Would you send your toddler to nursery with a common cold at the moment, if a symptom is a cough.

[Eloiss]

This may have been done to the death but I haven't seen anything so apologies!

I have two toddlers and they both have a common cold (very snotty, sneezy but with a cough) no temp.

We know it's not covid because we've already had that and it was very different. This is a run of the mill common cold.

DP sees no reason DS can't go to nursery tomorrow (DD hasn't started yet as she's just 17 months) whereas I'm saying no. Although we know it's not covid it's bound to be a cause for concern for the nursery and other parents if he's coughing everywhere.

It's bad timing as I could do without having to stay off work to be with the children but it seems unavoidable.

WWYD?

I'll send the nursery manager a text and see what she says.

@ladyvimes

Oh for goodness sake. A snotty, sneezing child with a productive cough does not have Covid! Those are not the symptoms. If the cough is dry then they will be sent home but if they’re coughing up mucus and are snotty they should be fine.

And yes I know a productive cough is now a symptom of Covid but it develops LATER in the illness and not at the start so is not an early symptom!!

I know it's a pain in the arse, but this is not something where you use common sense. The rules are simple for a reason - because the disease is not well understood, and because there will be cases where people's common sense leads to the wrong conclusion.

We've all been in isolation this week because our children had coughs. We knew they just had colds - I had the same cold last week, the coughs were productive, my wife is a healthcare professional. We've still spent 2 days trying to book tests, 2 days waiting for results and a frustrating Day realising one of the samples has gone missing.

You have to follow the rules.

People clearly are sending them in with the sniffles, because all of mine now have a heavy cold (and so do I!) that my youngest picked up after just 4 days back at nursery. It made me realise that was one thing I hadn’t missed in 6 months of having them at home!

I’m as sure as I can be without a test that it’s not covid, as there’s no cough or temperature or loss of smell/taste, just (a LOT of) snot, but someone else clearly made the decision it wasn’t and sent theirs in, so thanks for that whoever you were .

Please don't send them. You're probably right and it's probably just a bog standard cold but you cannot be 100% sure and to send them would be unfair. My DS goes to nursery and I wouldn't send him if he had a cough. Just in case. You can never be sure.

There is nothing on the gov or nhs website to differentiate between 'types' of cough. The wet cough/ dry cough thing seems to be a bit of hopeful thinking - we've just finished isolating after 5 days due to same symptoms
It's not fair to send them in plus all other parents will then be in same boat with colds and coughs and needing to isolate and test
A responsible nursery will say to isolate and test

NO. A cough is one of the symptoms that requires your whole family to isolate and get tested. To clarify, there are currently three symptoms that need to test (and for the household to isolate until a negative result):

Cough
Temperature
Loss or change of sense of smell / taste

@MolyHolyGuacamole

Disagree with PPs that child would definitely be sent home. I look after a child that went into school yesterday sneezing, runny nose and streaming eye. She stayed the whole day. It just depends.

But they're not COVID symptoms. A cough is.

I had a negative test three weeks ago, though I appreciate that means nothing now.

I've sent a text to the nursery manager and told her the situation.

If you had the virus in march, how did you get a test? Testing wasn't available then.

Why don't you call nursery tomorrow and see what they say? Although I suspect it will be to stay home until they have a test.
I wasn't sure about sending my eldest to school. No cough or temperature but raging sore throat and headache so I phoned the school.
They said it was fine but if she starts coughing I'll keep her off. It's a pain with work but unfortunately these are the times we live in.

Don't send your child in EVEN IF IT’S JUST A COLD.

Colds are contagious. Everyone else will catch it. (1) No one wants to catch the cold (2) Cold symptoms are similar to Covid symptoms so everyone who catches it will potentially need a test/isolate if they get the temperature/loss of taste or smell/cough part of a cold. Which people do get from a cold.

Don’t be selfish and send your sick child to nursery or school or go to work yourself if you’ve got a cold.

No, don't send them. They'll get sent home, potentially after infecting the other kids and then every parent there will have this. This is what some selfish fucker did at ours last week and now we all have this issue.

Good luck trying to get a test. There are no postal tests available here at the moment, and no test centres with appointments. This government is a shambles.

