Schools and Covid 19 (part 5) **Mod warnings in OP**

shesty

Three year old informed me this afternoon he had a sore throat.

Yep, I booked a test.Tried to do an antigen on him, he wouldn't let me.Brought his sibling along as she coughed a bit.Might aswell.

As it turns out he is now running a temperature.I admit, covid is bottom of my list of concerns.We have the test done so at least if needs a doctor this weekend I can get an appointment and I don't have to wait for him to get worse, ring a doctor, and wait another 24 hours for a test result before getting to see a doctor.

It's a rubbish way to live, his sister's weekend activities are now gone for them while we wait for his result.It's even more rubbish to realise my mind went straight to "how quick can I get a test" instead of "will I need a GP" when he told me.He's back in preschool 3 weeks, I expect him to catch pretty much everything this year, his immume system hasn't had the workout the other two would have had at this stage.Long winter ahead

Beanybabog

My 3 year old woke slightly congested, I hadn’t noticed until he told me he had snots. I didn’t send him in even though it was the mildest snotty nose in history. The list I got from his sisters school says the DES sent an updated list of symptom including congestion and snotty nose and if your child has one symptom keep them home and call the GP. His schooL was already closed recently for cases that spread and he did his time at home and tests (negative). So I was in a bit of a panic about it- not panicking about him getting Covid, but sending them in, the right thing to do etc. I did an antigen and it was negative. I felt like a tool but I rang the GP office because that’s what the email said and they said they’re sending them all pretty much as some schools won’t take them back without the test. But they said just keep him home and see if he gets worse or develops anything else. He didn’t, a few snots and it cleared that day. I’m a stay a home parent so last minute keeping them home is not an issue, and I want to do the right thing, but between the covid cases shutting the school and this he’s only been in 5 days. I did a think through of the rules and my understanding is that a strict interpretation would be

1) keep them all home, including his school going sister (because a snotty nose is a symptom) and you stay home if family has any symptoms

2) go to the test centre en masse, baby and all, because I shouldn’t have anyone mind the others if someone has a symptom.

3) wait for results. Send him back if negative? Or when the snots go?

I have three kids… if I have to do the above everytime someone has a single symptom on the list (it’s a pretty extensive list!) they’ll never get to go in, and probably most of the time won’t have covid anyway.

I think antigen tests need to be rolled out for the kids. They’re pretty expensive to buy yourself though. My sons class was shut down two days before the HSE would have done it on the back of a home administered antigen test.

shesty

This is it, I fully expect next week my oldest will pick whatever it is up and need a test and time off school til results come.

There does come a point where they miss too much because of "just in case" though.

Beany if you bring them all would you expect them all tested?I went the opposite way and thought I couldn't bring them all if not being tested, because they would 't allow it. Had to wait for husband to come home before I brought younger 2 out.

Beanybabog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117905670#Comment_117905670

No, I would assume only symptomatic one is tested but strictly speaking no one from outside the household can mind them if one has a single symptom..and my OH is working abroad. So i would have to do a family trip or wait days or a week until he’s home which defeats the point of testing for tracing as speed matters…

josip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117905219#Comment_117905219

6G

Vaccinated30

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117906518#Comment_117906518

Anyone thats vaccinated can mind them as Fully Vaccinated people arw not close contacts and dont need to restrict movements. If you/your OH are fully vaxxed then you cam both carry on working going to the shops etc even if the children are positive so long as you have no symptoms.

fun loving criminal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117904886#Comment_117904886

It's not what kids do. It's what the mother did. Bring her coughing kid shopping with her.

shesty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117906518#Comment_117906518

You can tie yourself into so many knots trying to get this right especially with kids.It's hard.

BobHopeless

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117907065#Comment_117907065

What should she have done, left the child at home by themselves? Not everyone has a nanny and they have to just get on with it.

fun loving criminal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117907088#Comment_117907088

Maybe stay at home with the kid? Shopping for adult clothes isn't essential.

shesty

Also the child may have had a negative test and just have had a cough.

BobHopeless

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117907101#Comment_117907101

Who say's it not essential? Also maybe she was out getting groceries also and paying bills at the post office who knows. It's a cough and sniffle for goodness sake not ebola.

BobHopeless

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117907102#Comment_117907102

Exactly, who knows. The pandemic has produced an army of curtain twitchers.

fun loving criminal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117907102#Comment_117907102

A negative test doesn't mean that they don't have covid. This is even on the HSE website.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117907187#Comment_117907187

I presume the hse website says kids who have had a negative test, are not a close contact of a confirmed and don’t have new symptoms have to restrict their movements so?

shesty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117907187#Comment_117907187

Good for the HSE website.

If you have kids you realise exactly how many versions of coughs and colds they can get in a winter, and how long these can drag on for.Once a negative test is there, and nothing else is going on in the background at home, that's good enough for me. I am not going to question every child I see with a cough.

