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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Do we now have to self isolate with cold symptoms?

169 replies

Coconut49 · 26/05/2021 22:00

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.

OP posts:
Ijustknowitstimetogo · 26/05/2021 22:31

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

Well that’s the big question; and the predicament were now all in.

Imnothereforthedrama · 26/05/2021 22:33

@Coconut49

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.
Yes until the pcr test , ridiculous or not it’s a pandemic so yes this is what you have to do . Many of us have tested a few times and isolated . You don’t know it’s not Covid so book a test and stay home till results. It’s really not that hard and I’m even more baffled that you don’t understand this .
osbertthesyrianhamster · 26/05/2021 22:35

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

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.
This
Lockheart · 26/05/2021 22:35

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

Well yes, if the symptoms cross over with covid symptoms and until a test comes back negative. Surely that's obvious?

Just like we did this winter just gone. With the tests having such rapid turnaround times now, you'll only be isolating for 2 or 3 days maximum if it's just a cold.

jumpbounce · 26/05/2021 22:37

YABU he has a cough. A cough is a symptom of covid. LFD is not for symptoms either only a PCR.
No one can tell its only a cold without a test.

Lockheart · 26/05/2021 22:37

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

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.
Neither of those are covid symptoms, so I don't see the relevance.

The main symptoms to watch for are a temperature, a new continuous cough, and a loss or change in taste / smell.

Not runny noses or occasional coughs.

BirthdayCakeBelly · 26/05/2021 22:37

@time4anothername

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
This says it all. He needs a PCR because of the cough. Imagine working in that pharmacy and how many times a day they get people in there who should be isolating. No wonder the staff member is sick of it!
baldafrique · 26/05/2021 22:38

A cough is a cough. You went to the pharmacy querying a LF test for COVID so what do you expect?! Vaccinations will hopefully make symptoms milder so your DH could easily have mild COVID symptoms for all the pharmacist knew. You cant mention a cough whilst asking for LT and not expect them to state a PCR is needed. Jesus wept.

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland · 26/05/2021 22:38

Please everyone read the description of a "new continuous cough".

Why do you think they made it specifically a "new, continuous cough", accompanied by a definition making clear the severity if cough considered to meet this definition?

It is because they do not expect you to test for any minor occasional cough.

firstevernamechange · 26/05/2021 22:39

Look, I'm as far away from a worry wart as you can get, but the cough in Covid can be quite mild. Most people won't be coughing their lungs out with a 40° fever.

Ironically, I fear that the media's/government scare campaign means people will ignore that little cough that turns out to ge mild covid.

Original poster
Coconut49 · 26/05/2021 22:40

Thank you NoIDontWatchLoveIsland , and others who have actually read my post properly. He doesn’t have a CONTINUOUS cough or ANY OTHER COVID SYMPTOMS. Just mild cough and sneezing. So I therefore thought LF test was appropriate as not symptomatic Covid symptoms.
I am leaving this thread now!

OP posts:
NoIDontWatchLoveIsland · 26/05/2021 22:41

A cough is a cough

But a cough is not necessarily a new continuous cough. Read. The. Definition.

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)

Shall I just hang out here on this thread and repost it every page until people actually read it?

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland · 26/05/2021 22:42

Firstevernamechange

Why do you think the NHS guidance specifies it and provides the definition it does?

baldafrique · 26/05/2021 22:42

You went asking for a test specifically for COVID (LT) and mentioned a cough! No pharmacist is ever going to say take the LT and continue to go about your business.

Lockheart · 26/05/2021 22:42

@Coconut49

Thank you NoIDontWatchLoveIsland , and others who have actually read my post properly. He doesn’t have a CONTINUOUS cough or ANY OTHER COVID SYMPTOMS. Just mild cough and sneezing. So I therefore thought LF test was appropriate as not symptomatic Covid symptoms. I am leaving this thread now!
Your OP says 'slight cough'.

A cough can be slight and continuous. Slight refers to severity, not frequency. If he had an occasional cough, you should have said.

Don't change the narrative just because you didn't get the answers you wanted.

baldafrique · 26/05/2021 22:43

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland
I dont think the pharmacist would have had accurate access to the frequency of coughs! Grin

jumpbounce · 26/05/2021 22:43

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

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.
Great. Thankfully our school are hot on this not happening and any child who coughs is immediately sent home and not allowed to return until they have tested negative or self isolated for 10 days. Regular letters sent out to remind parents that a child should not attend school with a cough and or a fever. I'm very glad they take it seriously as there is vulnerable children in schools as well. Equally the plus side is very few bubbles bursting and impacting on everyones lives for 10 days!
NoIDontWatchLoveIsland · 26/05/2021 22:43

Most people won't be coughing their lungs out with a 40° fever.

No, most will not have symptoms at all. Which is why track and trace is the most valuable tool.

baldafrique · 26/05/2021 22:44

@Lockheart Quite. If you dont want to self isolate and do a PCR, dont go to a pharmacy talking about coughs and requesting a COVID TEST, of which LF is one!

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland · 26/05/2021 22:45

Can anyone explain to me why the government/NHS bothered including the definition of continuous cough if they expected everyone to isolate and test for any cough?

baldafrique · 26/05/2021 22:45

This is going to be an issue with vaccines reducing COVID symptoms to mild...it will be hard to distinguish from common colds

headintheproverbial · 26/05/2021 22:46

@Lockheart - I can't imagine ever describing a cough which was continuous as 'mild'. You're being ridiculous, as was the pharmacist.

The DH didn't have continuous cough, fever or loss of taste/smell and therefore didn't have Covid symptoms. Although overlap in symptoms is possible this is not such a case based on the description.

Runny nose and mild cough are not symptoms of Covid ffs.

OP - YANBU.

baldafrique · 26/05/2021 22:46

@Coconut49
LF is for completely symptomless

mikejardine · 26/05/2021 22:46

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

Exactly!

Lockheart · 26/05/2021 22:48

[quote headintheproverbial]@Lockheart - I can't imagine ever describing a cough which was continuous as 'mild'. You're being ridiculous, as was the pharmacist.

The DH didn't have continuous cough, fever or loss of taste/smell and therefore didn't have Covid symptoms. Although overlap in symptoms is possible this is not such a case based on the description.

Runny nose and mild cough are not symptoms of Covid ffs.

OP - YANBU. [/quote]
If the cough is continuous, yes it could be.

Again - mild / slight refer to severity, not frequency.

You can be constantly hacking your lungs up and barely able to breathe, or you can have a constant mild cough.

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