Four days to school and my kids all have a cold

[Anonymous]

I don't think that anyone should assume their kids have "just a cold" unless they have been covid tested. Get the test, and find out if it is ok to send them to school. Either way, the other families will be thankful. If it is positive, you just saved many other families from exposure. If negative, you possibly just saved many other families from unnecessary quarantine. Win-win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you sure it's not allergies?

1) test for Covid
2) if negative, get some children's allergy medicine and try that
3) if they are still not completely well, stay home until better.

This exactly. If you get a test and its negative then you have nothing to worry about if you give them medicine for their runny noses and sneezing. We tested a while back at one of the sites listed on the DC site and had PCR results back in less than 24 hours. Super easy process. Plus I think if you send your kids to school with cold symptoms they will send them home and you will have to start this process anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you sure it's not allergies?

1) test for Covid
2) if negative, get some children's allergy medicine and try that
3) if they are still not completely well, stay home until better.

That’s not a realistic solution. DCPS just sent around an email cracking down on attendance. I’m not getting CPS called on me simply so other families won’t be inconvenienced with a cold. Don’t like it? Take it up with DCPS.

[Anonymous]

I’m sending DS to PK3, who has been in daycare the entire time since covid. I can tell you from experience if your child has “cold symptoms” of unexplained origin, you will be called to pick them up. Get the covid test just in case they are symptomatic when school starts. They are able to return with a negative covid test. Generally I would assume any cold symptoms are covid until proven otherwise.

[Anonymous]

We had this issue with camp. First kid got the cold, we got a negative COVID test. Second kid got it a few days later and both kids still had symptoms when the week was going to start. This was a big loss of money to us if they couldn’t go to camp with a cold. The policy at camp was either no symptoms or a negative COVID test. We got the tests and explained the situation and they were happy to take the kids back. This was an outdoor camp but also where they likely picked up the colds. Seemed to me like the right way to handle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you sure it's not allergies?

1) test for Covid
2) if negative, get some children's allergy medicine and try that
3) if they are still not completely well, stay home until better.

That’s not a realistic solution. DCPS just sent around an email cracking down on attendance. I’m not getting CPS called on me simply so other families won’t be inconvenienced with a cold. Don’t like it? Take it up with DCPS.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you sure it's not allergies?

1) test for Covid
2) if negative, get some children's allergy medicine and try that
3) if they are still not completely well, stay home until better.

That’s not a realistic solution. DCPS just sent around an email cracking down on attendance. I’m not getting CPS called on me simply so other families won’t be inconvenienced with a cold. Don’t like it? Take it up with DCPS.

It is true that DCPS's messaging on this has been horrendous. On one hand, we want to keep everyone safe! On the other hand, you can't keep your kid home without a signed note from a contact tracer. Do the right thing. I am guessing that the vast majority of DCPS schools where posters on this board send their kids are not going to object to parents being super-conservative about keeping kids home when they have symptoms of any illness. In fact, I bet they will be grateful for it and excused absences will be abundant. Then ignore the annoying attendance letter you will inevitably receive at the end of the year!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you sure it's not allergies?

1) test for Covid
2) if negative, get some children's allergy medicine and try that
3) if they are still not completely well, stay home until better.

That’s not a realistic solution. DCPS just sent around an email cracking down on attendance. I’m not getting CPS called on me simply so other families won’t be inconvenienced with a cold. Don’t like it? Take it up with DCPS.

It is true that DCPS's messaging on this has been horrendous. On one hand, we want to keep everyone safe! On the other hand, you can't keep your kid home without a signed note from a contact tracer. Do the right thing. I am guessing that the vast majority of DCPS schools where posters on this board send their kids are not going to object to parents being super-conservative about keeping kids home when they have symptoms of any illness. In fact, I bet they will be grateful for it and excused absences will be abundant. Then ignore the annoying attendance letter you will inevitably receive at the end of the year!

This. Janney, for instance, has always been lenient about absences. It’s always been the case that you need a note for an absence to be excused but they never enforce that requirement so long as you reach out and tell them what is going on.

[Anonymous]

Shoulda stuck the with masks like everyone else

[Anonymous]

I thought you only needed a doctor's note if the illness was keeping a lid out more than 3 days in a row?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought you only needed a doctor's note if the illness was keeping a lid out more than 3 days in a row?

People here are advocating keeping children home until they are symptom free. That’s going to be more than 3 days for many colds.

[Anonymous]

Did not read all the responses….but RSV is running rampant.

[Anonymous]

I couldn’t care less if you keep your kids home PROVIDED you get a Covid test and the results are negative. Shame on you times a million if you dare send your kids in with those Symptoms and no Covid test. That would be incredibly disgraceful, rude, and a possibly lethal decision to a vulnerable family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you sure it's not allergies?

1) test for Covid
2) if negative, get some children's allergy medicine and try that
3) if they are still not completely well, stay home until better.

That’s not a realistic solution. DCPS just sent around an email cracking down on attendance. I’m not getting CPS called on me simply so other families won’t be inconvenienced with a cold. Don’t like it? Take it up with DCPS.

#1 is the key. Get them tested if they have covid symptoms. The symptoms are the same for both in mild cases. Let’s not force entire classrooms/schools to quarantine because of the extremely minor inconvenience of a covid test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So we are Covid testing for colds now?

Yes, of course, because as you know, we don't know if it's a cold or Delta when Delta's initial presentation, especially in young people, is so often "cold" symptoms.