Clearly It's Catching....

[davidgillon]

Apparently a kid my sister teaches has tested positive for COVID. The parents took them out of school for a test on Friday, but they've now been told (not by the parents) that they were actually running a temperature from Monday. So that was what they had to report to PHE, who told them "Well, at that age they can't socially distance reliably, so that's the entire class* out for two weeks, then, and the teachers, and the teaching assistants. Who else had contact?" And so they're also down a dinner lady, though the music teacher thinks she's okay and I don't think she'd managed to catch the PE teacher yet.

Apparently she'd had to spend about 5 hours of her Saturday just trying to contact everyone.

And as my mother's 81, and my brother-in-law is multiply severely clinically vulnerable, my sister is also left avoiding my mother, and trying to avoid her husband as much as possible.

*I'm not certain if 'class' also involves the other class they're bubbled with due to the physical arrangement of the school,  in which case they may be down 20% of their teaching staff, never mind they're already down a couple, and that county told them this week not to use supply teachers and the Head was not to step in to teach. That means they'll have almost no flexibility left if something comes up. And that's probably not an unusual situation.

Comments

[yhlee]

Oh man. *support support*

[davidgillon]

Thanks, Yoon.

[sovay]

And as my mother's 81, and my brother-in-law is multiply severely clinically vulnerable, my sister is also left avoiding my mother, and trying to avoid her husband as much as possible.

*electronic no-contact hugs to your family*

[davidgillon]

Thanks, Sonya.

[rmc28]

Oh good grief.

WHY did the parents not keep them at home when running a temperature? WHY? That is like the one thing that has been consistently pointed out as an issue. I got C tested when I was sure he'd been near no-one in weeks because he had a fever.

[rmc28]

Which is a very me-centred way of saying "all sympathy to your sister and fingers crossed for her mother and husband"

[davidgillon]

They both work for me, thanks!

[lilysea]

WHY did the parents not keep them at home when running a temperature? WHY? That is like the one thing that has been consistently pointed out as an issue.

1. They were oblivious and self centred / selfish / careless OR

2. They were in a situation where staying home with sick child = being fired and not being able to pay the rent

3. They were in a situation where staying home with sick child = unpaid leave and not being able to pay the rent.

One thing that's really coming out in Australia is how much lack of paid leave is driving people to go into work when they are contagious, or send their kids to school when contagious [because if the parent takes an unpaid day off work to keep their kids home, they'll miss rent]

[rmc28]

You're right, and I do know this, and I need to be kinder.

[lilysea]

The woman waiting for her COVID test result who exposed AN ENTIRE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AUDIENCE OF HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE WHO WERE 50 years old, 60 years old, 70 years old, 80 years old, 90 years old

because she had an orchestra ticket and didn't want to stay home

on the other hand...

Her, I wanted to see suffer SERIOUS legal consequences... maybe even to the point of losing her fancy house in her fancy suburb.

[hilarita]

Oh god that was all entirely predictable. Hope your sister and family remain OK - it must be super stressful for her, and I wish that people with more power hadn't been so bloody stupid earlier on.

[davidgillon]

I'm sort of hoping this'll take some of the 'unknown' out of the situation, making it less stressful in the long term. But that doesn't make it any less stressful in the short-term.

[kaberett]

yuppppp. my cousin's a teacher and is also teaching remotely for the next two weeks, because, well. :-/ though it sounds like her kid was caught sooner, at least...!