Isolating/quarantine

[langkaw]

This might be a stupid question but bear with. I have 2 kids in different classes in primary. Just got the guidelines from their school. They have to isolate if one of the kids tests positive for 2 weeks. Does that include family members?

I'm a secondary teacher and will be exposed to all the bubbles due to the fact I'm a senco. Will my own kids have to isolate if I'm told to isolate due to having been in a bubble with someone with a positive test?

I think this is going to end up being a complete shit show. I've been in denial over the summer and am waking up to the fact that I might possibly spend a big chunk of the next year stuck in the house with my kids, not being allowed outside...

I’m pretty sure if someone else in their / your bubble has tested positive, not you or your child it’s only the other people in the bubble who have to isolate, not their family members.

However, I have no idea how on Earth dh & I (both teachers) are going to cope work / childcare wise if one of the dc needs to isolate. Can’t ask anyone else to look after potentially infected child. Won’t be sick leave as not us sick. Yes can get childcare leave but unpaid... which we can maybe afford once or twice. After that 🤷‍♀️

I’m just trying not to think about it & will deal when / as / if it becomes an issue.

Basically it would be better if whole family did have to self isolate as then the leave would be paid.

@Hibbetyhob yes I've been in denial all summer and then saw the letter today. So much potential for things to go horribly wrong. So many of us in the same situation.

Huge denial here too.

It's almost like they haven't thought this through... Oh wait!

I think if infections continue to rise in the community it will be game over. I'm picturing whole year groups gone, half the staff off due to their own kids isolating, angry parents, people losing their pay....never mind the fact that if kids have to isolate they will have to stay indoors and it there will be no outdoor exercise opportunities or nipping to the shops. This will be terrible for them if they have no outdoor space.

Bloody hell.

Or it might just go swimmingly well!

I also have 2 primary aged kids. The sickening thing is we also don’t have paid leave for dependents but we are still expected to set and mark the work 🤔

I think we need to have conversations with school about what happens when our own kids get quarantined. I've a feeling my school would still pay us as they are very good with things like this. But would they afford to pay staff going off en masse, which is likely to happen?

And as teaching is predominantly female and generally it is the mother as primary care fixer, this will happen.

Wraparound care has been cancelled at my kids school too. This is probably going to end up being the least of my worries.

At least we are all ih the same boat I suppose and they will need to adjust accordingly.

I just want to go back to work and do my job. There is so much work to do to get these kids back on track. I work in a very challenging school and the kids have really suffered. I'm so worried I'm not going to be able to support them properly.

I'm focusing on the fact that we can now easily get tested with next day results. Hoping that means no self isolating for no reason?

@Juiceey I might be wrong but I think that you would still need to isolate if exposed despite a negative test as it can take a few days to test positive despite having contracted the virus.

I have to admit I still don’t understand the rules about quarantine and isolation. All I know is that I am in all of the bubbles in my secondary school and my own dc are in a different secondary school in 2 different bubbles. All I can see in my head is dominoes falling over...

I am also worried about work load and cover. Who is going to cover all of those teachers who will be off? Cover is a joke in my school to begin with, cover work is often “lost” and you have to magic something up out of thin air...

The back to school sleeplessness has started already.

This has started to dawn on me and my other half as we both work in schools. It's all v unclear and I am also fed up as I seem to be the only one who asks such questions! I'm going to be in 3 bubbles due to the nature of my role, so that's essentially the whole school. Where as DP is just in his classroom bubble. Weird how different settings do things. However still means potentially a lot of isolating as I have 3 children in different settings too. My only hope is community levels stay as low as they are where I live. Keeping everything crossed.

Guess I’m lucky as a secondary teacher that we actually don’t get included in a bubble to teach across all year groups. I won’t need to isolate unless I have symptoms.

@motherrunner

Guess I’m lucky as a secondary teacher that we actually don’t get included in a bubble to teach across all year groups. I won’t need to isolate unless I have symptoms.

But if we're in all bubbles surely the risk is the same and we'll get sent home? But they would have to send everyone home in that case. Yet in my kids primary if one bubble is infected the whole bubble including staff is quarantined.

There are so many holes in this....I think the covid safe guidelines are going to be binned for secondary teachers.

@PenOrPencil

I have to admit I still don’t understand the rules about quarantine and isolation. All I know is that I am in all of the bubbles in my secondary school and my own dc are in a different secondary school in 2 different bubbles. All I can see in my head is dominoes falling over...

I am also worried about work load and cover. Who is going to cover all of those teachers who will be off? Cover is a joke in my school to begin with, cover work is often “lost” and you have to magic something up out of thin air...

The back to school sleeplessness has started already.

Yes. I see next term as me being either a cover teacher or in quarantine. It's just beginning to dawn on me.

Secondary teachers are meant to be separate from all bubbles (which is why we aren't at risk ).

So we'd only isolate if we had symptoms.

It's going to be a childcare nightmare all round though if we have to get our kids tested for every cough/temperature.

I've just ordered myself a home test (did a drive through last week on the whole family as Dd had a cough an it came back negative, but I've still feel a bit 'off' and I want to be sure before Tuesday) because it told me my nearest available drive through centre was Manchester Airport - I'm south of Birmingham!

Guess I’m lucky as a secondary teacher that we actually don’t get included in a bubble to teach across all year groups. I won’t need to isolate unless I have symptoms.

This is only true if you can stay away from all students at all times. If you move within 1m for any length of time you are a close contact and Test and Trace should (in theory) contact you to self-isolate. My school is putting 2m tape everywhere and I’m planning to stick to it religiously!

The faster testing only helps if you're the one with symptoms. If you're quarantining because of close contact with someone else who's tested positive (whether that's your own child, or a student, colleague, friend etc) then you need to quarantine for the full two weeks, because that's the potential incubation period. Your family don't need to quarantine though (unless you then test positive).

I asked my SLT exactly that question (about what happens if we need to take time off to look after our own quarantining children) at the end of last term. The answer was - we don't know. They're a really good SLT, I'm not blaming them - but they're just guessing in the dark. They haven't had any guidance from the personnel people.

I imagine @calculatoroperator that they would still expect us to work from home in some capacity though and we would therefore be paid? This is what I would happen in other types of workplace.

God I hope so!!

I'm developing back to school blues on steroids here. I'm all already having to arrive late and leave early due to the fact there's no childcare.

Organising childcare is the bane of my life. Luckily I found out last week my children’s primary will offer it but now they’re dividing them into key stage bubbles. It means I have to drop one off then the other, no more standing by the road and watching them race in. I need to be in school now for 8 due to morning duties so it’s going to be tight!

I just don't know, langkaw. I'm admin not teaching, so possibly easier for me to work from home, but there's still only a limited amount I can do remotely. And at my school we wouldn't normally get paid if we were at home looking after ill children for more than a couple of days. If my primary child was quarantining then I'd have to be off for two weeks - and that could happen repeatedly in a worst case scenario. Just so much uncertainty.

Only if their bubble has popped by a positive test. Symptoms=test negative and no symptoms left can go back.

Asthmatic parent with kids that get a cough with every cold means lots of tests by xmas last year we would have had
Dd2 2 -3 tests
Dd1 1
Me 1
Dp 1

One year dc1 had ear infections and constant fever she was only at nursery 75% and thats without quarantining. Though i would hope at the moment it might be easier to get the antibiotic to avoid a&e.

Dc2 coughed from mid mar for 8w this year. Tbh i think they both likely have asthma