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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

I've got a cough, so does DP

46 replies

TheoriginalLEM · 12/02/2020 07:29

Feel a bit rough but I'll be going to work.

It's just a cough, pain in the arse - just a virus, no biggie - but it could be corona virus I guess?

A work colleague has recently returned from Singapore, she is perfectly well and unsorted, as am I but what if she catches my cough? She'll be expected to quarantine herself??

So what does one do? I ordinarily wouldn't dream of calling 111 for a cough but what about the information gathering? I suspect many hundreds of people will get corona virus and think its "just" a cold, feel crap for a week or so and carry on as normal. But of course those people won't add to the statistics for corona virus.

There is probably someone quite good at maths who is factoring this into WHOs stats right?

I'm not explaining myself well.

OP posts:

EggysMom · 12/02/2020 08:14

I've had a cold for two weeks, it's finishing with a cough. I took two days off work in the worst of it (low immune system) but have otherwise gone to work, been careful with sneezes/coughs, and have spent most of the time muttering "It's not coronavirus, it's not coronavirus" to myself and others

GiveHerHellFromUs · 12/02/2020 08:17

You've said it's just a cough then mentioned a cold. Do you actually have the symptoms of Corona virus or are you being massively dramatic?

EmmaGrundyForPM · 12/02/2020 08:17

Please dont phone 111 unless you meet the criteria for doing so re Covid19 - it's on the Gov.uk website and is updated daily.

As a pp said, if everyone who has a cough or cold phones 111 the system will crash and those who genuinely need to use it won't get the help they need.

AnyOldSpartabix · 12/02/2020 08:18

Isn’t fever one of the main signs? Something like 87% of those infected.

MimiLaRue · 12/02/2020 08:30

I think of noro. Every year 1000s of people get Boro, the symptoms are very obvious and logically it should be fairly containable. D&V stay at home. Yet it still spreads

I dont know of a single person who has been well enough to go to work or out anywhere with norovirus. You feel like you are dying. The problem is- you are contagious BEFORE symptoms start (incubation period) so you are infecting people unintentionally. So its not about people being "selfish" its that they genuinely dont know theyre ill yet

longcoffee · 12/02/2020 08:43

I have a cough too. Also have a twat of a teenager who has caused me to smoke heavily but am sure the two are entirely unrelated.

Have already removed my wedding dress from its bag, and measured myself. I fit in it perfectly.

Sadly I no longer fit in the wedding dress, so that will have to go elsewhere in the event of my inevitable demise.

Whattodo1610 · 12/02/2020 08:49

Personally I think you’re being ridiculous wanting to be part of government statistics 🙄 Really?? You just want attention imo ...

To me, there’s no way the virus can actually be contained, and statistics are a waste of time as they’re way off actual numbers. I think it’s fine to keep a record of how many have died from the virus but not how many have the virus.

glitterfarts · 12/02/2020 08:50

I had a high fever and cough 2 weeks ago as did DD2. She's recovered, I am still coughing, snotty, have a headache.
Now DD1 has a sore throat.

It could be corona virus.
It will absolutely be in the UK, the virus was known enough for the whistle blower Dr who died to notice it in December. They didn't close the borders for a month.

It'll be everywhere but for most is only a mild illness so they'll assume, as have I, its just a winter virus.
I haven't been to Asia.

Zaphodsotherhead · 12/02/2020 08:57

I am laughing (probably shouldn't) at the thought of the symptoms of Boro being obvious and containable.

I have friends on Teeside...

stickerqueen · 12/02/2020 09:06

both me and dd have a cough and sore throat but no fever.
dd's gone to school for the last few days and they have not sent her home.
loads of people have coughs this time of year

Crockof · 12/02/2020 09:12

@longcoffee

Morgan12 · 12/02/2020 09:14

Jeezo.
I am so glad I don't work for the NHS. I'd be in a state of permanent eye roll for the next few months.
They must have so much patience.

PleaseStopCallingMe · 12/02/2020 09:15

How many people will think it's a common cold when really it's the Coronavirus.

Probably far fewer than the number of people who actually have a common cold and think it's Corona virus.

randomsabreuse · 12/02/2020 09:27

My entire family have a cough at the moment. Especially DC1 who is in reception... She probably has had a fever at some point as we only check if she's flat.

However we have no contact with Asia, les Contamines or Brighton so going to assume yet another of the eleventy billion colds DC1 has acquired in the germ pit that is the reception class!

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 12/02/2020 09:29

It’s a good question about your colleague. If they catch your cold in the next few days having just returned from Singapore will they be assumed to have the ncoronavirus?

I think with H1N1 (Swine Flu) people were shown in subsequent tests to have had it without severe symptoms so I suspect an allowance is made to assume that the unknown infection rate is (significantly) higher than the known infection rate.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 12/02/2020 09:34

So far, less people have died from coronavirus than die from the flu every single year. The media hype is causing a panic that is really not necessary. Just go to work.

Obviously. Comparing the number of deaths from a novel virus that’s only been identified for about 6 weeks with an entire flu season is going to skew the stats slightly.

So far it does look like it’s more contagious than the flu and has a higher fatality rate although it’s early enough that those figures could change.

85notout · 12/02/2020 09:45

DP, Me and the DCs have got a cough at the moment, we were on the train at the weekend and the people opposite us glared at us often and pulled their scarves over their nose and mouth.

SlayB · 12/02/2020 09:57

Covid-19 needs to be taken seriously even the NHS site is wrong their site states that "It presents with flu-like symptoms including a fever, a cough, or difficulty breathing" .

I would add that it can also start as D&V then go on to fever which isn't mentioned.

I'm sure you are okay OP do you feel achy or just not right trust in your instinct. I don't think 111 would mind a quick call. It is not under siege yet !.

Stompythedinosaur · 12/02/2020 10:03

I would personally assume it is a cough and carry on as normal.

Juanmorebeer · 12/02/2020 10:15

I've been really poorly since Monday and have been wondering the same thing not like "omg I have Corona virus" but more like how so many people I know are very suddenly this week down with winter illnesses when last week they were fine.

Mine came on so suddenly Monday morning whereas every other cold I have ever had sort of brewed for a couple of days feeling pants before it got bad. I literally woke up and found it difficult to move.

Muscle aches, cough, feeling sweaty and clammy, streaming itchy eyes and nose and over the counter cold and flu meds do fuck all.

Lots of people posted on my Facebook yesterday that they were off with colds too.

So I do wonder maybe loads of people have it but just a milder version.

But I'm not an epidemiologist.

Mominatrix · 12/02/2020 10:35

You are most probably correct - you have a coronavirus. Mind you, probably not the novel coronavirus, but A coronavirus (which just happens to be a family of viruses which cause the common cold and the various flu viruses).

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