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 😭

Although my DS tested negative for Covid, he's still coughing, so I have kept him at home for a couple of days until it hopefully calms down a bit. But he can't stay off indefinitely. It's a tricky situation because if I was picking my child up from school and heard one of his classmates coughing, my first thought these days would be possible Covid. We're all having to trust other parents to do the right thing and not ignore symptoms. When DS does go back, he may still be coughing a bit and that may worry other parents. I did send a message on the WhatsApp group though, so that should alleviate any concerns.

@ClinkyMonkey this is my concern too. When DS gets a cold he tends to get a cough that lingers. Even if he gets negative for covid the cough can linger. Its mainly when it's cold this happens so this is why I don't think it's too bad this time as it's still very mild here. But I am absolutely dreading the winter months!