If you are not much of a tester of children, would you test a child with...

[whyohwhyohwhyohwhywhy]

A tummy ache, when others in the class have covid?

It is not a symptom of course and I am not an enthusiastic tester by any means but I don't want to be judged by others.

Interesting!

I don't want to but I thought the response would be that we should.

Primary school age.

No, I will never test my children. It's irrelevant. If they are ill I'll treat their symptoms.

Do you not have the nose only tests? My son with LD can do them on himself!

No

I wouldn’t for that, no. Ds likes to use ‘tummy ache’ as code for getting out of lessons he’s not keen on. We’d be going through hundreds!
Now that it doesn’t matter anyway, I’m not bothering with testing ds (age 8) at all, it was a complete nightmare the few times we had to back in the autumn. I know I’m not alone in that thought here.

Tummy ache in kids can actually be an immune response as there are lymph nodes in that area. So yes it could be the beginnings of Covid. If your keeping them with yiu & quarantined anyway, then there's nothing really to gain by testing. If not, then you need to either test, or act like it is covid

I would but 3yo DD will do it on herself now if it's the nose ones (if bribed with a chocolate button!) and my mum is CEV with stage 4 cancer so I always test us before we see her.

No.DS hates it, is too little to understand why it's being done and it's traumatic for us all. Given that we're no longer legally required to isolate (I understand there's the moral obligation and if I had Covid then I would, but you know some people - or their employers - won't give a crap about moral obligations or responsibilities) I certainly wouldn't be testing him for a tummy ache and none of the more common symptoms that we're told to watch out for.

I do @hopeishere but that doesn't mean I want to use them.

Well they are all right as rain today and I sent them in

Both my kids had a tummy ache with omicron. Was first symptom with the youngest. We had to test and glad we did as he was immediately positive.

@Cryingbutstilltrying

I wouldn’t for that, no. Ds likes to use ‘tummy ache’ as code for getting out of lessons he’s not keen on. We’d be going through hundreds! Now that it doesn’t matter anyway, I’m not bothering with testing ds (age 8) at all, it was a complete nightmare the few times we had to back in the autumn. I know I’m not alone in that thought here.

Same here. DS1 has ASD and sensory processing issues. Stress often goes to his digestive system... he's got SATs and secondary transition coming up. That's a lot of headaches and tummy aches.

Yes.

And to those who will never test their children even if symptomatic - that attitude is probably why me and half my colleagues have had it twice, 35% of our pupils are currently off and the education (and safety, quite frankly) of every single child in the school is being compromised as we are so short-staffed.

Additional needs aside, testing is not a huge trauma for a primary-aged child. Closing schools is much worse.

Our primary school has also asked that we test children with tummy aches. We're currently missing a third of the teaching staff through illness so I would definitely test mine.

@Jules912

Yes, if they seemed otherwise unwell. This was DDs first symptom (although she had already tested positive as school asked us to test due to her teacher having it). If I'd waited for one of the official symptoms we wouldn't have tested until 3 days later.

And glad I did. DS sent home with what seemed like a tummy bug yesterday, test today came up immediately positive ( didn't bother to test yesterday as we weren't going anywhere and thought it better to wait until he'd stopped being sick).

Tummy ache can absolutely be a sign of covid in some children. When there was an outbreak in daughters class many of them had stomach issues, vomiting etc. My own dc did not have stomach issues with covid.

It's really up to you. You aren't obliged to test at all.

I would, and have. I have covid at the moment; 7 yr old this morning said she had headache and tummy ache; duly tested and yep, positive. She was negative yesterday.

I’m not obsessed with testing; but I have always endeavoured to not send them in with any contagious bugs (I realise that isn’t always possible) so I think it’s my duty to the staff and other kids at school to not send them in when it’s very likely they will pass it onto others.

Completely understand work issues/finances mean that isn’t always possible. But if you are able to, I think where possible we should all keep our unwell kids off school until they’re better. Would I test them asymptomatically normally, nope. Would I test them with vague symptoms, probably, if there was a close likelihood of them having it. Am I glad I did, yep.

Well my dd was in prolonged close contact with someone who had covid. So I started testing when she fell ill, which was with a tummy ache and sore throat.

Why? Because I didn’t want her to spread it to grandparents or anyone else.

@Thegirlwiththeeagereyes

Yes.

And to those who will never test their children even if symptomatic - that attitude is probably why me and half my colleagues have had it twice, 35% of our pupils are currently off and the education (and safety, quite frankly) of every single child in the school is being compromised as we are so short-staffed.

Additional needs aside, testing is not a huge trauma for a primary-aged child. Closing schools is much worse.

^this

We forget why we ended up with lockdown - because this government failed to contain its spread. It’s interesting comparing how much time we spent in lockdown compared to other countries.

I strongly suspect if we had better access to testing, better publicity of the key symptoms, then cases would have been contained faster and reduce the spread.

As it is, numbers are creeping back up - and that’s with reduced testing. Against a backdrop of waning immunity and I’ve heard nothing about fourth boosters as yet! Incredible.

Yes.

Am testing DD (well she does it herself, she’s 10) currently as she’s off school with general unwellness including a sore tummy.
She has multiple classmates (including her table) off with covid and currently 6 teachers off too.
If it spreads much more the school may have to close year groups simply because of lack of staff.
I think a lot of people don’t realise that, it’s not just about illness & potential exposure for vulnerable people, but the logistics of running a school.

She’s currently negative though but I’d feel foolish if I sent her in, then she tested positive later that day.