Daycare Covid policy vent

[Anonymous]

My daycare texted at 930pm on a Sunday night that any kid who has been sick within the last week needs a PCR to come on Monday. My kid was sick last week and I kept them home except for one day at the end of the week. I gave multiple home Covid tests (all negative) and kept daycare informed the whole time. Kid had been fever free since Tuesday and have otherwise been perfectly fine, but they have a residual cough that they’re prone to after illnesses. We’ve taken them to pediatricians and a pulmonologist… it’s just how they are.

We didn’t have a Covid exposure. None of our home tests were ever positive. Kid was the only one sick in our house and has been fully recovered for days. They only went to daycare one day last week. And they’re fully vaccinated.

And daycare waits until 930pm on a Sunday to say NOW we need a PCR to return?!? After the kid already went back for a day?? I’m a single mom.

Am I right to be livid, or am I just burned out?

[Anonymous]

Absolutely right to be livid. I’m super pissed for you. Who is going to have a PCR in the morning? I’d show up with my kid and demand they take them. Bring a rapid test and do it right there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely right to be livid. I’m super pissed for you. Who is going to have a PCR in the morning? I’d show up with my kid and demand they take them. Bring a rapid test and do it right there.

HAHAHA. Good luck with that.

[Anonymous]

I'd be livid too. Besides the fact that they waited until Sunday night to communicate the policy, they are completely disincentivizing parents from keeping their child home if the child might be sick.

[Anonymous]

FFS, are they in a 2021 time loop? PCR tests are rarely recmended these days with good reason. Sounds like they want to keep numbers down today for some reason. Totally disrespectful and unprofessional.

[Anonymous]

They should not have announced this policy late Saturday night but you should’ve gotten your Covid PCR test at some point last week. With those symptoms, you shouldn’t be relying entirely on Rapids. So I don’t think it’s a bad policy but they should not have sprung that on you

[Anonymous]

I would just show up and act like I didn't see the email. Was already in bed by then!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would just show up and act like I didn't see the email. Was already in bed by then!

You’re going to line how that plays out even less than you liked the email.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like they are short staffed and are trying to keep kids out.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like someone tested positive, even if not your kid.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like they’re shifting policy to reflect that rapids oftentimes aren’t working on this strain and need PCR to diagnose. They’ve likely had an uptick in illness they’re trying to curb as well. I had a child home the entire second week of school bc of respiratory infection and we got PCR bc rapids are unreliable right now. It absolutely sucks and I’m sorry they notified you last minute.

[Anonymous]

I would definitely be upset that they changed the policy with no warning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like they’re shifting policy to reflect that rapids oftentimes aren’t working on this strain and need PCR to diagnose. They’ve likely had an uptick in illness they’re trying to curb as well. I had a child home the entire second week of school bc of respiratory infection and we got PCR bc rapids are unreliable right now. It absolutely sucks and I’m sorry they notified you last minute.

Random people on the internet have been saying this for a while (long before BA5 became the predominant strain), but what the experts actually say is that you need to test multiple times with a rapid test over a few days. It takes a while to test positive on a PCR or a rapid test.

The appropriate reaction to illness is to remind parents to keep their children home when they are sick, as OP did. If there is a COVID case, they need to follow local guidelines, not make up their own. It seems obvious to me that they are short-staffed, which sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely right to be livid. I’m super pissed for you. Who is going to have a PCR in the morning? I’d show up with my kid and demand they take them. Bring a rapid test and do it right there.

People who thought ahead instead of tantruming on DCUM and booked an early morning PCR test at an urgent care where they can get the test results right away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like they’re shifting policy to reflect that rapids oftentimes aren’t working on this strain and need PCR to diagnose. They’ve likely had an uptick in illness they’re trying to curb as well. I had a child home the entire second week of school bc of respiratory infection and we got PCR bc rapids are unreliable right now. It absolutely sucks and I’m sorry they notified you last minute.

Random people on the internet have been saying this for a while (long before BA5 became the predominant strain), but what the experts actually say is that you need to test multiple times with a rapid test over a few days. It takes a while to test positive on a PCR or a rapid test.

The appropriate reaction to illness is to remind parents to keep their children home when they are sick, as OP did. If there is a COVID case, they need to follow local guidelines, not make up their own. It seems obvious to me that they are short-staffed, which sucks.

If that short-staffing is because they had multiple staff members test positive for covid this weekend, it’s only reasonable to want kids who have been sick to get a PCR test to confirm they’re not bringing covid into the daycare.