I think many parents are sort of “giving up” because even if you do the “keep you kid at home when having symptoms”, chances are when there is an outbreak of the school mixed soup of sickness, you send your now healthy kid back 3 days later they will probably catch a different one. I’ve seen student coughing at their friends face and “whoops, sorry”, while the parents pretend nothing actually happened. I understand cause not every parent have the leisure to keep their child home while they are away working for make a living.
At one point I also conceded, as long as my kid is in good enough condition then I still let him go. (so fever and wet cough/running nose stay at home, if only dry cough and/or slightly stuffy nose go to school.) My reasoning, might as well taking in as much sickness mix while his immune system is on full cylinders, compare to taken them in one by one. Overall it achieve better overall sick kid time across the year and less absent days on the report card. Yes, that means family members needs to be also in good shape or have good in house infection prevention planning. For people with vulnerable member, this approach obviously won’t work well. They probably need to isolate the vulnerable one to eliminate contacts as much as possible.
And, don’t give shit to teachers please, they are like front line health care worker BUT without protections. If the government wants to do something about these infections, they would need to also sponsor the sick day leaves to include children’s sick day, ways to lower cost of living for less fortunate people(not everyone making 100k+ or below some line to qualify full social benefit), rebates for good quality air filters(which is also good for those smoky days). I am fairly certain those cost will be lower than the hospitalization, ICUs or dead kids. But, I am just a random internet stranger.
I’m a parent. I’ve got two kids in elementary school. Ignoring the whole COVID thing, kids getting sick at school is just part of the process. They share EVERYTHING and then bring it home and share with their parents. You can’t protect them or yourself from all the various illnesses of humanity… unless you live in a bubble and never interact with another human being in any way.
Will it hurt if my kids get COVID? Damn rights… not just in the “my kid is sick and staying home” but also in the impact COVID can have on long term health… and the risk of serious complications.
There’s an element of acceptable risk at play for most families. We can’t have 100% protection, but… I make sure my kids are fully vaccinated with ALL vaccinations… MMR, Polio, COVID, flu, Pertussis, and so on. I teach them healthy habits… don’t sneeze on your friends, wash your hands, stop licking the counter top at the local ice cream show (kids aren’t too bright), and don’t pee on the electric fence.
I won’t keep them home from school just in case… I will keep them home when (and they will) they get sick.