OMFG do not go out

[Hopefulworker]

If you have a cough, as innocuous as you might think it is! Why are you out? Just walked on my daily walk for about half an hour. 3 people walking past in safe distance all coughing 🤨 what the hell is wrong with people 😞

I've had a hacking cough since last October ironically caused by getting my first flu vaccine. Now it's hay fever season, so I'll be coughing until September ( can't take any type of antihistamines) I'm a keyworker in retail so still working. I am also allergic to certain items that we sell, so can't always avoid them. Today I have had to cover for a colleague on Newspapers (conveniently sited next to flowers) and I am allergic to newspaper fibres. I'm going to get lynched aren't I? Haha.

People with allergies etc, know which symptoms are allergies and not colds, coughs etc. Some of us have to be out and about and we certainly don't go coughing and sneezing over people we know how to use tissues.

Thankfully, the advice isn’t ‘if you have any sort of cough at all, that you’ve had for any duration, including those caused by chronic or lifelong conditions, you must stay at home’. Because that would be fucking madness.

No one is saying that every cough = Corona. But if you unknowingly have CV, every cough or sneeze will spread it to whoever is near you. And given that the incubation period is 2 weeks, very few can say for certain that they don't have it, in addition to their hay fever etc.
So yes, I do think the onus is on you to stay home, since you are the one who will cause a problem by going out, not the people who don't have coughs or sneezes.
Obviously people can't plan for choking on a gnat while out for a walk or having a random sneeze, but if this is a regular occurrence then I consider it to be socially irresponsible and selfish to just go about your business and expect everyone else to take the risk, so you can go for a walk.

You should only be out imo if you literally have no one who can get medicine or food for you.

You are entitled to your view, MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously, but fortunately the government doesn’t agree with you. I have had a cough since 2 weeks before lockdown. I self isolated for 2 weeks at the time as per instructions. Since then I’ve been shopping and having my daily exercise. Due to my symptoms, during lockdown I have had an X-ray and seen a consultant about my cough, and received a diagnosis. I am likely to be coughing for the foreseeable future. As per the government advice, I will continue to shop and to exercise as it is not a new cough.

Obviously people can't plan for choking on a gnat while out for a walk or having a random sneeze, but if this is a regular occurrence then I consider it to be socially irresponsible and selfish to just go about your business and expect everyone else to take the risk, so you can go for a walk.

You should only be out imo if you literally have no one who can get medicine or food for you.

You are seriously saying I should stay in until September when my hayfever finishes? Thank god your opinion is different to that of the majority of people!

I have a horrible cough, which is very unusual for me and I did feel a little unwell when it first started but had no fever or other symptoms. I self isolated for 7 days but cough was still there, and still is after 4 weeks. I have no other symptoms and feel fine. NHS website said I could stop self isolating after 7 days if no other symptoms other than a cough. My family did not have any symptoms either after the 14 days were up so we are ok to go about our business. All 3 of us are still working. So I'm probably one of those people you have heard coughing. The only thing I have stopped is doing the weekly shop at Sainsbury's as DH says I will be pitchforked to death if I cough whilst there so he does it!

Honestly some people have lung cancer, asthma, hay fever or even just the common cold because yes, other viruses are still very much around. Most people will not have covid.

If you have a cough you isolate for 7 days. Then you can go out again even if the cough persists.

I went for a run last week. Ended up coughing loads because my poor lungs aren't used to me doing that.

People may have a cough for other, known reasons.

My neighbour has a cough -he has had it for years and years. It's persistent. I seem to remember him saying it's to do with the fact that he is a cyclist and the cold air when he cycles irritates the lungs. Something like that. He's as fit as a fiddle but just has a cough.

So, if people see him out at the moment, they will hear a cough but it isn't a covid cough. It's the one he's had for years.

I have severe acid reflux and I cough, all the time. It's my own personal homing beacon for when my family lose me.

I try very hard not to cough when I'm out for my walk, but sometimes it's unavoidable.

YABU.

We still have hundreds of people dying every day (that we know about). Until those numbers are virtually zero, then yes I do think you should be at home. Or at least stay out of supermarkets if there is someone else who can go for you, since they are difficult places to maintain distance from others.

Yes we know what you think we should be doing MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously, but the government have said that we are allowed to shop for necessities and take daily exercise, even with a cough, so Ill listen to them rather than you if you don’t mind .

OP has posted a huge amount of threads about her coronavirus anxiety and "neurosis". I'm not sure she's posted this to be nasty or extreme, I think she's just very very worried.

Most people probably don't have Covid. Which is lucky if you are all out there coughing on spluttering. But lockdown and social distancing only works if we behave as if everyone does have it.

If you have a cough you isolate for 7 days

Do you have a special uniform for commands such as that, @Stingeray

OMFG YABVU HTH

Another one with hay fever cough here. Some other things make me cough, too, eg I always cough and sneeze in the soap powder aisle in supermarkets.

Driving, you do that. It's not like the government ever get anything wrong.

Ultimately people will do what they want. Even when it puts others at risk

I've had a cough for four weeks. It's a hangover from a sinus infection. Obviously if you have a new cough you should self isolate or talk to your doctor . But people with smokers cough, and other chronic things can't stay inside forever.
Obviously behave with consideration and don't cough when you're near people. But if you're socially distancing that shouldn't be a problem.

I have a 'spot' on my lung. I have been coughing for several years. I am not going to stay in, especially when I seem to be the only person moving out of the way of many of the younger generation when I go out, the ones that just carry on and barge into others.

I also have reflux, which causes a cough. Once again, I am not going to stay in.

I suggest it you are afraid you should be staying in and keeping away from everyone because you might be carrying germs anyway, and if not, then stay in and you won't pick them up.

Well MrsHunt isn't it great that you're just some random on the internet and can be ignored with impunity.

Oh op you luke warm, off brand bottle of cola.

We still have hundreds of people dying every day (that we know about). Until those numbers are virtually zero, then yes I do think you should be at home. Or at least stay out of supermarkets if there is someone else who can go for you, since they are difficult places to maintain distance from others.

I'm not spending 6 months of the year at home because some random on MN who thinks they know better than top scientists says so!

Isn't this the thinking behind mask wearing? People who are infected with Covid don't necessarily know they are, specially in the first few days, but they are producing the virus. If they cough or sneeze for any reason they will spray the virus into the air. As it appears that the number of people who always cough/sneeze into a tissue or their elbow is very, very small, wearing a mask reduces the spray of droplets, Covid-bearing or not, into the air.

Regardless of the mask argument, I think if you cannot bear to be somewhere where people may cough or sneeze, the solution is for you to stay indoors, rather than expect the huge numbers of people (the majority?) who do cough and/or sneeze from time to time, to stay in.