In the Autumn term, it’s quite common for children to pick up a bug along the way – colds, for example. After a long period of isolation away from others, maybe this is even more likely if our immunity thresholds are lower. We’ve got quite a few children absent from school today, but not necessarily with Covid-19 symptoms.
The NHS list these as the three symptoms:
- a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
- a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
- a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal
It’s the cough symptom that might be trickiest. To help, do read the description: ‘this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours’.
A blocked or runny nose isn’t a symptom listed on the NHS website so we’d still expect this person to be in school.
There are two really important ways to protect your primary-aged child from Covid-19 (and other illnesses):
- wash your hands more often, and for longer – is your child doing this as a matter of routine at home?
- social distance – are you and everyone in your family aware of the rule of six?