Anonymous wrote:Does she still have runny poop? As a former preschool teacher I would be annoyed if you sent your kid in knowing she had runny poop. That stuff is so messy to clean up and the time it takes takes away from the others kids—add in all the additional cleaning the teachers are doing...I think you need to keep her home longer. I’m sorry, I know it’s hard to balance work.

The OP said they were normal the next day.

And no, you don't always know ahead of time that this will happen. It's a very generic symptom that isn't even a clear indication of an illness, much less COVID.

Does she still have runny poop? As a former preschool teacher I would be annoyed if you sent your kid in knowing she had runny poop. That stuff is so messy to clean up and the time it takes takes away from the others kids—add in all the additional cleaning the teachers are doing...I think you need to keep her home longer. I’m sorry, I know it’s hard to balance work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And I guarantee you that doctors and other healthcare providers have been working through the entire pandemic with symptoms are closed associated with COVID.

Heck, my spouse had a *pending* COVID test after several members of the family came down with the runny noses, sneezing, and a slight coughs. The hospital still told her to come in. She was pretty sure it wasn't COVID, so she did, but she was still surprised.

Do you think the stakes are the same?

No, absolutely not. Symptomatic health care workers going to work without COVID test results is *far* riskier than a child that previously only had a single, passing, uncommon COVID symptom and a negative COVID test.

You're absolutely right- the stakes are completely different.

Anonymous wrote:And I guarantee you that doctors and other healthcare providers have been working through the entire pandemic with symptoms are closed associated with COVID.

Heck, my spouse had a *pending* COVID test after several members of the family came down with the runny noses, sneezing, and a slight coughs. The hospital still told her to come in. She was pretty sure it wasn't COVID, so she did, but she was still surprised.

Do you think the stakes are the same?

And I guarantee you that doctors and other healthcare providers have been working through the entire pandemic with symptoms are closed associated with COVID.

Heck, my spouse had a *pending* COVID test after several members of the family came down with the runny noses, sneezing, and a slight coughs. The hospital still told her to come in. She was pretty sure it wasn't COVID, so she did, but she was still surprised.

That's a ridiculous policy. I'd go shopping for a different daycare. Though, the doctor is being rather obtuse as well, under the circumstances. I'd look for a different pediatric group practice.

Agree with posters above. Also note that the fact it only lasted for one day is not relevant to determining the presence or lack of COVID. [/pediatrician]

Just wait the 10 days out, OP. I am so glad both the ped and daycare are taking a stance on this. So many people like you taking risks that potentially increase viral spread. Diarrhea has always been a symptom of Covid-19, particularly in children. Many children and a lot of adults spread the virus because they are asymptomatic or have such minor symptoms that they don't test. Rapid (antigen) tests have a 30% false negative rate. PCR test are more reliable.

All this to say - your child could have Covid. You should ALL stay home.

Doctor shopping in this way is totally inappropriate. I'm sorry that your child's possible covid symptoms are inconveniencing you.

My daughter was kicked out of daycare as a COVID risk because she had a runny poop. She had no other symptoms, and her poops were totally normal the next day. Our daycare's policy is that children with a COVID symptom (diarrhea is now considered a symptom in DC) are kicked out for 10 days without a doctor's note or 24 hours with a doctor's note stating that the symptom is not related to COVID. After explaining the situation, our pediatrician would not sign a doctor's note because she could not 100% rule out the possibility that our daughter has COVID. The pediatrician would only sign a note if our daughter received a negative COVID test result. Under our daycare's policy, a negative test result alone is not sufficient for our daughter to return. After obtaining a negative test result, our pediatrician still would not sign a note stating that the runny poop was unrelated to COVID but would only go so far as to say that she received a negative test result, which is not sufficient for our daycare.

Can anyone recommend a pediatrician (ideally in DC) who has been willing to exercise their judgment to diagnose a symptom as not being related to COVID?