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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why people are self isolating with a cough and not a continuous cough

87 replies

2020hello · 15/09/2020 22:23

I thought the xough symptom had to be continuous like coughing for an hour, not just the average cough and cold?

Are people really self isolating and getting tested with just colds without fevers?

I get the fever thing but coughing a few times a day seems a tad extreme?

OP posts:
JacobReesMogadishu · 15/09/2020 22:33

Or 3 episodes in 24 hours I think.

PurpleDaisies · 15/09/2020 22:35

You need to look at what the NHS says.

It isn’t a continuous cough as in a constant cough. It’s three episodes in twenty four hours.

YouJustDoYou · 15/09/2020 22:36

Because we're being forced to by the school. Any tiny, tiny symptom, and the entire family has to isolate. It's fucking insane.

nancy75 · 15/09/2020 22:37

Because people are trying to do the right thing? I’m reasonably sure I had the boys during lockdown (temp, total loss of taste & Smell and cough)
It started with a mild tickle that I thought was hay fever, temp a couple of days later, taste & smell after that - i’d been not right for over a week before the cough really kicked in

nancy75 · 15/09/2020 22:38

Virus not boys - don’t know how I typed that!

OntheWaves40 · 15/09/2020 22:38

DD has a cough and cold, her school has been fine and luckily I can carry on at work

NoTeaForMe · 15/09/2020 22:39

@PurpleDaisies but it’s still three episodes of coughing in 24 hours. 3 coughing fits not just coughing three times in 24 hours which is how everyone here seems to have taken it.
Also it’s a fever not just a little raised temperature.

PurpleDaisies · 15/09/2020 22:40

Also it’s a fever not just a little raised temperature.

What’s the difference?

PurpleDaisies · 15/09/2020 22:41

3 coughing fits not just coughing three times in 24 hours which is how everyone here seems to have taken it.

To be fair, there is absolutely no clarification about what a coughing episode means so you can understand people erring on the side of caution.

DonLewis · 15/09/2020 22:42

Imagine the priarh you'd be coughing everywhere but declaring it's OK, it's not a continuous cough. People would be giving you a really wide berth!

BilboBercow · 15/09/2020 22:42

People are making stuff up now. No you don't have to be coughing continuously for an hour. A regular cough is a symptom. Calling a fever "a little temperature" doesn't make it not a fever.

chuffedasbuttons · 15/09/2020 22:45

Because the government guidance was a bag of shite

DS entire class have a bad cold. Some off school for a day - I did cause he was v snotty.

No one asked to stay off. No one asked to get a test. Sensible school.

Other schools? Not so much.

GhostTypeEevee · 15/09/2020 22:45

I thought the continuous cough was coughing more for over an hour not coughing for an hour?

mocktail · 15/09/2020 22:47

It's a temperature of 37.8 or above, which is not especially high.

UndertheCedartree · 15/09/2020 22:47

111 told me my DD didn't need to be tested as she has a cold related cough unless she has a temperature. They did say she should stay off school until better as especially important not to spread illness right now.

ellieboulou33 · 15/09/2020 22:55

Because people are assuming everything is Covid, my dd's school asked me to collect her as she was coughing in class for a few minutes, no temp, no loss of taste or smell. I left work to collect only to be told by the head that dd could return the next day if no more coughing.

Dd later that day was diagnosed with tonsillitis by the GP, who also stated that the reason my call back took 4 hours was due to the panic that has amassed through return to school & work.

There is no testing or very limited testing and my job I had to leave to collect dd was trying to run a mass recruitment program to employ......... Covid swab collectors (work in government). We can't continue like this for much longer.

Original poster
2020hello · 15/09/2020 23:10

There definitely does need clarification on the cough .

3 times in 24 hours can't be 3 coughs and people test that would be crazy.

Mine are very snotty obviously return to school has given them a cold but the snot will cause a slight cough here and there by no means continuous.
School are good here and even 118 say snottyness first its unlikely yo be covid but all I see online is people self isolating and getting good tested for cold symptoms, no wonder the system can't cope and tests are unavailable.

I thought a fever was above 38, not 37.8? Is it different for different ages.?

OP posts:
everythingisginandroses · 15/09/2020 23:13

I was ill in mid-March, no testing outside of ICU at the time, but I have every reason to believe it was Covid. My cough wasn't that bad, it was intermittent and tickly, certainly not coughing for an hour straight or anything like that. My lungs felt really sore and I did unexpectedly cough up a few drops of blood when I was at my worst, but I still don't think the 'continuous cough' definition is helpful, it just confuses people.

My other symptoms (sorry if TMI): low grade fever (38ish) for many days running, really exhausted, shortness of breath set in after a few days which vile and scary, diarrhoea, heart palpitations, headache... I also had a very charming red face, looked like my cheeks had been slapped - not me, but I looked a lot like this photo of a survivor: i2-prod.stokesentinel.co.uk/incoming/article4087956.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/2_RTR_TEM_280420sAMANTHA-nORCUP2.jpg

Based on my own experience, I would be looking out for a temperature, but I gather that not everyone suffers from that (DH was sick at same time, and wasn't as feverish as me, DS feverish for a couple of nights only). I can understand why people are erring on the side of caution Confused

AldiAisleofCrap · 15/09/2020 23:15

Well for children other symptoms are more common which is why Blackpool are doing the sensible thing and following the WHO advice.

To wonder why people are self isolating with a cough and not a continuous cough
HotPenguin · 15/09/2020 23:16

People are making it up as they go along, the official guidance says you should feel their skin with your hand to judge whether they have a temperature. And there's no definition of what a "coughing episode" is. Nowhere does it say that cold symptoms exempt you from self isolating, some people get cold symptoms as part of it.

HotPenguin · 15/09/2020 23:18

Just seen "tiredness" is on the list for Blackpool, that'll be every parent of young children isolating then!

Crunchymum · 15/09/2020 23:24

@AldiAisleofCrap

Well for children other symptoms are more common which is why Blackpool are doing the sensible thing and following the WHO advice.
What the fuck?

They haven't even listed the 3 actual symptoms that need attention together?

Ameliablue · 15/09/2020 23:25

If you have symptoms of a child, only way if knowing if it is covid is by treating but everyone has a cold this time of year and government haven't prepared enough to allow everyone to be tested so blaming the lack of testing capacity on people having needless tests.

Ameliablue · 15/09/2020 23:26

@Ameliablue

If you have symptoms of a child, only way if knowing if it is covid is by treating but everyone has a cold this time of year and government haven't prepared enough to allow everyone to be tested so blaming the lack of testing capacity on people having needless tests.
Symptoms of a cold
mocktail · 15/09/2020 23:30

They've changed the NHS page to remove mention of exact temperature (presumably because many people don't own a thermometer) but it previously said 37.8

To wonder why people are self isolating with a cough and not a continuous cough