My Child Got Sent Home Sick: Now What?
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Health Tip of the WeekPublished on
Health Tip of the Week As our communities try to keep schooling in-person, parents need to constantly navigate the rules around keeping children home when they have symptoms of COVID-19.
Procedures and policies will vary from school to school. However, most schools will screen students for symptoms of COVID-19. Schools will also be more likely to proactively pull students out of class and send them home than they were before the pandemic.
Your child’s school may be following CDC guidelines on when to quarantine. If so, expect your child to be sent home if:
They have one of these symptoms: cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, or loss of taste or smell.
OR
They have two of these symptoms: fever, chills, muscle aches, headache, sore throat, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, and congestion or runny nose.
So you get the dreaded call from the school nurse. And now your child is home.
Take a deep breath. Instead of panicking because your child might have COVID-19, stay calm and use your good judgement as you consider what to do.
Just as you would have before the pandemic, evaluate how your child is feeling. How sick is your child? What can you do to help them feel better?
Take care of your child just as you would have before the pandemic. Help them to be as comfortable as possible by encouraging them to rest and drink plenty of fluids.
It’s also a good idea to take some basic precautions, just as you would any other time your child is sick. Practice physical distancing (at least 6 feet apart) with siblings and other household members. Clean bathroom surfaces after your sick child uses the bathroom. If you have more than one bathroom, the sick child should use a different bathroom than the rest of the family.
Check out this series of short videos for tips from pediatricians on managing common illnesses at home.
After you make your child comfortable, your next step is: Call your child’s doctor.
It’s understandable if one of your primary questions is: When will my child be able to go back to school? Many families are juggling work, childcare and other responsibilities and stressors.
Here’s what will happen now:
Make sure to ask school officials if documentation is required to return to school.
If your child tested positive for COVID-19, you don’t have to take them to be re-tested and get a negative test to return to school.
Because communities may have different rates of COVID-19 infection, guidelines from your local health department or school district may be different from these recommendations. If that is the case, we recommend you follow local health guidance before returning to school.
By making a good decision about when to send your child back, you protect teachers, cafeteria workers, principals and all the staff at your child’s school – not to mention your child’s classmates and their families.
Doctors and other experts at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia – including our nationally recognized PolicyLab – have compiled a report to help schools make decisions around re-openings. If you’re interested in more detail, you can read it here.
Contributed by: Allison Ballantine, MD, MEd, Katie K. Lockwood, MD, MEd