How will we know if our kids have it from April?

[Kage30]

Cases rising in kids school again. Been told to pcr test if any symptoms. But what about form April when pcr testing is ending? Only 11 whole days away?!

I know we still have access to lft's - that you will have to pay for. I have a couple boxes left but won't last forever. Many parents including myself cannot afford to buy multiple lft tests.

Also , lft's aren't always accurate right? So if your kid has symptoms and you get a negative lft doesn't mean that they don't actually have it, could be just too soon to tell? But as above many won't be able to afford to buy multiple lft's.

I mean if your kid is visibly ill with say a fever, bad cough or fatigue etc - keep them off until better. But what about when a child just has mild sniffles? But totally fine in themselves? Paying for an lft each time?!

Thankfully mine aren't ill that often so hopefully won't affect us. But Dd has all year round allergies, usually mild and kept under confirm with antihistamines but if it gets bad for whatever reason she often develops a cough that I've had to test her for to get back to school as her cough has been bad. But I won't be able to afford an lft each time!!

She'd had covid twice and had minimal symptoms each time. Picked up as was testing due to close contact to covid, I wouldn't have known if I didn't test her.

@toomuchlaundry but that’s the point. So many of them ARENT Ill. They’re just positive!

Not in my circle of school staff acquaintances, they are too ill to be in. This variant seems to be hitting many people hard, also many getting stomach upsets so couldn’t be in even if they didn’t feel too poorly

[quote lookforthesun]@toomuchlaundry but that’s the point. So many of them ARENT Ill. They’re just positive![/quote]
But lots of us are.

Day 7 here. 1st time I have had Covid.Very strong line on LFT but couldn't have gone to work anyway. First day I have got up properly for 3 days.

My class have been taught by a TA this week until this afternoon when they will be joining the class next door - meaning 4 year groups in together.

If one more staff member succumbs there will definitely be class (or depending on who it is) or school closure.

There are currently only 7 children off ( but this is 10%) of our school.

If my class get sent home, I am not well enough to sort meaningful home learning and there is no one else to do it.

My friends little boy (reception age) is currently in hospital as he got taken in by ambulance 3 days ago due to concerns about his breathing, it's ripping through his class - 17 out of 24 currently off with it.
This is an otherwise healthy child.

Just got a letter from ds's school that they go into hybrid learning. Each year group stays at home one day.

@lookforthesun

You don’t need to know. That’s the point. If you’re poorly stay at home. If not go to school.

Remember 2 years ago? It’s coming back thank god!

I agree. This is exactly what needs to happen for society to fully function again. As it stands there will most likely be a gradual transition to this with some people still buying tests in the meantime.

Of course all of our personal experiences are anecdotal and I don’t deny that there are people who haven’t been quite poorly with it but, for me, everyone I know who has had it experienced it like a cold (including the 5 of us in this house). This ranged from mild/barely noticing it to a heavy cold but no more than that.

@Crackingowlsanctuary

Of course all of our personal experiences are anecdotal and I don’t deny that there are people who haven’t been quite poorly with it but, for me, everyone I know who has had it experienced it like a cold (including the 5 of us in this house). This ranged from mild/barely noticing it to a heavy cold but no more than that.

Are any of them school staff?

Do any of them spend 6 hours+ a day with 30 wholly unvaccinated people at a time?

I do think that viral load - inevitably high in school environments - plays a significant role in severity, as does time since vaccination.

god I'm so worried. DD has had it twice, was properly unwell both times and has been left really unwell. It's had horrible long term effects, which hopefully will eventually fade but I wouldn't wish this on anyone. I'm obviously glad that for most people it feels like a cold but the long term effects are so unknown yet.

I had a GP appointment last week because I'm having odd bleeding and she asked if I'd had Covid (I had, I had it in January). She said I wasn't even the first person she'd seen that morning who'd had Covid and then period changes. It's a shitty thing, Covid, and it seems so foolish to just think it's fine to abandon absolutely all mitigations because for some it's 'just a cold'.

