Do I need to keep ds off school?

[cosmicsweets]

He has a cold which is always accompanied by a cough. Does this mean he cannot go to school tomorrow?

The test is really unpleasant.

Jesus Christ is really isn't.

It's a cotton swab in your nose that feels odd and one in you mouth which is only annoying if you're trying not to cough in their face!

I'd say on a medical scale it sits somewhere between a gp measuring your temp through your ears and a quick vaccine (though no lingering side effects or bruised arm!).

@User45 Agreed. I think this kind of bollocks will def put people off having their DCs tested and they'll 'hope for the best'. Great.

My eldest son has a cold and I'm not taking him for a COVID test. I will be keeping him off school if he isn't completely better by Monday as that is what they have asked us to do.

He has a cough.

If you send him in, he’ll be sent home and your name will be mud for sending him in with covid symptoms.

Book a test and see what the outcome is.

Is he coughing wegetthejobdone?

@wegetthejobdone you're keeping him off for two weeks after symptoms have gone? That's a lot of school to miss for the sake of a test.

No, until he doesn't have a cold anymore. Coughing once or twice is not a new continuous cough. His main symptom is a runny nose which is not a COVID symptom. If every kid with a cold needs a test now no wonder testing facilities are overwhelmed.

If it's not a continuous cough I wouldn't get him tested, but I would keep him home with a cough & runny nose - mostly so others aren't worried.

I'd email his teacher to explain& ask what they're currently working in

@cosmicsweets

I'm aware that you only need one symptom to get a test. I just don't consider an occasional cough with runny nose to need one. I will try and book one but if this is the case my family will be getting though a lot of tests this winter.

I'm with you on this. The testing system will collapse come autumn if they try to test everyone with a cough.

That sounds absolutely fine then @wegetthejobdone

It isn’t every child with a cold, it’s those with new coughs, temperatures and/or loss of sense of taste/smell. It is going to seriously test the testing system but that was always going to happen and they should have been preparing for this over the summer.

The problem is though every child with a cold will cough a few times. When does it become 'a cough'. Its all a bit ridiculous with children isn't it? At least if they have a temperature thats measurable.

I don't want to be harsh but the more I think about it, the more I'm at people who think a mild cough accompanied by the usual cold symptoms is a good reason to test. I know they mean well, but the whole testing system will actually collapse come autumn if everyone with a cold tries to book themselves in. Genuine cases will be missed & resources which could be focused on areas of concern & people in daily contact with the vulnerable (care home workers etc) will be pissed away alleviating the anxieties of the 'worried well'.

Well he's clearly sick so you can't send him to school but it doesn't sound like Covid. I would call your doctor for accurate advice.

I think the testing system is already collapsing.

The week the schools went back here in Scotland there was a 700% increase in testing children.

Hundreds of thousands were tested and something like 40 were positive.

Then we had to be reminded, as if we are hard of thinking, by government officials that kids get cold and snotters every August and not to test every shuffle. It was very patronising given that it had been the schools insulating in tests in many cases.

If it’s a mild cough that’s happening all the time, that has to be tested @SomewhereEast

No one really wants a test. People want to follow the rules from the NHS. If they think too many are getting tested unnecessarily, they need to update the criteria to say “a new continuous cough except when accompanied by cold symptoms”. The trouble is, there’s a lot of cross over because they’re both respiratory viruses and the consequences of people with covid not getting tested and spreading it widely are worse than getting a test and it being negative. The government absolutely must sort out the testing system. We have Koenig this issue is coming for months.

@SomewhereEast

I don't want to be harsh but the more I think about it, the more I'm at people who think a mild cough accompanied by the usual cold symptoms is a good reason to test. I know they mean well, but the whole testing system will actually collapse come autumn if everyone with a cold tries to book themselves in. Genuine cases will be missed & resources which could be focused on areas of concern & people in daily contact with the vulnerable (care home workers etc) will be pissed away alleviating the anxieties of the 'worried well'.

But that is clearly in the government guidelines!

A new persistent cough, which is coughing 3 times in 24 hours, requires a test. This has been the guidelines for months. @ElenaD The OP can do a quick google and find the government guidelines she doesn’t need to ring her GP to read out the same info she can read herself.

@wegetthejobdone

The problem is though every child with a cold will cough a few times. When does it become 'a cough'. Its all a bit ridiculous with children isn't it? At least if they have a temperature thats measurable.

Current research says less than half of children with covid with have a temperature. What the country needs is a very easy to access and fast turn around testing.

What about postal tests? Anyone are they mythical?

The symptoms listed in testing criteria don't reflect the evidence which emerged last week regarding diarrhea and stomach cramp-common symptoms of covid in children.

@PurpleDaisies hit the nail on the head. I'm in a similar boat as the OP - my DD had a runny nose last week so I kept her off school. She ALWAYS develops a mild, inconsistent cough a couple of days after getting a cold so I asked advice from the school on next steps when the inevitable happened and she started to cough. They said she would need testing, even if it wasn't a very regular cough.

Lo and behold by Saturday morning she had started to cough, it's clear her chest is just trying to clear itself but because the govt criteria talks about those 3 episodes in 24 hours she fulfils the criteria for needing a test and will be unable to return to school until the cough clears unless we have a negative test result. As it usually takes her 6-8 weeks to clear a cough (weak chest) and as she has already, like most kids, missed many months of school, there really is no other sensible option than to take a test.

I feel it's very easy to criticise people for wasting tests but until the govt guidelines change then people in my position (and I definitely won't be the only one) have no choice. This rise in testing requirement was always foreseesable as soon as the schools went back.

We were told the other day by ourvHead in a staff meeting that if a child tested positive, it didn't necessarily mean that the pod/ bubble / school would close. Apparently the current guideline is that if a child tests positive, the school has to contact the relevant authority( can't remember, probably DoE) and seek advice as to next steps.
Just saying.

@SomewhereEast the problem is that many schools will insist on seeing a test result before the allow a child with a cough to return to school. That's the guidelines for my school.

Most parents cannot afford to stay off work and isolate their whole families for two weeks to avoid getting a test so they will test so the child can return. The test centres will be overun but unless millions more tests are made available I'm not sure what the answer is. The tests are needed so that people can work and children can be in school. It's not like this situation cannot be pre-empted but, like every step of the way with this government, it will be a shit show come November.

I think before long the testing criteria will change because given that it is a shambles at present, when you add to that everyone getting there child tested every other week due to displaying symptoms of the common cold and being out of school more than they are in it then the entire testing system will no doubt grind to a halt.

The thing is that Covid symptoms are often very mild in children and look a lot like a common cold - lots of children do get headaches, sore throats and runny noses with it (not to mention tummy aches, d&v, viral rashes, conjunctivitis).

So really we should be testing based on a wider range of symptoms, and they are in many countries - but due to our limited test capacity in the U.K. we’re only testing for coughs, temperatures and lack of taste/smell.

But despite that people are still trying to wriggle out of it!
I’ve read people posting they won’t get their child tested because they just have a cough so it can’t be Covid... then someone else saying they won’t get their child tested because they have a cough plus sore throat and runny nose so it must be a different virus

FippertyGibbett

A friend of mine got her son tested at a GP surgery this week.

Really?! Are you sure? Most GPs have no direct access to testing and everyone with symptoms realising to the surgery for a test is a VERY bad idea!