Sending Home Any Covid Sx?

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Do you plan on sending every kid home with even just one Covid symptom? Our school nurses in the area have been telling me that’s their plan. I would be sending SO many kids home. With allergies and flu season, everyone will be affected pretty much! The list of symptoms is so long and so similar to multiple other illnesses

I wish covid was more obvious....why can’t you get a purple tongue with it?!

Tell me more about this screening tool please.

I would love to send home with just one symptom and require a negative test before return- but there is no way that would be required in my district.

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Specializes in School nursing.
3 minutes ago, nursetlm said:

Tell me more about this screening tool please.

I would love to send home with just one symptom and require a negative test before return- but there is no way that would be required in my district.

That call is from state-wide guidance thankfully (I'm in MA), so agreed with it and then get to say to my school - nope, state says it is happening this way :).

Here are two we are looking at:

https://www.ruvna.com/

https://emocha.com/

One is an app, the other is web-based. Emocha is HIPAA compliant, Ruvna is FERPA compliant and about to launch specifically for schools. (You can control level of data seen and by who with both of them).

I'm trying to demo the one out there from Microsoft, but they keep re-scheduling, which is leaving me with a bad taste in my mouth.

Basically, they require folks to answer screening questions, report any COVID symptoms, and take their temp and enter it from home (you can allow the temp piece to be blank if not required by your district and/or you are taking it at entry). I get to see the data in real time and it creates a clearance badge for those asymptomatic and if one symptom pings that is borderline, I can also reach out for follow-up if that person tries to enter or remains home.

So, extra work on my end (!) but also means we would be pre-screening in a way that doesn't take forever.

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Great- I will look them over. We are doing temp checks on buses and at front door upon arrival is what I’ve heard so far. I’m guessing online or apps won’t be used as many of our students don’t have Internet. ?

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Specializes in School nursing.
1 minute ago, nursetlm said:

Great- I will look them over. We are doing temp checks on buses and at front door upon arrival is what I’ve heard so far. I’m guessing online or apps won’t be used as many of our students don’t have Internet. ?

That can definitely be an issue and another one we are navigating as well! Ruvna has a text link it sends - so anyone with a smart phone can complete it; no app or computer needed, so may have better luck there. And you can re-send the link on site as well. We are looking at setting up a couple of cleaning-all-the-time kiosks.

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The “any symptoms” thing will be a nightmare. I work in LTC and sub in schools. One of our LTC patients had nausea/vomiting/afebrile. She got tested because a patient she was friends with presented with fever/cough/chest pain. Both had Covid19. But what if the nausea/vomiting had presented * first* or *only*? It looked like just a stomach bug...

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We were told yesterday that a fever on its own just warrants the usual 24 hour exclusion- unless in conjunction with a covid s/s.

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Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.

We are discussing this right now. It will likely be more than a cough but less than four or more. We are leaning heavily on the local health jurisdiction for an algorithm. Here's the problem: We want one size fits all (fever - you have it or you don't). This is likely not one size.

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Specializes in School nursing.
Just now, ruby_jane said:

We are discussing this right now. It will likely be more than a cough but less than four or more. We are leaning heavily on the local health jurisdiction for an algorithm. Here's the problem: We want one size fits all (fever - you have it or you don't). This is likely not one size.

Truth. I'm going to be telling teaching the opposite of what I usually tell them to begin the year with - call me so I can assess and we will go from there.

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Specializes in School Nurse.

Our district has guideline for when to send kids home for one symptom (new cough, SOB, fever) or if they have two or more of the more mild symptoms they go home. Can return in 72 hours unless they get tested for COVID in which case they have to wait 10 days (even if the test is negative). I am worried this will encourage parents to NOT have their student tested. We also have several nurses who are worried about the volume of kids they will send home, and will be trying to weed out the COVID students from those with other illnesses. But not me. If you are symptomatic I'm sending home.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
On 7/31/2020 at 11:24 AM, nursetlm said:

Yep- I’m thinking this is going to be a s**t show. Forgive me, but hard to think positive when I can only envision the parents who will be upset (understandably) when their child has a common cold or other s/s that may or may not be COVID- but has to be picked up and possibly miss so much school. Testing for COVID is hard to come by where we are (small town) and expensive for many.

The testing failure will counting to haunt us and kill Americans. How do parents differentiate between the common cold and covid without testing...wait to see if gramma dies?

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
On 8/13/2020 at 9:33 AM, toomuchbaloney said:

The testing failure will continue to haunt us and kill Americans. How do parents differentiate between the common cold and covid without testing...wait to see if gramma dies?

Word correction.

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