A post claims that those kids who exhibited symptoms of coronavirus or COVID-19 could lawfully be quarantined in a location outside of their home even without any consent coming from their parents.
While school districts in numerous states in the US still grappling with the challenges on how to reopen schools for the upcoming fall semester, a number of readers were curious about whether the certain social media post which was shared widely by users in the United States is accurate.
The post which circulated in Facebook normally started with "For all the caring parents out there" with a warning stating "THEY WILL BE REMOVING YOUR KIDS & YOU CAN'T [sic] DO OR SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT!"
Earlier in August, Versions of the post were initially shared by users in the United Kingdom. Certain clues were spotted in the post proving that it did not originate in the United States as it can be noticed in the use of the term "headteacher," which is the British term for School principal and it is also obvious because of the spelling of 'testing center' which is British.
Aside from the clues found in the usage of the word and the British spelling, the post also referred to a COVID Act, wherein it includes a claim that the Act authorizes school officials to "pull out" children without any consent coming from their parents if they showed symptoms of coronavirus.
The U.K. parliament passed the Coronavirus Act in 2020 but without any powers given to the school officials compared to the claim in the viral post on Facebook. Numerous versions of the post were also shared by Canadian users, which includes also the COVID Act, but it is also false information.
Since the start of 2020, the United States Congress did not pass any law named as Coronavirus Act or COVID Act, which means that a particular post was also false in the US Territory. Aside from checking at the federal level, Snopes also searched if there were actions coming from state legislatures across the US.
Based on the examination done on the National Conference of State Legislatures' database of coronavirus-related legislation, none among the states enacted any law that gives powers to authorities of the schools to do a quarantine that involves children. These encompasses those with symptoms of coronavirus outside their home or without any consent coming from their parents and guardians.
Which means, the Facebook post that was shared by a lot of app users in the United States in August 2020 does not have any proof that supports its claim. Even the said post in the United Kingdom sounds like the law which was passed under their legislation, it is also false as the law does not give any power to a school authority to imposed or conduct any act of quarantine to any children even if they showed symptoms or COVID-19 with or without consent coming from their parents or even their guardians. -
All of the circulating posts in different countries means nothing but pure falsification.
Related article: Fact Check: Could People Be Jailed for Refusing Vaccine in the United States?