Anyone else already nursing sick kids after *just* starting school?

[DeeBee3]

Unfortunately, that's kinda my experience, although a few days in seems too quick for me to blame on school. So, it's most likely something they picked up before school started. I realize all viruses can work on different timelines.

My kids are elementary and someone always gets sick within the first month. I always dread it. We don't start until September so I'll see what happens this time!

Hope everyone gets better soon.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Yeah, the next step will be the pediatrician for a strep swab if the covid/flu test both come back negative. I didn't realize strep could have such a sudden and severe onset, though. Is that common? The sore throat didn't develop until 36 hours after the other symptoms. It was scratchy at first.

My DS was prone to strep as a kid, and his first complaint was always a stomach ache! (Then he'd go to sleep and wake up with a fever and sore throat.)

I agree with you in leaning toward flu in this case, but if that's negative, I definitely agree with asking for a strep test.

 

[mjkacmom]

I hope your kids feel better soon

My DD19 would always get a horrible cold 1 week into school starting every year. Now that she’s in college I’m waiting for the FaceTime call saying she doesn’t feel good. I‘m hoping this year will be different since she’s not in a closed up school all day every day. We’ll soon find out….

All of my kids got every illness freshman year in college, it’s just like preschool. Flu, strep, tons of throat infections, Covid of course… Make sure she knows where all of the urgent cares are, college health centers are closed nights and weekends, and get booked solid.

 

[emmabelle]

Yeah, that's why I took him for a PCR test, just to be sure.

Although I had the "latest round" in July and many of my friends did as well and we all got positive rapid tests on day 1 of mild symptoms. After over 48 hours of pretty severe symptoms and 3 negative tests, I have to believe it's the flu, not covid.

I started getting sick two weeks ago on a Tuesday, it took until Friday to test positive for Covid. Our friends and my husband all tested positive right away. I finally swabbed my throat when I kept getting negative results, not sure if that was what finally worked?

 

[DLgal]

UPDATE:

Test results say.....

Flu A

Covid negative. Flu B negative.

Glad I have some answers now, although this flu is a doozy! We all had Flu shots last year but I'm guessing we are already onto this year's strain. My kids are rarely sick but this one has been rough.

 

[DLgal]

I started getting sick two weeks ago on a Tuesday, it took until Friday to test positive for Covid. Our friends and my husband all tested positive right away. I finally swabbed my throat when I kept getting negative results, not sure if that was what finally worked?

Maybe. My sister's whole family had covid in late May and her husband never tested positive on a home test, only on a PCR. The rest of them lit up home tests immediately. Everyone is different, I guess.

 

[Princesca]

Maybe. My sister's whole family had covid in late May and her husband never tested positive on a home test, only on a PCR. The rest of them lit up home tests immediately. Everyone is different, I guess.

Apparently for Omicron, home tests are false negative about 35% of the time. I always tell family members to either get a PCR or treat themselves like they have COVID, because that's a pretty high rate of false negatives.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

Unfortunately, that's kinda my experience, although a few days in seems too quick for me to blame on school. So, it's most likely something they picked up before school started. I realize all viruses can work on different timelines.

My kids are elementary and someone always gets sick within the first month. I always dread it. We don't start until September so I'll see what happens this time!

Hope everyone gets better soon.

Many of the common viruses have a short incubation period where symptoms can begin within just a few days, especially the respiratory infections. Table in link below:

https://www.seattlechildrens.org/conditions/a-z/infection-exposure-questions/

 

[DLgal]

Unfortunately, that's kinda my experience, although a few days in seems too quick for me to blame on school. So, it's most likely something they picked up before school started. I realize all viruses can work on different timelines.

My kids were at home bored the last few days before school because I had been traveling over the weekend prior and came home to all kinds of errands to run and appointments to go to. My son clearly picked this up at school given the incubation timeline for flu (1-2 days).

We did go to Disneyland on Saturday evening, but he was sick 12 hours later and that seems way too fast. Older son started feeling sick exactly 48 hours after younger son.

 

[PollyannaMom]

UPDATE:

Test results say.....

Flu A

Covid negative. Flu B negative.

Glad I have some answers now, although this flu is a doozy! We all had Flu shots last year but I'm guessing we are already onto this year's strain. My kids are rarely sick but this one has been rough.

Sorry about the flu, but glad you have an answer now.

 

[MamaMermaid]

I teacher high school - this is week 2.5. I have multiple kids out with COVID and other things. I'm just waiting for my turn... my son just started pre-k (has been in daycare since he was 9mo) but I know those germs are coming soon.

 

[DLgal]

I teacher high school - this is week 2.5. I have multiple kids out with COVID and other things. I'm just waiting for my turn... my son just started pre-k (has been in daycare since he was 9mo) but I know those germs are coming soon.

My sister teaches Kindergarten about an hour away in Los Angeles and she has one little boy who was in school for 3 days and is now hospitalized with some respiratory virus. So crazy!