Also seeing as this is a purely hypothetical discussion about someone none of us know anything about, I think I'll leave it there.

the corpo

We've caught this really nasty head cold this week, got tested and are negative, but are inclined to stay away from others, just cos it's a brutal enough cold, not keen to pass it on.

I don't think there is any HSE advice on restricting movements in general if you get a negative test, but they do ask you not to return to school until 2 days after symptoms have abated.

If people were in a position to keep there kids out just for a day or two even to just let a sniffle pass it might help alleviate the unnecessary 14 day break many kids are having to endure. Maybe. It's unfortunate timing that such a particularly rough cold is doing the rounds...

bloopy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117907614#Comment_117907614

Caught the same cold. It is a rough one alright. Very hard to shift it off too.

Tested negative for the covid yesterday but still worked from home during the week to prevent spreading it in to the office - don't think i'd be very popular if I brought it in with me.

jrosen

Ive one of mine out and we had him tested yesterday, he is partially vaccinated. Awaiting result. He is pretty miserable anyway and covid aside I prob would have kept him home yesterday at the very least. I dont think its covid as there has been no known cases in any of his circles. That being said I think its only right to be cautious. I also think we could do with learning from covid and keeping sick kids home from school in future rather than sending them to spread whatever they have to the class.

People are stupid. We had one person in work (vaccinated) come to work sick, sore throat, blocked nose, headache. Play down the illness. Turns out they have covid, now 2 of the non vaccinated staff members had to be sent home and to follow public health advice. We are now down 3 staff members and the pressure is being put on the rest of us to cover shifts.

shesty

Have just been tested myself, painful sore throat, woke up with it.

All kids other than me there, some quite upset at the testing (older kids, 8,9,10 crying their eyes out).A couple of screaming toddlers and babies too, obviously unwell and unhappy, being compounded by swabs being stuck up their noses.

I know it is necessary but it seems wrong somehow.And I am sure plenty of people will be here asking me well what else can we do -simply stating what I saw and heard.

jrosen

Small sick babies and toddlers I understand crying and being upset, its difficult to explain to them. But it takes less than 10 seconds and its only the nasal swab now not both so really for older kids it shouldn't be that big a deal.

I guess for parents who are concerned that the testing would be too much for their kids they could choose not to test but assume their children are positive and act accordingly.

the corpo

I'm really surprised kids are upset, unless they're upset going in and afraid. When my daugher had hers the other day, it was literally a cotten bud run around the inside of her nostril, nothing into the nasal cavity at all. Sure, they stick their fingers in further ;)

shesty

Surprised myself tbh.I brought my own for testing yesterday and they had to just get on with it.It was distressing to watch quite so many upset though.

tremonemac

My senior infant came home with a runny nose/ slight cough Thursday. My pre schooler had bouts of coughing during the night on Thursday. I also woke with a sore throat/ cough yesterday. Notified the school/preschool and booked tests. Results came back this evening, negative thankfully. 29 hour turnaround for the result. My gut said it was a normal cold but without a negative result they couldn’t return to school on Monday.

Similar to the poster above the test for the children was very gentle so much so I was worried it wouldn’t be an accurate result. Hopefully antigen testing will be introduced going forward, otherwise it’ll be a long winter of isolating/ testing every time there’s a sniffle in the house.

Marty Bird

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117907992#Comment_117907992

Depends on the swabber my lad had one a while back and he was very rough, he won’t be tested again that’s for sure.

shesty

A friend got a negative test last weekend for her sniffly 14 month old.Cold eased off during the week.He is sniffling and coughing again today, she is now bringing him for another test.She is assuming the creche won't accept a 7 day old test and also her doctor won't see him without a negative test so in the event that she does need a doctor during the week, at least she will have the test done.She's working mum with 2 older kids, so that means tomorrow is written off for her because all three will be at home while they wait for results.

I totally see why she is doing it, what choice does she have.But does there come a point where we have to start applying common sense to this?Speed up the result times?Set a window of time between tests as acceptable?Prioritise kids results for a period of time?I don't know what the solution is but I don't think this is it.

jrosen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117910790#Comment_117910790

I find the HSE site a little difficult to navigate. So much information. But what I read was that once there is a negative result and no new symtoms have developed then the child can return to school/chilcare. So thats something at least. My son has tested negative and even though he still has a cough and a runny nose he will be going back to school tomorrow.

I do think the turn around is slow. He spent one whole day out of school where I couldn't get an appointment for a test, day 2 out before I got an app and results then the following day. So 3 day turn around.

Vaccinated30

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117910790#Comment_117910790

I would send the older 2 if that was me.

BobHopeless

Ridiculous situations all round now. My daughter has suffered enough mentally from the previous lockdowns in terms of schooling and the social side. I'll be sending her back into school tomorrow despite being a close contact with a positive case as her mental health is more important than this Covid nonsense now. She has zero symptoms after having a slight sniffle and runny nose on Thursday.

iamwhoiam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117911727#Comment_117911727

Runny nose is a symptom , would you do an antigen test at least ? Available in Circle K garages for under €10

BobHopeless

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117911756#Comment_117911756

No. She's no symptoms. The less Covid talk the better for kids anyway i'd argue.

