days from elder daughter to me catching it!

@Margo34

I am a teacher, I am currently isolating after a positive LFT having picked up Covid from children at school. In my class it started with 2 children - one whose sibling was positive the other whose parent was positive. Both children continued to come to school, have their play dates and do their activities.

Now there are 14 children all positive themselves and isolating within my class plus 3 staff members working within the class. The school can't secure the same supply teacher to cover the whole period of absence, so there is a revolving door of supply teachers going in - more cross contamination. Some children in the class have significant SEND and don't do well with change. So staff have had to evacuate the classroom twice so far due to the big explosive behaviours that have resulted, disrupting learning for everyone.

For me personally, it wouldn't sit right if I still sent my DD in to nursery whilst I'm at home positive, so she's not going, which means I'm taking a financial hit for her nursery fees on those days.

It's no longer just that one sibling or that one parent affected - it's a whole class including staff and their families and the school budget (supply agencies rates are extortionate) and individuals personal budgets that are all taking the hit.

However you decide, there will be disruption to learning whether you send them or not, and a bigger picture.

If you and your DH test positive, you will need to find someone else to take your negative child to school as you and your husband wont be allowed to leave the house. That puts another person at risk of exposure, also.

Hopefully he brings forward the end of isolation. Having had it asymptomatically I imagine a lot could continue to work with it.

No. Eldest DD tested positive after October half term; picked up by routine Sunday testing before school, no symptoms at all. Called youngest daughters school on Monday and said she wouldn't be in due to Covid being in the house. Argument followed about the rules and guidance, but having worked on Covid response now for the past 2 years, the guidance could do one and my morals stood firm. Just as well, as 2 days later she also tested positive and was incredibly poorly. For two days she could have been spreading it as LFTs were negative. Fast forward to now, there was gossip in the playground that a number of younger siblings of kids in DD class had tested positive, but older siblings still at school due to them testing negative. Two days later, teacher goes off with COVID, said siblings also test positive and low and behold my DD has it again and is again really unwell. So yes the guidance is there, but it doesn't make it right.

I don’t think they should be going in. We had a covid positive mum driving her kid to school and asking random parents walking by to walk the reception ages kid in who then tested positive after going to an all class party as well

@Footballschmootball

I wouldn’t - it doesn’t seem right at all to me. You might be allowed to but that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. Totally agree with *@Margo34*

Same here. I don't think it's morally right so not doing it.

For those of you saying the child should stay at home, what would you say in my scenario?

I am a teacher and my child and DH currently both have covid, but I am testing negative and going into work teaching my class and across my phase.

I have one at home with covid and I am not sending sibling in as I expect that’s how the other one got it in the first place.
Wouldn’t sit right with me sending them in and would hate to be responsible for giving it to someone else.

Have to add that I would rather not seNd the negative child in but then assuming she doesn't have it, she actually is at less risk of catching it by being away from our house all day. If more of us test positive then I might reconsider. We only had it at the end of November too!

“I am a teacher and my child and DH currently both have covid, but I am testing negative and going into work teaching my class and across my phase.”

I would hope you would be cautious a bit different with kids, keep distance, wash hands . Kids touching everything, sitting next to other children singing in assembly's, ect when they could be infectious prior to showing pos also I’ve seen how kids wash hands .

Those who continue to go party’s ect when it’s in house just selfish. I wouldn’t do that with any other infection in house .

I’d send her into school and let her go to the activities at the weekend. She’s fine, so it’s not fair for her to miss out on things on the off chance that she’s carrying her mums mild illness. Children have missed out on enough because of covid.

My eldest (teenager) went to school when the rest of us had covid. We tested positive the day the rules changed(Scotland) kept him home the Wednesday to Friday but sent him back on the Monday. He also went back to football training later in that week too.

He already had covid and is still in the first 12 weeks of his vaccine. He tested daily and didn't catch it. He is in an exam year and cannot afford to miss any more school.

I've been sending her to school but she has been missing things such a gymnastics, art class, judo etc.

I would send child to school if negative.

But any hint of a symptom I would keep off.

We had a negative PCR this week, and 24 hours later positive LFT (picked up the the daily LFT test instead of self isolation). Thankfully child hadn't been at school as i kept him off due to slight cough to get PCR. (Covid in house)

I would give social activities a miss. We did cancel something for DS before he was positive.

I sent my 5 year old last week when I was positive. I had already had a letter with concerns about her attendance last term ( chicken pox and two other nasty viruses meant she had had 11 days off sick from September to December) I didn't dare keep her off again, she tested negative for 7 days. Day 8 she was negative in the morning, sent her to school, she came home saying she didn't feel well and tested positive. So now has to isolate for 10 days (school rules whether she tests negative beforehand or not.) Felt like a ticking time bomb sending her everyday and I felt guilty knowing she could come down with it at any time but if I had kept her off from the day I tested positive she would have ended up being off for 18 days. So I'm glad I didn't, 10 days is bad enough for her to be missing education. She didn't go to any hobbies that week though.

He is in an exam year and cannot afford to miss any more school.

I don't blame you!

1 DC has Covid and is off, 1 had 1 day off as i couldn’t get a LFT from them (they are little) so kept them home until I managed to get one which was negative so they’re now back in school. Other 2 are taking LFT’s daily before school, which so far have been negative. I wasn’t going to let them attend any clubs but as it turns out they have also been cancelled this week due to positive Covid cases.

DH was positive recently. We keep DS off for one day but he was bouncing off the walls. Confirmed with school that they wanted him as long as he had negative lateral flow tests. Neither he nor I ever tested positive on LFT or PCR whereas DH was positive on both.

I'm positive, both kids and DH are negative on LFT (doing daily) and have all had a negative pcr so yes they're going in as normal. Any hint of a symptom or a second line and obviously they would join me.

We're not only because we have noone to take them. We were all positive, my daughter still is but she's now day 10 so can technical go back tomorrow. Me, son and husband are all day 7 and 5 and still testing positive.

By Monday we'll all be over our 10 days so we're just keeping them off until then when we can actual take them.

I wouldn’t because the school says no but to be honest I find it odd that it total fine for adults to go to work as household contacts even in roles were they have a lot of public contact but kids can’t go to school, I know a few families where that has been the case..negative parents at work mingling with 30/40 people a day but negative sibling expected to self isolated. But it does feel that there is a lot of desire for children to make more sacrifices than adults and this is another example.

Adults can keep a distance from others, wear a mask, more likely to have ventilation.
Schools do not have this luxury, 30 plus kids crammed next to each other in a small class, no masks. I don’t suppose many adults work that close to other people.

When DC2 had it in December we all PCR’d negative except her. We sent DC1 to school (daily LFTs) but cancelled everything else.

If it happened now I wouldn’t even cancel other stuff.