To go to work with a positive test

[Pleaseletmesleepin]

I am a teacher in a secondary school and the Head is very strict about attendance and the work piles up very quickly if you miss any time at all . Today I woke up with a sore throat and a cough . Did a test and it is positive. Technically I feel well enough to work and I am scared to phone in sick but it feels wrong to be so close to all of the pupils . Please help me with the right thing to do .

Message the headteacher and let them know. You obviously can’t go in if you have a positive test!

How is this a question still being asked after two years? You are positive you stay at home.

My School is saying do go while testing positive. You could offer to teach via zoom if not too unwell

Well, if I remember correctly, no one needs to worry because children don’t pass on Covid and no one gets ill in a school. That was the case when teachers were told they didn’t need vaccinating as a priority anyway. Funny how things change now everyone is at equal risk, albeit all having had the opportunity for three doses of the vaccine.

As this is (and was) patently untrue, I would remain at home as you are clearly going to spread Covid to others and some of those people will feel very unwell. You may also feel very unwell, even if you don’t now. Schools are the perfect breeding ground for any virus.

I hope you didn't go in, it's definitely not worth it. Even if it's a mild-ish illness for most people, other people (e.g. pupil's parents/grandparents) will have to have hospital appointments/much-needed operations/visits to care homes cancelled and it's not worth it for that.

Again another teacher here whose school has a very clear policy for staying home and testing on day 5 as before. I am pretty sure it is a requirement for all schools to have rules on this written into their health and safety policy. I would take it up with the LEA or academy Trust if they ask you to go in.

OP please don’t go in. I work in education so I get your worry but it’s completely unethical. Also, I’m currently on day 12 of Covid and I feel absolutely terrible still. You have no idea how your body will respond. I felt OK for the first few days and then it got me. I have worked from home the whole time and I’m sure it’s made me worse. Please rest and be sensible.

@ssd

What school is open on Sundays

They'll still have covid tomorrow

Contact the parents first, so they have a choice as to whether their kids attend your lessons.

@VodselForDinner

What country are you in and what are the rules there?

I’m not in the UK but didn’t think schools there open on a Sunday, especially not with a start time of after 11am.

Are you trying to catch OP out here or claim that she's not being honest? You've just made yourself look an idiot because she's obviously talking about whether she can go in to school tomorrow with a positive test today.

@rc22

Ask her. Say I've tested positive for covid but feel well enough to work. What would you like me to do?

I wouldn't do that.

Unlikely that this will happen but let's say she infects someone who has a chronic illness at the school and that person develops serious problems from Covid and later it comes out that she went to work knowing she was positive.

The boss will just say "Oh, I didn't know" and the OP will have to deal with the trouble. And yes, it is unlikely, and yes a lawsuit would never work because no one could proof that the person got it from her 100%. But stuff like that can cause an outrage at the school, letters that ask for that teacher to be fired etc.

The boss won't face the consequences if there is no proof that she knew about it. The OP will.

So if she truly wants to ask she should do it in writing but it might be too late as the boss might not read it anymore. Or she'd first have to write a mail and then call and be like "I sent you an email but you might not have seen it yet etc.".

I would just say "I am sick, I have Covid, I will have to stay home". And send an email with the positive test if she wants that.

Your school should have a policy- that they should have told all staff immediately after the rule change.
Regardless of what happens with this, you should start looking at other schools as this one sounds a shambles and you shouldn't be scared to be absent when ill

@Discodancinggiraffe

How is this a question still being asked after two years? You are positive you stay at home.

Because the rules have recently changed and OP hasn't had guidance from her workplace.

My school hasn't issued any up to date guidance since the law change on isolating if positive... I think they are hoping we just stop testing 🤷‍♀️ we were told we couldn't work from home if not ill come in, if ill stay home as you would normally. Covid absence didnt go on your sick record but now it does. Seems absolutely mad to me and I think that it's changed after some pushback but still nothing officially gone out so who knows....

If she expects you to go in, first thing is to go and stand very close to her face and cough. What a ridiculous headteacher and what an unbelievable question, of course you shouldn’t spread covid.

@Pleaseletmesleepin

Thank you every one . I will email her pic of the test and ask her opinion . I will let you know what she says . I hope she reads her emails on a Sunday .

By the sounds of her, I'm sure she expects her staff to be doing work at home on Sundays, as it is. So, she'd better be checking her emails. If she's not, it's not your problem. She sounds like a nightmare.

If I need to stay at home do I need a pcr test as a back up to the lateral flow . @Monstermissy36 - yes this , I knew what to do until the guidance changed and our school hasn’t mentioned it since . They have also stopped asking us to test twice a week .

This post is bizarre-of course you don’t go in!

Are you seriously the only member of staff to have ever tested positive?! There is no precedent for what the head tells you to do?!

In my school, we haven’t had a week since Xmas where someone hasn’t had it.

@VodselForDinner

What country are you in and what are the rules there?

I’m not in the UK but didn’t think schools there open on a Sunday, especially not with a start time of after 11am.

Are people being deliberately obtuse or actually are they actually dim? She doesn't explicitly need to state 'tomorrow' for people to know that's what she means 🙄 covid doesn't last one day

@Pleaseletmesleepin

She hasn’t issued any guidance. I am genuinely scared of the backlash of not going in .

In that case I’d presume gov guidance applies

Ie go in unless vulnerable - you or close contacts on work place

If there's no guidance from work and you are well enough to go in then go to work.

Everyone getting their knickers in a twist about it clearly don't understand the fact we have to live with this hence the government winding back restrictions. Living with this isn't going to look like staying off and testing all the bloody time.

If you had a cold would you stay off just incase someone had somebody vulnerable at home and it could kill them or just on the off-chance that the cold you have is just a mild version of the flu and everyone else might get it worse.

As it stands covid is just another illness that goes around at the moment and is killing no more people than anything else thanks to a combination of immunity and the strain weakening over time.

@Boatingforthestars

If there's no guidance from work and you are well enough to go in then go to work.

Everyone getting their knickers in a twist about it clearly don't understand the fact we have to live with this hence the government winding back restrictions. Living with this isn't going to look like staying off and testing all the bloody time.

If you had a cold would you stay off just incase someone had somebody vulnerable at home and it could kill them or just on the off-chance that the cold you have is just a mild version of the flu and everyone else might get it worse.

As it stands covid is just another illness that goes around at the moment and is killing no more people than anything else thanks to a combination of immunity and the strain weakening over time.

You don’t need separate or specific guidance from work-the government have released guidance that covers everyone just fine.

Odd that this has never ever come up on a staff meeting

I had this concern with my boss at work. I'm he's very much of the opinion it just Covid, just a cold, we all need to get on with life etc.

My DS tested positive last Sunday so I messaged him asking if he wanted me to come in or not? I'd been sharing a bed with him and was exposed.

To my surprise, my boss said no, stay home for a few days and see how you get on. I started developing symptoms myself each day and tested positive on Friday.

You know you need to stay home and isolate, I would message your boss from that perspective. Be strong in your position, and let her tell you different if she wants you in work anyway.

given your username

I can guess the outcome you’re hoping for