Headache? Sore throat? Go and get an covid test?

[CovidClara]

The AIBU is that

AIBU to ask the government to update the early symptoms of Covid?

I had the first symptoms on Tuesday having contracted it on Friday. The symptoms were headache I couldn't shift plus sore throat that didn't get worse/swell up

Lost smell on Friday. Took a test - positive, I know that the only place I was exposed was on the previous Friday - as the 2 people I was with also tested positive and for 1 it was the only time they had left the house . I didn't get a cough for many days into covid

To date I have told 7 people with a headache and sore throat to get a CV19 test. They have ALL tested positive despite none of them meeting the criteria for a test.

AIBU to ask that the government updates the symptoms for testing to include a headache and sore throat?

yabu op

YANBU. The only positive test I know of started with a headache and progressed to a sore throat. The cough came later.

My niece had exactly that the first couple of days ( adult niece) and thought it was a cold, she never had a cough. She had gastro symptoms and tiredness and a bit of a temp as it progressed which eventually was why she tested. Took her a few days to eventually have a test which was a positive!

@ShitXmasCracker

A strange, severe headache and body aches and pains were the first symptoms in all the adults and teenagers I’ve known who then tested positive (work in education, so that’s a lot of people!).

It's been the same for all the cases I know about in schools / staff locally. Very few have had a temperature, and a handful have had a cough.

@Rarotonga2

If you use the Zoe research app (Covid symptom tracker) and report headache and sore throat, they invite you to do a test. I have experienced this twice. Both times I received a negative result.

I use it and have reported headaches and sore throat as has my Dd and we weren't asked to test.

Let’s face it people can have COVID without any symptoms at all. A criteria may as well be that you are human. Headaches are very common. As are a sore throat. Indeed it seems to be a side effect of a zoom call. You would be advocating something that meant huge swaths of the population were constantly isolating and testing on a regular basis.

This is why they are moving to other testing approaches. I’m sure they have data and studies on headaches and sore throats. I’m sure they have ways of using that data to reach the right conclusions given actual testing capacity and the imperatives of maintaining a basic functioning society.

In theory we know that testing everyone, everyday is the optimal position. But we aren’t in that position. The government is trying to establish more frequent random testing. As they did in Liverpool. That’s the way forward.

My first symptom was sore throat that was shortlived. YANBU.

I think headaches and sore throat should be in the main symptoms. It’s very common for those to be the only two in younger people.

Although I dont think you are unreasonable I do also think that for small business like mine it would be the death blow. If we all needed time off while waiting for results which have taken up to three days. We couldn't stay open. We are childcare and if this came in I think we might as well close on day one.

Its an impossible situation.

Both of my children and two friends have had it. The only common symptoms were headaches and sore throats. Nobody coughed and nobody lost their sense of smell. It looked exactly like a head cold. 3 out of the 4 also vomited.

It’s about viral load. With sore throat and headache you’d be likely to have got a negative result despite being positive.

that is interesting @m0therofdragons

These responses show how mild covid is in many, many people and how different the symptoms are so easily mixed with general headaches or general colds at first. I wonder if a large percentage of the population have already had it by now?

they have been saying all along the symptoms are mild in the majority of people but deadly in others.
so - keep your distance

Really, because the symptoms are so varied, we should be testing whenever we feel unwell. It is the only way that we can protect the vulnerable.

As ever though, we have been groomed to look down on anyone that suggests testing when they don't meet the narrow criteria. The criteria being so narrow as the infrastructure is, once again, not there to operate sensibly.

That really is this government's legacy, a complete dismantling of the public sector at a time we need it more than ever (increasingly elderly population).

Groomed?
dont be dramatic.

we can't all take time off work when we have a headache, life isnt like that

how would you feel if your local GP could not see you after all as your GP had a headache?

I’ve had 3 tests over the last 9 months (as part of the ZOE study), each time I’d had a bad headache, dizziness, fatigue, stuffy nose and slightly raised temperature - all came back negative. On that basis I’d say YABU, or you might as well start testing everyone who feels a bit off (which may not be a bad thing actually).

For my son, the high temp was the giveaway and lethargy.

Ten per cent of his class currently have Covid, and there have been dozens of cases now at the school, which is at odds with the pp who mentions school having none or few cases and that it doesn't spread. Schools are on their knees here in Birmingham and those of us in the thick of it working with schools with whole year groups off, understand just how it does spread in school.

I'm on the Zoe reporting app and that seems to be set up to tell you get a test for even the mildest symptoms. I reported having a mild headache and feeling a bit tired and achy, and got a message to get tested. However, by then I felt absolutely fine and I decided it was ridiculous to use up testing resources, and I've been fine since.

*06:29maddening

They should make it easier to just get a test with a quick result. Eg not the main symptoms then the household does not need to isolate while you get the test, only on a positive result. If I have the mild symptoms Monday, straight in for test, results same or next day, negative go about BAU, positive then you have caight it earlier and can isolate. This would massively help reduce the infection rate.*

I think the same. A lot of people (in RL) wouldnt be able to afford to take a few days at a time off work for every headache and sore throat, which in many cases would be negative.
There seem to be several MN suggesting families isolate for 14 days before christmas to enable them to see elderly relatives, completely ignoring the fact that for a lot of people not going to work for 14 days = not getting paid....
Obviously if you had a positive test, or been in contact with one, then youd have to, but it must only be a privileged few who could isolate for 2 weeks out of choice.

If you look at other countries advice it does say more of a range of symtoms. For example here is list from Sweden:

Among the reported symptoms are:

Cough
Fever
Difficulty breathing
Runny nose
Blocked nose
Sore throat
Headache
Nausea
Muscle and joint pain
Loss of smell and taste
Diarrhoea

www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/the-public-health-agency-of-sweden/communicable-disease-control/covid-19/covid-19-faq/

It does also mention can be signs of other viruses as well.

This might also be of interest- 6 types of symptom 'clusters' indicating different levels of severity, from the BMJ..

www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m2911

The Covid Symptom Study app was developed by King’s College London in conjunction with the health technology company ZOE and has more than 4 million users.

Users of the app are asked to log their health and any new potential symptoms of covid-19 daily. A machine learning algorithm analysed data from a subset of 1653 users of the app in the UK and US with confirmed covid-19 who had regularly logged their symptoms in March and April. Of the sample, 383 reported at least one hospital visit and 107 reported respiratory support.

The algorithm revealed six distinct groupings of symptoms. This was then tested by running it on a second independent dataset of 1000 users in the UK, US, and Sweden who had logged their symptoms in May. The six clusters are:

“Flu-like” with no fever—headache, loss of smell, muscle pains, cough, sore throat, chest pain, no fever

“Flu-like” with fever—headache, loss of smell, cough, sore throat, hoarseness, fever, loss of appetite

Gastrointestinal—headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, sore throat, chest pain, no cough

Severe level one, fatigue—headache, loss of smell, cough, fever, hoarseness, chest pain, fatigue

Severe level two, confusion—headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, muscle pain

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, diarrhoea, abdominal pain.

@m0therofdragons

It’s about viral load. With sore throat and headache you’d be likely to have got a negative result despite being positive.

That's interesting. Mind you out of the two of us I probably had a tiny viral load but the other would have had a significant due to the length and distance of contact (sitting next to them for an hour)