Do we now have to self isolate with cold symptoms?

[Coconut49]

DH has a cold and slight cough. I thought I’d get him a lateral flow test just to double check not Covid despite no other symptoms and seems just like a cold (runny nose etc.). Went to pharmacy to get LF test - told assistant scenario and she nearly had an apoplectic fit. Apparently DH would be classed as symptomatic and we should all be isolating and get PCR test. She shouted at me saying ‘you should not even be here, you should be isolating!’. I tried to explain DH was just trying to ‘do the right thing’ and double check. But she was having none of it and banished me from the pharmacy. AIBU to think the assistant was over-reacting? Do we have to self-isolate for cold symptoms now? In the end I got some tests from a different pharmacy and DH tested negative. TBH I don’t think I will bother in the future after that reaction as we have had both vaccines now.

No, only Covid symptoms mean you should self-isolate. Obviously the cold symptoms can overlap which is where it is confusing! All my hospital appointments letters advise not to attend if I have a fever, cough or loss/change of sense of smell. I think the person overreacted

YANBU but you mentioned the dreaded cough. She is quite right that the test is for people without the classic symptoms and if you are going to test, you need to do the proper one.

If you are taking a test because you think it might be Covid, then of course you should be isolating. Where have you been the last fifteen months!

YABU.

Your DH had symptoms which could have been Covid-19.

Therefore you should have isolated until you got a negative test.

The pharmacist was correct, as she was about the tests. As he was symptomatic, he needed PCR tests. LF tests are useless in symptomatic people.

YABU. DH has a cough which is one of the three symptoms that are to be tested for with PCR. There is no way that you can tell that his symptoms are a cold, especially as he has had the vaccine which could lead to a milder course of disease. Going into a pharmacy when you live with someone with symptoms is particularly unreasonable as all you need to do is to log onto the gov.uk website and you an order a PCR test for the symptomatic member and lateral flows for the unsymptomatic. They usually turn up within 24 hrs

Have you watched a programme called 'The News'?

Your husband has a cough. He needs a PCR and your household should isolate until his results.

As he has a cough, the whole family should have self isolated while he got a PCR test. The pharmacist was correct.

Lateral flow isn't for use when symptomatic and you should do a PCR test instead, your husband has a cough so needs to book a PCR test.

How are people still posting things like this? Have you been in a coma for 18 months?

No one is allowed to have colds anymore.

I genuinely don't understand the 'but but but' excuses....

@osbertthesyrianhamster

No one is allowed to have colds anymore.

Are they not? I must have missed that from the government, could you please link?

Of course people are still allowed to have colds but there is a lot of overlap between cold symptoms, flu symptoms, and covid symptoms. The only way to know whether you have "just a cold" or covid is to get a test done.

How on earth have you managed to miss the requirement to test and isolate if you have a cough, fever or loss of taste/smell? Or the many many many news articles and adverts in every form of media (social, radio, tv and print) saying that lateral flow tests are for non-symptomatic use only?

Or hey, just look it up on the NHS or gov websites, a simple google would have told you that anyone with symptoms needs to isolate and order a PCR test, they can also drive direct to a test centre and self test there.

Omfg. It's a new continuous cough which is the symptom of Covid. It's not just an odd cough its quite noticeable bouts of coughing.

Bit of post nasal drip/catarrh in a person who's been vaccinated twice? With current rates as low as they are I think you were being more responsible than most bothering to get a LF. I wouldn't have.

If you need it for future reference. This is the first result when you google 'Covid test'

www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test

Oh don’t be so obtuse! You fully well know that he needed a PCR test. We all have to piss about self isolating for temperatures & coughs that are very well likely to not be Covid, but it’s still got to be done.

As for the parting comment, you do understand that both of you having had the vaccine doesn’t mean that you can’t catch and or spread COVID-19 don’t you?

I didn’t think he was symptomatic for Covid. He doesn’t have a ‘continuous’ cough or any other Covid symptoms. Just a mild cough sometimes and runny nose eg. A bloody cold. He just thought he’d check as tests widely available and we are being encouraged to test test test. If he had continuous cough and temperature he would have organised a PCR test obviously. My point was his symptoms were cold symptoms. Is everyone going to isolate every time they get a cold this winter? Seems ridiculous.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/symptoms/main-symptoms/

a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)

It is not just any cough and the worryworts need to stop expecting life to stop every time we get a tickle in our throats.

It may well be a cold, but equally it could be Covid. PCR testing should be second nature to us all now if you have ANY of the recognised Covid symptoms.
You may have had both vaccinations but that doesn’t mean that you can’t catch Covid or pass it on, it just reduces the odds and will help reduce the impact of the virus on your body. I know multiple people who have had Covid twice. Walking into a pharmacy of all places where they are frequently dealing with the most clinically vulnerable people is thoughtless at best.
I hope DH does have just a cold and feels better soon.

OP you are not being obtuse. Ignore the crazy MN covid contingent. No one in RL is like this. My son's preschool is full of toddlers with streaming noses and the accompanying occasional wet cough.

I’m wondering if people post these should I self isolate for these symptoms thread and include a cough or temperature in the symptoms just to get a rise out of other posters. I can’t actually believe people don’t know these are 2 of the main symptoms and should be tested for using a PCR test and not a lateral flow. I despair!

I’m sorry op I can’t believe 12 months on you don’t know that a cough isn’t a symptom. Get him to book a pcr test and if it’s negative then it’s a cold what’s the issue? Why all the but it’s a cold etc and going out and about a quick google would of told you this .
don’t go into shops / pharmacists etc . I bet the poor woman was bloody sick of it it ,

I feel the 3 main symptom advice needs updating, when my son tested positive, he said he felt he was coming down with a cold, he felt a bit warm to touch, we don't have a thermometer to confirm, so arranged a test.

He only had a slight cough a week later and never lost his sense of taste or smell, he didn't seem to have much of a temperature after that first day. If we had lateral flow tests at home we would have used them, I dont think we would have gone for a PCR if a lateral test came back negative, cases were low and he had only been to work and the supermarket.

I think it is the responsible thing to do to get a PCR test, then hopefully, no more restrictions

Is everyone going to isolate every time they get a cold this winter?

I will be following whatever the guidance is this winter. It’s pretty clear now that if you he have a new continuous cough you need to isolate and test now. PCR tests are easy to book now and are coming back quickly.