My son had to be picked up from school on a Tuesday, a few weeks ago, because he didn't feel well and had a temperature of 99.9. The nurse told my husband that he wasn't allowed back until the following Monday.
I logged in to his school app a few minutes ago and saw that the nurse classified his absence as a "Covid positive quarantine." He wasn't tested and he felt better by the end of the day, but he couldn't go back to school for almost a week. I know they want to keep the numbers inflated in order to keep their money flowing in. There is no other explanation.
Thankfully I'm a homemaker, or else I would have been out a week's pay for this! How many parents do lose out and have to make arrangements for this farce? This is utterly ridiculous. The school board superintendent is on her way out and the ones on the board aren't much help.
You are right about them trying to boost the numbers. When my daughter texted me that she felt faint and wanted me to pick her up from school, I fibbed and told the school that she had been suffering from insomnia so was very tired. Was sent a form from the health dept and I told them the same thing. I knew that if I said she felt faint due to an unknown cause, they would scream "COVID!" and exclude her from school for two weeks, plus anyone who was in class with her (she has 6 classes so that would have excluded a lot of kids!) At one point last fall, over 1/3 of the school was excluded!