Sick question

[k3am]

DS has been sick since last Saturday. We have a negative covid test. He feels fine, isn’t slowing down, but has a lingering cough. The way he usually is, this could last for weeks. Can we send him to daycare tomorrow? I think we can, but I have no idea. In the before times, we’d send him without a second thought, but not sure how to navigate normal colds in covid times.

[hocus2]

When did symptoms start and when did you test? My kid had a runny nose and we tested and kept in virtual for a few days and then tested again. With a second test we felt OK sending him back to in person school.

I would also ask your school for their thoughts on it. There are wide variations in policy about this.

[k3am]

Started last Saturday, tested Tuesday.

[mae0111]

I would send him.

My kids' school wanted one negative test before returning. So when they both got colds, I had them tested. 48 hours later, we got the results, and I sent them back the next day. I offered to keep them home due to coughs, but the principal told me to send them back if they felt better. So I did.

[waverly]

What is the daycare policy?

For work I need a non covid diagnosis (negative test) and no symptoms although I have gone with a lingering stuffy nose. None of us have gone in with a cough though.

If the policy isn’t clear I would ask the director.

[erbear]

Ask the daycare. He wouldn’t be allowed to come to my school yet (test too close to symptoms starting - we ask for a negative test 8 days after symptoms started). I’m sure they have a policy. I don’t think I would send my kiddo until symptoms were improving.

[k3am]

erbear, I would say his symptoms are improved dramatically. Wait 8 days after symtoms start?

Our daycare policy is a negative test or a note from the doctor (which basically means.. get a covid test.. no doctor is going to write a note saying it's not covid without a test). There are no criteria on when the test needs to be given.

I'm finally sitting at a computer, and CDC's website lists the following and I think he meets all of the criteria, but we'll probably still call in the morning to double check.

If the student receives a negative test result, the symptoms are most likely from another infection. Because this student DOES NOT have a known close contact, they may return to school once symptoms have improved according to existing school policies (their site lists 24 hours fever free with no medication, which ours follows) such as those described in Scenario 1 above.

[erbear]

k3am: yes, if there are symptoms, a negative test has to come 8 days post symptoms starting. I doubt most people stick to that, but it’s the policy. If symptoms present for a day or two then disappear, we don’t ask for longer.

I’d follow your school’s guidelines. I know we are stricter than most

[k3am]

erbear , is there CDC/public guidance for that window or just something your school is choosing to follow to be conservative?

Hah. I think your ETA was posted right before I hit reply and started working on my post. 

[erbear]

Dec 27, 2020 19:19:28 GMT -5 k3am said:

erbear , is there CDC/public guidance for that window or just something your school is choosing to follow to be conservative?

Hah. I think your ETA was posted right before I hit reply and started working on my post. 

Probably not. My school tends on the conservative side on all things covid (fine with me) - hence why we're the only private school in the area that has been closed since before Thanksgiving.

[k3am]

Dec 27, 2020 19:47:59 GMT -5 erbear said:

Dec 27, 2020 19:19:28 GMT -5 k3am said:

erbear , is there CDC/public guidance for that window or just something your school is choosing to follow to be conservative?

Hah. I think your ETA was posted right before I hit reply and started working on my post. 

Probably not. My school tends on the conservative side on all things covid (fine with me) - hence why we're the only private school in the area that has been closed since before Thanksgiving.

Not related to my post, but we are still on waivers here, so if you were in our county and closed when you should have been open, you’d lose your waiver and need to reapply, but the county isn’t processing waivers anymore. That bit of knowledge brought to you by our friend that’s a private school principal locally and annoyed that they have to stay open when they’d have rather closed for a month.

[mommyatty]

I would call. But I think you’d be pretty safe to send him in. Brought to you by someone who has had a chronic cough for 9 years due to asthma.

[divanerd]

Check with school. Also have you done asthma test?

[k3am]

We haven’t done an asthma test. He had his adenoids shaved down at 8 or 9 months because he always seemed sick (cough, mucus, etc) and turned out he had about 0 opening between adenoids and tonsils. The surgeon was so confused as to why they weren’t taking tonsils also, but it wasn’t on the order so it didn’t happen... but either way, a cough for him usually lingers for at least 2-3 weeks minimum.

[186momx]

k3am, did he go to daycare this morning?

[k3am]

We kept him home today, but will probably send him tomorrow. After today, he'll be past day 10 of symptoms, which even if he HAD covid, CDC says children can return to school if they're improved and don't have fevers.

Daycare did say it's going around the school when we called this morning - apparently a large chunk of school was out last week that had planned to be there (they survey during holiday weeks for staffing purposes), and everyone who's tested has reported negative covid tests.

[sdlaura]

I'm glad you figured it out! I'm impressed your daycare is open this week. Everything for us (school, preschool, daycare - all unaffiliated) are closed for two full weeks for winter break. Even the places with shorter breaks are closed between Christmas and New Years. I'm jealous!

[mellym]

DD3 was sick recently with a fever and cough. She didn't have a known covid contact but since symptoms were that of Covid, we were able to test her right away. She was negative so she could go back to daycare 48 hours after the fever broke. She still had the cough and runny nose.

[mustardseed2007]

Our epidemiologist early on was saying that tests are most accurate after 7 days following exposure to a covid positive person (in other words test on the 8th day).

But they are are still saying if you have it you can return 10 days after symptom onset provided you have no fever and haver improved symptoms, so he should be safe to go back even if he had it.

It sounds like our school may be requiring a negative test after you test positive to return to school, and that worries me somewhat in the event we end up being in that boat because of lingering positives. But I guess we'll cross that bridge if we come to it.

[k3am]

mustardseed2007, I think it's confusing because we have zero exposure to a covid positive person. So the 7 days after exposure makes sense because they'res the incubation period where you're not yet showing symptoms. Waiting to test 8 days after symptoms is... excessively conservative.

He's home with us again today. We were all set to send him and then he started coughing like a mad man. It will be better in an hour, once all the morning gunk works it's way out, but since it's proving to be a very slow week for me anyways, and we've discovered he isn't crazy needy like his sister, keeping him home isn't too hard. But if we get into NEXT week and he's still got a cough? Kid is going. It will be an academic week AND work will have picked up.