Don’t be selfish and send your sick child to nursery or school or go to work yourself if you’ve got a cold.

I'm not sending him, much to the disapproval of DP and my DM who think I'm over reacting. I'm well aware he shouldn't be going so he isn't.

@Hmmph
What about if you’re self employed and can’t afford to take time off work?
Ideally everyone right now would stay at home when they had a cold but we live in the real world. School have been quite adamant that if kids have colds, as long as they are generally well enough they are to go in.

You might be interested that this research into symptoms also doesn’t mention a “type” of cough covid.joinzoe.com/post/covid-clusters

The six clusters are as follows:
1 (‘flu-like’ with no fever): Headache, loss of smell, muscle pains, cough, sore throat, chest pain, no fever.

2 (‘flu-like’ with fever): Headache, loss of smell, cough, sore throat, hoarseness, fever, loss of appetite.

3 (gastrointestinal): Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, diarrhea, sore throat, chest pain, no cough.

4 (severe level one, fatigue): Headache, loss of smell, cough, fever, hoarseness, chest pain, fatigue.

5 (severe level two, confusion): Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, muscle pain.

6 (severe level three, abdominal and respiratory): Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, muscle pain, shortness of breath, diarrhea, abdominal pain.

• Are you in UK? you mentioned having it in March, but unless you were admitted to hospital there was no PCR testing available then. Sorry to go all detective on you but I was sick in March/April, work for NHS and couldn’t get tested.
• Assuming you were all positive in March, you might well have milder symptoms a second time with some forms of immunity. Although I understand that those testing positive a second time are mostly asymptomatic picked up on routine screening

Tbh even if it weren't covid why would you send in kids with a horrible cold, probably whilst they are contagious. Best to keep off while sick to avoid spread, regardless.

@JoanieCash

- Are you in UK? you mentioned having it in March, but unless you were admitted to hospital there was no PCR testing available then. Sorry to go all detective on you but I was sick in March/April, work for NHS and couldn’t get tested.

• Assuming you were all positive in March, you might well have milder symptoms a second time with some forms of immunity. Although I understand that those testing positive a second time are mostly asymptomatic picked up on routine screening

That's ok I don't mind answering.

I fell ill at the end of March and was in hospital during the first week of April, I tested positive.

I recovered.

As a household we've had subsequent tests since then since they became widely available and all were negative.

Also yes I'm in the UK.

My last test was last month and the result negative (again I appreciate that means nothing now)

[quote Frazzled2207]@Hmmph
What about if you’re self employed and can’t afford to take time off work?
Ideally everyone right now would stay at home when they had a cold but we live in the real world. School have been quite adamant that if kids have colds, as long as they are generally well enough they are to go in.[/quote]
I’m not saying it’s easy, but parents have always had to take time off work when their children are unwell. That’s just life when you’re a parent and it sucks.

However, if people didn’t send in ill children in first place, fewer children would get ill and fewer parents would need to take time off work.

You need get them tested in order to o send them in as they have a cough.

I would send them in as sneezing and a mucus like cough are not symptoms.

@Roowig2020

I would send them in as sneezing and a mucus like cough are not symptoms.

This looks inaccurate - where did you get it from? Best to stick to reliable sources.

@Grrretel thst's, really interesting. Group no 1 describes my mum's symptoms except she didn't have a cough or chest pain.

The six clusters are as follows:
1 (‘flu-like’ with no fever): Headache, loss of smell, muscle pains, cough, sore throat, chest pain, no fever.

She had similar symptoms in April and only discovered it was Covid when she was selected for an antibody test months later. At the time anosmia was not listed as a symptom although people were sharing anecdotes of having it. Luckily, she was so sick she didn't leave the house although her partner did!

Anyone who says “that’s life as a parent” probably hasn’t done a certain type of job. And losing your job as a parent can also have a really negative impact on your children, especially if you’re the main breadwinner or a single parent.

I’m certainly not saying everyone should send them in, I’m just saying unfortunately there are many shades of grey in “the real world”, and not every job can wait (eg a court deadline) and not everyone has alternative childcare, especially right now. How I loathe this virus, it’s causing so much pain and hardship.