 

[hhisc16]

I am a teacher and DD1 in daycare.
She got sick on Day 2 and I am now sick on Day 8.

 

[China Expat]

ME! Caught Covid at an all faculty retreat......out this entire week!

 

[leahgoogle]

I most likely will if he goes downhill. He has a tendency to develop bronchitis. Right now he seems okay. He's not getting worse, so that's something.

Definitely see the ped if he gets worse. In the meantime, search Gaia Herbs Bronchial Wellness (it's on Amazon). My husband is prone to bronchitis and this stuff knocks out respiratory viruses. He hasn't had bronchitis in five years. We all take it if we feel any chest involvement going on and it works well. They make a kids version too.

 

[leahgoogle]

School started 2 weeks ago and my oldest DD (a freshman) started with mild cold symptoms sunday. Nothing that stopped her from doing her normal routine. I'm hoping that none of the rest of us get it!

 

[Kamy04]

This is my 18th year teaching little Petri dishes (3 year olds).

I always say the first few days are incubation days where they spread the germs but aren’t sick yet. Second week of school is the first wave of kids out and it’s usually worse the following week because the sick kids from the previous week came sick or come back too soon. I expect this year will be back to normal with parents sending kids with all sorts of symptoms and trying to skirt the 24 hour rule (“well they threw up at 8pm last night but have been fine since.”)

Sent my first kiddo home with a fever today on the third day. His parent called him out sick, then decided he seemed okay and brought him…and he went home with a fever less than an hour later.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

That happened to us last year, my daughter only attended in-person school the first month and she missed more days than she attended due to quarantines for respiratory viruses that ended up not being Covid, but she still had to quarantine until the test came back. I ended up pulling her to do cyber and that's what she is doing this year too. She has special education needs that are difficult to address through cyber but all the disruptions in her education were putting her even further behind. She is starting cyber soon, we didn't even bother with trying in-person school this year as our county is in the red with covid cases and has been for the last half of summer.

 

[DLgal]

That happened to us last year, my daughter only attended in-person school the first month and she missed more days than she attended due to quarantines for respiratory viruses that ended up not being Covid, but she still had to quarantine until the test came back. I ended up pulling her to do cyber and that's what she is doing this year too. She has special education needs that are difficult to address through cyber but all the disruptions in her education were putting her even further behind. She is starting cyber soon, we didn't even bother with trying in-person school this year as our county is in the red with covid cases and has been for the last half of summer.

That is awful, I'm sorry. Cyber school did NOT work well for my special needs son. He thrives in the structured environment of school and needs the social interactions.

I am grateful my boys don't have covid this time, but that just makes it a possibility later in the year since they haven't yet had it. Hoping they can dodge it until the new vaccines are available this fall. They don't need to miss even more school after all this.

I am taking my younger son to the doctor today. He is having chest pains and heavy coughing with blood streaked mucus. Sigh. This flu is kicking his butt.

 

[barkley]

This is my son’s first year of school and he’s missed 6 of 12 days so far and will be out for at least another two, if not more.

School started on a Monday and that Wednesday I got a call from the nurse that there had been an “incident” where he suddenly went very pale, said he didn’t feel well, and they were concerned about him and wanted me to come get him. I brought him home and later that evening he came down with a fever so I kept him out the next day, too.

Things got better from there and I thought we were off to a fresh start by the next Monday. On Thursday, the nurse called an hour into the school day to tell me he had a runny nose and that when the teacher mentioned it to him he started crying. My kid is five and he has some weird phobia about blowing his nose, so I was picturing a scenario where he got embarrassed or scared that she was going to make him blow his nose and started crying. Besides, I had just been with him not even two hours prior and he was fine. I told the nurse the runny nose was the tail end of last week’s illness and if that was all that was going on then he needed to go back to class. She called back an hour later to tell me he threw up in class.

When I arrived to pick him up he was still vomiting in the nurse’s office. He was okay at home for the rest of the day, then the next morning he woke up with pink eye. I took him to the doctor that afternoon and he tested positive for Covid. Now I have Covid and my two year old, even though he home-tested negative, came down with the same symptoms. Thankfully, the little one rebounded quickly. My poor 5 year old, on the other hand, is still running a fever and occasionally vomiting seven days into this.

We’ve practically used up all of the allotted absentee days for the year already and I’m pretty sure the next step is for CPS to take my children away for truancy.

ETA: to fix all the date errors I made while typing this in a Covid haze.

this is almost identical to what we are dealing with-

27 year old calls from work, felt fine until shortly after arrival then was suddenly hit with nausea, body aches, dizziness such he can't drive. that night spikes a fever but by the next day symptoms are largely gone. following morning (yesterday) voice is almost entirely gone, bad sore throat, ear congestion, coughing, body aches, chills alternating with sweats so it's off to the doctor. initially thought it might be strep-negative but POSITIVE for covid. by last night we again see a decline in symptoms.

it hit SO FAST, no small symptoms-just BAM.