Thread by @MicheleCeriotti

So here we are with my #swissCovidFail story, that I find truly shocking. Saturday 04.09 evening - following a sudden fever in the 39, we rapid test our 6yo, and we get a positive result. 1/n

Me and my wife are fully vaccinated, and luckily test negative. 3yo test inconclusive. 5mo untested. We inform school and family of friends, given that 6yo clearly picked it up there. We think also "ok let's communicate this to authorities so they can start track&trace" 2/n

First surprise: no way to communicate results of rapid tests. Seems one must confirm with PCR. So on Sunday morning I head off with 6yo and 3yo to get them tested. You know, in case there's an outbreak in their school and somebody wants to do something about it, silly me. 3/n

Second surprise: nobody seems to want to test our kids. At the children hospital I'm told I might have to wait up to 3h. In the general waiting room, with them shedding virus like there's no tomorrow. Advised to go to a testing center. 4/n

Get there. People seem surprised I want to get them tested when basically asymptomatic. Reiterate results of quick test and insist. Told to wait (in general waiting room, with them shedding virus). 5/n

Finally tested. Got a free O2 saturation test, 98.5/100 and 100/100, and "so? why exactly are you here?" stare. Will be informed. Go home, beffuddled. 6/n

Monday morning. School acknowledges receipt of message, no indications of what to do. No action initiated for other kids. Friends inform us their child also has a fever and rapid-tested positive. *Ped specifically tells them not to do PCR* 🤯🤡7/n

Meanwhile a colleague from Geneva shows me the official "your kids and covid" flowchart from the canton, that can be summarized as if "h* is not dying" then "for gawd's sake don't get h* tested" 🤡🤡🤡 8/n

Monday afternoon. SMS informs me that 3yo PCR is negative 🥳. Still no news about 6yo - likely because positive and will get called by health authorities (when?) 9/n

Still no action taken by school, still in principle tomorrow I could send children to school given they are in top shape and apparently I really shouldn't even have PCR-tested them. 10/n

So I'm here (1) not understanding what the actual f**k is the strategy here: shouldn't we at least try to contain? how does that work if >48h pass between symptoms and official reaction? 11/n

(2) wondering if reason 6yo was infected is that other parents didn't bother to test (5CHF and 15' time, right in your home) and sent their infected kids to school. What if we weren't lucky and he actually got a bad case? 12/n

(3) feeling like an idiot because I actually thought about the public health repercussions and now find myself stuck at home trying to isolate a 6yo in a room and not to pass it to brothers 😭. END-OF-RANT

Update. Finally got SMS confirmation that PCF of 6yo is indeed positive. Still no news from the school, where the question is not "if" but "how many" have got it this morning while the wheels of bureaucracy spinned idly. 14/n

Meanwhile 6yo is already without fever and judging on antigen test "signal" already getting over it. 3yo still negative. 5mo unfazed.🤞 These self-tests are great, why don't they test the whole class? I'm really disappointed by how this was handled.

Update/2. Finally got called by track&trace. Very kind and thorough, although >72h after symptoms, which reminds me of Italian say "closing the pig-pen after the pig has fled".

Weird questions about where we had been on holiday mid-August, and acknowledgement that they need to come to terms with the fact that "kids are not an issue" no more true with delta. Better late than never I guess.