A line has to be drawn now on this whole episode.

iamwhoiam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117911764#Comment_117911764

I beg to differ she did have symptoms .

jrosen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117911727#Comment_117911727

If your daughter is unvaccinated needs to follow public health advice and stay home, isolate and test. Yes kids have missed school and yes its been hard on them but thats where us parents have to step up and support them.

shesty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117911699#Comment_117911699

I know, very hard to know what to do.Kept my own other two at home from GaA matches and that while waiting for a result for my youngest on Saturday, but I would be very torn about keeping them unnecessarily from school.

Vaccinated30

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117911793#Comment_117911793

The government told the schools to stop panick sending children home, that theres a 14 day incubation period for close contacts and theres enough time to wait before excluding close contacts. So in my opinion tgat stands for close contact siblings, if the child is positive exclude them straight away but until the pcr says positive theres time to wait according to the government. Tbh, i say this just because your friend is sure its not covid and just a sniffle, but if i thought it was id exclude everyone and/or use antigen tests.

Marty Bird

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117911764#Comment_117911764

Yes 100% with so many of the population jabbed enough of this, keeping kids home that have zero symptoms needs to stop, hopefully that change will be soon.

iamwhoiam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117911880#Comment_117911880

Except that the child in question did have symptoms .

beveragelady

I still don't know how to stop getting notifications from threads after I've lost interest in them. Anybody know how to turn off notifications for this thread without turning them off for every thread? I've unticked 'Bookmark this discussion' a number of times.

shesty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117911865#Comment_117911865

Fair point.She is more concerned about potentially needing a doctor appointment in the coming days to be honest, her kids are asthmatic (unsure about the baby as yet), so nightime calls to her doctor are regular occurences - she has been sent away by the doctor until a negative test is available a few times in recent months.

However that is an interesting fact.

Vaccinated30

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117912085#Comment_117912085

And of reports are true, close contacys with no symptoms arent going to be excluded anyway soon enough.

On a side note, does anyone kbow what will happen in schools, re bubbles, pods, no school concerts etc once we hit the 22nd October

History Queen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117912174#Comment_117912174

No official guidance sent to schools re changes after 22nd Oct one way or the other as far as I know.

ForestFire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117911886#Comment_117911886

Three times you have stated this as fact!

A runny nose or Sneeze on its own is NOT considered Symptoms of COVID for School going children......

" Runny nose or sneezing

If a runny nose or is sneezing are the only symptoms your child has, it's OK to send them to school or childcare.

But if your child has a runny nose and feels unwell or is off form, they should stay at home.

Read more advice on a runny nose or sneeze and why it’s OK to send your child to school or childcare

"

namloc1980

If we keep up this nonsense that children must stay at home/go for tests the winter it's going to be a joke with kids missing multiple days off school and valuable resources being spent on tests for what amounts to little more than seasonal colds and sniffles in many many cases.

I think we've lost our minds on this issue with schools sending kids home en masse also. My daughter is out of school over a week now after being sent home when there was a couple of cases in her class. I dread to think what the rest of the winter will be like unless there is a serious change of attitude.

seamus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117911764#Comment_117911764

Ah here, there's being pragmatic, and then there's just being careless.

Your child has been pinged as a close contact AND has/had symptoms. It's negligent of you to not at least get a PCR test.

BobHopeless

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117913699#Comment_117913699

Thanks Doctor Seamus

She's grand, just left for the Luas back feeling great again after a few sniffles. It's important kids can catch and fend off illnesses for their development.

BobHopeless

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117913682#Comment_117913682

The situation is ridiculous. Time for parents to parent and but their kids first.

TheMammy

Hi All, wonder can anyone help? My son has been deemed a close contact from outside in the yard at school. He is 13 and "in contact in the yard for break WITH his mask on" on thursday . He has had BOTH vaccines doses but only since Tuesday. The HSE have booked him for test tomorrow Monday. Should he be ok to return to school on Wednesday if test is negative since by then he will be FULLY vaccinated (assuming still no symptoms).

So to recap

Tuesday 2nd dose of vaccine

Thursday contact with since confirmed positive case..outside in yard with mask.

Sunday negative antigen test

Monday HSE test (Assuming it be negative...)

Wednesday can he return to school?

HSE very vague on it and said up to yourself...I said surely ok by Wednesday to return...

He has NO symptoms

thoughts?

thanks

namloc1980

If we keep up the current regime of sending perfectly healthy children or those with sniffles home/for tests, large numbers of kids will be missing a lot of school over the next few months.

namloc1980

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117913740#Comment_117913740

About halfway down the page.

https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/covid19/contact-tracing/child-is-a-close-contact-school/

flatface

My 11 year old had a sore throat on a weekend, didn’t think much of it but we did an antigen test to be sure before sending her to school Monday. It turned up positive and confirmed then by pcr.

Antigen tests are simple and available. I would recommend for peace of mind and ensuring safety of others.