Required TB test for parent volunteers at schools -- stupid or sensible?

[Dan Druff]

Could you imagine the outrage and phone calls that would ensue if Benji got TB from a school volunteer??????????



School volunteers at nearly every school undergo criminal background checks as well as TB tests. Not a big secret. Don't want to get a TB test? Don't volunteer.

Why would I blame the school for not pre-screening parental volunteers for every possible disease?

I would be mad at the parent for showing up sick to volunteer to be around kids. I would only be mad at the school if they were aware the parents was sick and didn't send them home.

Explain what benefit these TB tests give. All kids come in contact with a ton of people outside school, and none of them are TB tested. What good is testing one parent seeing them briefly in school going to do?

And please explain why they are screening for only one rare (and obvious) disease, while ignoring all others.

It is absolutely absurd to put each volunteer through 2+ hours of the process of seeing a doctor for a non-problem. "Don't volunteer if you don't like it" or "You can't be too careful" responses are 100% missing the point. We are discussing whether or not the school is being stupid, not whether the volunteer has any rights to skip it.

I'm honestly shocked that several of you in this thread don't see how stupid and arbitrary this is. They are picking one rare disease while ignoring all others, and requiring a test for it when no other people encountering the kids outside the school have been tested. Huh???

[Baron Von Strucker]

Pretty bad disease and you can be walking around for a while before feeling sick, a small portion of people who have small amount of contact will contract the illness. Meaning you could get it and your immune system could fight it off successfully.
Generally the people who get Tb are not the kind who are volunteers at school.

[Dan Druff]

Pretty bad disease and you can be walking around for a while before feeling sick, a small portion of people who have small amount of contact will contract the illness. Meaning you could get it and your immune system could fight it off successfully.
Generally the people who get Tb are not the kind who are volunteers at school.

Bolded part is also 100% true.

This Mayo Clinic webpage claims TB won't spread if it's inactive (no symptoms), but that you should still treat it because it can go active at any point: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-...s/syc-20351250

But this would back my point that a contagious parent would know they were sick before going to school and spreading it.

[1marley1]

https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID...ssment-FAQ.pdf