Yes, some of them are school staff @cantkeepawayforever

5-6% of people positive in my nhs trust, for the past few weeks, most asymptomatic and back to work at day 5/6 and doing admin/management while at home.
We are in contact with many unvaccinated people (the majority) and only wearing full ppe for known covid + patients.
All seems so random.

Several staff have had it at DDs school & all very mildly. DDs teacher said during parents evening they were all very frustrated stuck at home. In my personal circle, it’s also been extremely mild as it’s flown round us all recently..

Maybe it’s a specific kind of covid in our area at the moment?! There are lots of variants but most are tiny adjustments of no concern 🤷🏼‍♀️

Op don’t worry

The advice to isolate with covid ends on 31 March and schools are being reissued advice

Currently schools follow gov advice which right now is still to isolate

Gov have confirmed that advice ends on 31/3 so there will be no expectation to test as no one is being advised to isolate from them on

Yes @Watapalava
Because they've been great at issuing new guidance / advice so far haven't they?

Always really clear and with lots of notice.... Forgive me if I don't hold my breath!

Pomruns*

Are the majority of people in the UK wholly unvaccinated?

I completely accept that HCP working solely with children will see almost entirely unvaccinated individuals.

For those working with adults - or 12+ - is the MAJORITY wholly unvaccinated, ie not a single dose?

My understanding was that over 90% of 12+ have had 1 vaccination, 85%+ have had 2, and around 2/3 have had 3? It is hard to work out from those figures that the MAJORITY of those healthcare professionals see could be wholly unvaccinated?

The area where I work - the patients are largely unvaccinated.

@PomRuns

The area where I work - the patients are largely unvaccinated.

So in paediatrics or similar? How do the rates in paediatric staff compare with those with similar numbers and duration of patient contacts, and similar PPE, but working with the predominantly vaccinated majority of age groups, or do you not have that data?

I don't have that data to hand - I could certainly find it for you if you are interested.

or rather some data.

I think it would be really interested to get a direct time series comparison between those working in identical conditions with mainly-vaccinated and mainly-unvaccinated populations over the last couple of waves, so if that's available, that would be brilliant to see, thanks!

I think it's unlikely there would be a specific study in relation to your suggestion re identical conditions. There are far too many variable ie immune compromised patients. staff who have been boosted or not for example.

My comment above was regarding staff sickness which is carefully monitored and recorded - our sickness levels at peak (end 2020/beg 2021) was11%. This wave at most 6%, now 4% with the majority experiencing mild symptoms.

Do you think the difference between that and school staff sickness - up to 9.1% for teachers on March 17th, up from 5.8% a fortnight previously - is due to different conditions in terms of PPE and other mitigations?

Or a reflection of the level of infections amongst schoolchildren (attendance below 90%, so again around 10% off) compared with the population at large?

(Note that the figures I have quoted is 'total absence', not 'confirmed as covid', but I believe that is exactly comparable to the healthcare data?)

Sorry, should have added 3rd option

Or an indication that transmission to adults working in very close contact with many unvaccinated individuals, as is universal in schools, is particularly efficient in terms of infection? That is why the comparison between healthcare staff working with different age groups would be particularly interesting, as it would rule in or out this particular explanation.

I had a GP appointment last week because I'm having odd bleeding and she asked if I'd had Covid (I had, I had it in January). She said I wasn't even the first person she'd seen that morning who'd had Covid and then period changes. It's a shitty thing, Covid, and it seems so foolish to just think it's fine to abandon absolutely all mitigations because for some it's 'just a cold'.

Most people have had covid surely? I had odd bleeding before covid existed it isn’t anything new. Some doctors really are not helping with these ridiculous theories.

"I had odd bleeding before covid existed it isn’t anything new"

Plenty of women reported period changes from the vaccine which is due to antigens etc so not unreasonable to assume the virus itself causes similar effects.