"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
08/21/2020 at 12:30 • Filed to: None
1
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"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
08/21/2020 at 12:30 • Filed to: None | 1
| 12 |
Yesterday was virtual, today was in-person (with half-sized classes, masks, etc).
Son started 4th grade, daughter 2nd. About 10am, we get a call from the school nurse saying daughter is complaining of a sore throat and stomachache. She had mentioned these at home, but is prone to a bit of hypo chondria and it rarely amounts to anything.
Nonetheless, they asked us to come pick her up. 2 hours of freedom, yay! School nurse recommends a strep test at the pediatrician, which we’ll go ahead and do just to rule it out (hooray, another $150 doctor visit we don’t need).
30 minutes later: “Um, you need to come pick up your son, too. It’s an issue of close contact.”
“Close contact with what?”
“A sick sibling.”
“But she has a sore throat, that’s just one of the 15 listed COVID symptoms. It’s also just a symptom of...you know... a sore throat.”
“It’s the policy we have to follow to keep the schools open, sorry.”
So now my son is home crying after having his new friendships, recess, and lunch cut short after 5 months with no social contact, and by no fault of his own.
Such a weird policy when we all know it’s the asymptomatic kids that will take us all down...
The Snowman
> Ash78, voting early and often
08/21/2020 at 13:16 |
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I mean sending a possibly sick kid to school seems fairly irresponsible at the moment.
Sovande
> Ash78, voting early and often
08/21/2020 at 13:17 |
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I’ll play devil’s advocate. You sent your child to school when she was complaining of a sore throat during a pandemic - one symptom of which is a sore throat. I’d say the school is correct in this instance in sending your kids home.
AMGtech - now with more recalls!
> Ash78, voting early and often
08/21/2020 at 13:21 |
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Sucks for your kids, but the school is 99% correct. I’m leaving the last 1% to indicate that they probably shouldn’t be open for in-person at all.
DipodomysDeserti
> Ash78, voting early and often
08/21/2020 at 13:26 |
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I get the kid being a hypochondriac thing, but sending kids to school with symptoms is exactly what’s going to get everything shut down again. Asymptomatic kids are going to take us down because we don’ t know to keep them home.
My daughter’s normal operating temp is above 99F, and she’ll hit 100F after running around for a bit. She knows she can get sent home any time she goes to the nurse, so it should be interesting if we ever go back.
facw
> Ash78, voting early and often
08/21/2020 at 13:48 |
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It’s the right thing for the school to do, though they probably should have sent your son home at the same time. And they probably should be having you do the covid test now instead of waiting on the strep test to rule that out.
smobgirl
> Ash78, voting early and often
08/21/2020 at 13:50 |
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Just curious, if they’re going to be this strict about symptoms are they requiring a negative COVID test to go back? Or are the kids stuck home now for 2 weeks?
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Ash78, voting early and often
> Sovande
08/21/2020 at 14:06 |
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One of many, and it was the only symptom. She’s prone to sore throats and ear infections pretty regularly, usually related. She was not at all what I would have considered “sick” under any circumstances, COVID hysteria or not.
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Ash78, voting early and often
> smobgirl
08/21/2020 at 14:08 |
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The nurse said it either has to be a positive strep test (and she stays home until better ); or if strep is negative, then she gets a COVID test. If it’s positive, then we’re all home for 2 weeks.
I wouldn’t have a problem if this policy had been outlined ahead of time, so at least we could say to our kids “Don’t complain about minor stuff”
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Ash78, voting early and often
> DipodomysDeserti
08/21/2020 at 14:10 |
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She’s only home because she failed to raise her threshold of complaint to the appropriate level :)
They never explained any of this policy ahead of time, but now the whole community knows because everyone is sharing. The end result is kids keep their mouths shut, which is the other unintended consequence.
FWIW, I would not have considered her sick (or even borderline sick) just because she had a sore throat at bedtime last night. Between allergies and air pollution, plus her tendency to get ear/throat infections, it’s pretty typical.
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DipodomysDeserti
> Ash78, voting early and often
08/21/2020 at 14:31 |
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The whole reason this thing spread so much is because most people don’t register the symptoms as “being sick”.
Pretty shitty if your school didn’t set clear expectations ahead of time. Not surprising, though. We will be requiring a doctor’s not for anyone suffering from chronic symptoms due to all ergies.
If I hear a kid tell me their parent told them not to report symptoms, I’ll be paying a personal visit to them outside of school hours (the parent, not the kid).
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Ash78, voting early and often
> DipodomysDeserti
08/21/2020 at 14:59 |
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I think the odds of her having COVID after 5 months of hard discipline (and nothing but 1 ear infection along the way) would be slim at this point, but not completely impossible.
I think the bigger thing I’m dealing with for the schools is “If this is your sickness policy, then clearly your risk tolerance indicates that we should NOT be reopening schools in the first place.” Maybe dichotomous is the right word.
And I’d be fine with being forced back into remote learning, too. But they gave us the 2-day option and we accepted the risk, then made plans around it, not realizing how tenuous it would all be.
I don’t think kids will stop reporting serious symptoms, but inevitably once they realize the consequences they’ll toughen up a little. Kids at our school visit the nurse constantly because she’s so nice. I think I saw the school nurse twice in my life.
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DipodomysDeserti
> Ash78, voting early and often
08/21/2020 at 15:50 |
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I get you. The precautions are there to try and prevent transmission from kids that may be asymptomatic, but the risk of transmission is still huge if someone ends up coming to campus sick, hence the strict policy on symptoms. My schools all have the parents sign a waiver before their kids come on campus releasing us from responsibility. Our nurse also “triages” everyone coming on campus. Anyone with a temp, reporting symptoms or contact with anyone with symptoms gets sent home.