What is a deemed a continuous cough?

[bumble79]

DS started with a head cold Friday night. Really congested, bunged up, sniffling, sneezing - no fever or cough.

Still no fever but he has a cough that started yesterday afternoon. I'm not sure what is deemed continuous.

To me it's the tail end of his cold. He will cough once or twice and be okay for a while then cough again maybe a few times an hour. I wouldn't call them coughing spells.

He did not cough at all through the night. He slept soundly.

My children have had the hacking cough that they can't stop quite a few times in the past (including March this year so likely they had void them as also had fevers). They literally couldn't stop.

But do I need to test for a cough that's persistent as in one or two coughs a few times hour but not a coughing spell so not actually non stop?

I'm really confused and anxious and don't know what to do 😭

Same here kids have colds , little cough only sporadically I kept her off and called school and was told send her in unless she had temp . It's not surprise they got colds straight away they haven't mixed with so many people since last March , but I was genuinely worried about it

My dc have had no temperature at all with covid.

@LadyFlumpalot

Air conditioning makes me cough with the dry air.

If we all isolate every time I have a coughing fit we won't leave the house ever again, not to mention the amount of tests I'll get through (if I can get any in the first place)

DS has come down with a head cold over the weekend. It's a cold. A sore throat and a cough and lots of snot. He's running up and down all three flights of stairs in my house yelling into his walky talky. He's not short of breath in the slightest. He really should be at school but I erred on the side of caution. He will be going back tomorrow.

Nothing you've said suggests your DS doesn't have it though.

@Mippi - he doesn't have a temperature, his cough is wet, he isn't breathless, he's sneezing, he's bunged up.

Everything on all the advice and using my common sense points to a common cold.

Sounds the same as my child who has covid though - no fever, snotty and sneezy, occasional cough.

My DS had virtually identical symptoms to @Mippi's DC, except that he did have a fever. The fever was the reason I took him for a test as his cough hadn't started at that point. His test was negative thankfully. I assumed it would be, because some of his classmates had a cold. But having read @Mippi's post, I was wrong to assume.

Sorry, no idea why half my post is in bold type

Got sent this yesterday

My DH is an NHS worker. He has just been sent home because of my DS's symptoms. Apparently relatives of NHS workers can priority book tests, which is slightly heartening.

His cough is frequent and deep. He says his chests hurts when he coughs. Temperature of 37.5. Looks grey. Not much appetite.

My other DS is in school. Do I take him out too?

Coronavirus guidelines for testing say a persistent cough is coughing more than 3 times in 24 hours.

No, it says three coughing episodes, which is considerably more ambiguous. If it means three individual coughs in 24 hours then it should say that as its much clearer; I don't think it does mean that but it's hard to tell with no definition of a 'coughing episode'

@Geppili

My DH is an NHS worker. He has just been sent home because of my DS's symptoms. Apparently relatives of NHS workers can priority book tests, which is slightly heartening.

His cough is frequent and deep. He says his chests hurts when he coughs. Temperature of 37.5. Looks grey. Not much appetite.

My other DS is in school. Do I take him out too?

Yes the whole family should be isolating if one has symptoms. What was your DH thinking going to work?

@Mippi I know. I was livid with him. I think he thinks my DS was faking...He really isn't.

Thanks. Gonna get my little one.

@Mippi

My DC has been very snotty and sneezy, no fever and occasional cough (maybe a couple of times an hour) and has covid.

🙀

@Mippi

Bloody hell. It's going to be so hard this winter isn't it. Especially with our 'world beating' testing!

Though I wonder (as someone else mentioned) if your DS has a cold and asymptomatic Covid?

From my research, children have different symptoms to adults. A continuous cough is not one of them. The government should have a set of accurate symptoms for children instead of being fixtated with continuous cough etc.

@Mippi could your DC have a cold AND asymptomatic COVID? Or are they saying now that a child can have just a snotty nose and nothing else?

[quote drspouse]@Mippi could your DC have a cold AND asymptomatic COVID? Or are they saying now that a child can have just a snotty nose and nothing else?[/quote]
How would I know?

I am glad you asked this OP, as I have been wondering the same thing. It’s not a very clear definition, even though I get that it’s impossible to define!

I mean, I was coughing more than normal on Thursday last week, but I get very bad coughs with every cold, and it was absolutely nothing like that. It was maybe 3-4 individual coughs (like one ahem) in a row for a couple of hours. Then no coughing since and no other symptoms. So I don’t think that can be a coronavirus cough, but the definition is so unclear!

@Mippi I don't know! Maybe you've been in touch with the GP/111??

[quote drspouse]@Mippi I don't know! Maybe you've been in touch with the GP/111??[/quote]
How would they know

Unless there's a test available for common cold viruses, the only thing they are testing for is covid.

The issue is the ambiguity leading to inconsistent behavior. There are some of us here with kids with coughs keeping them off as her the suggestions, then others sending kids in with coughs. No one really clear who is right, as the guidelines just aren't specific enough. My lo is absolutely fine in himself, just coughing every now and again and his voice a bit off. Likely it is just a cold but then if people such as mimis dd has similar symptoms but has covid how are we to know for sure? Without a doubt my lo will get at least 3 more coughs before Christmas, probably not helped by those sending kids with coughs in demeaning it just a cough. I don't want to keep him home every time he gets a cough but I also don't want to be the person who sends their kid in and ends up giving everyone else covid (potentially) 🤦🏻‍♀️

DS2 at a special school and in a class of 6, 3 of them now have a cold within the first few days of being back. Whilst showing no symptoms I have decided to keep DS2 off until DS1 returns back to uni in 8 days and DD gets at least a few weeks under her belt at year 13. Lucky DP is on annual leave. I cannot see how we are going to make it through to Christmas. They are walking bug carriers, him not having a runny nose or cough is a rare.

Now we all four in quarantine. DS has test booked Thursday morning.

Thanks all. All morning he's had very very short bursts of coughing. Maybe 5-6 times. By short I mean the cough literally lasts a second or two. I don't consider it a coughing fit as it really is a few seconds max and it's mainly when he has been running around or playing around being silly probably from snot dripping down his throat (he's got a cold but is very okay in himself tbf, doing his normal activities at home). I really don't know what to do.. it's not consistent or bothersome but he's extremely congested in his nose!!