To think people have forgotten it’s possible to be ill and it not be covid?

[MarcelineMissouri]

Everywhere you look at the moment - Posters who seem to be utterly bemused by the fact that it’s entirely possible for them or their children to have coughs/colds/viruses etc that aren’t covid, just like we did 2 years ago and indeed ever other year we’ve ever been alive. People who have a cough/temp and can’t believe they’ve tested negative for covid (yes I realise the odd positive will slip through the net)

Illnesses, many with very similar symptoms to covid have been around for as long as people have. They haven’t gone anywhere. We will continue to catch them and we will continue to be unwell, possibly very unwell from them. Being ill is not something that just started in March 2020!! Take some paracetamol and a chill pill please!

Aibu?

Yanbu, theres a bug flying round my kids school, its not Covid! Loads have done pcr and got negative. It's a standard autumn cough and cold.
Luckily the school have recovered their usual pragmatism and are fine with children attending who are well in themselves, they know that once a child has a cough it can take weeks to fully clear.

Mrspellegrino no, they shouldnt be.

A runny nose is not

• a temperature
• a loss of taste/smell
• a new continuous cough

So no we should not be wasting Covid tests (which cost the government money) testing toddlers with runny noses and none of the three specified Covid symptoms.

YANBU, other viruses are still available.

@GotLittUp

Why are people seemingly missing the point of the OP?! Nobody is saying you should just assume its a cold and not test! Its the increase of people posting on here who are so determined that their cold MUST be COVID that they've taken daily PCRs and LFT and still don't believe the negative result because they've got a cough and what else could it possibly be? THAT is what the OP is commenting on.

yes exactly

we had someone at work who had a dreadful cough and was testing every day and absolutely bemused it wasn't covid. He just could not believe he could be so ill and not have covid. He must have done 3 PCR tests plus lateral flows all the time and was beside himself as he was so ill yet it wasn't covid.

he ended up at A and E with pneumonia (not related to covid in any way) and the doctors really told him off apparently as he had not sought medical treatment earlier as he said he didn't have Covid so therefore, how could he be so ill

take note - other serious illnesses cause coughs and can kill you and aren't Covid!!

Yes thank you to those who have pointed out what this post was about!
I’m obviously not saying you should assume it isn’t covid and not test! But people are posting on here saying they’ve had negative pcr’s and daily negative lateral flows but still seem sure it must be covid. Illnesses especially coughs and colds are a part of everyday life and have been forever!

I think the worst thing is that many experts say we will have quite a bad winter with winter bugs and the flu (beause we havent built immunity last year).

If people only assume they have covid, even with negative tests, and miss flu/chest infections/sinusitis etc... there will be many poele around who will get more seriously ill than they should.
The example from @StrongArm is a good one really.... :(

@DeepaBeesKit

Mrspellegrino no, they shouldnt be.

A runny nose is not

• a temperature
• a loss of taste/smell
• a new continuous cough

So no we should not be wasting Covid tests (which cost the government money) testing toddlers with runny noses and none of the three specified Covid symptoms.

Except things have moved on and so have symptoms, everyone I know how has had it recently have had runny noses just like a cold and no cough or temperature. It's hardly a waste if it means it limits the spread of it. You absolutely cannot tell the difference between a common cold and covid symptoms without a test.

Except things have moved on and so have symptoms, everyone I know how has had it recently have had runny noses just like a cold and no cough or temperature. It's hardly a waste if it means it limits the spread of it. You absolutely cannot tell the difference between a common cold and covid symptoms without a test.

^This. The problem is that the majority of people don’t know this. And our DDs’ schools still only list the original symptoms in their advice.

I've kept my children off school today as both of them have a cold. They are both "sniffers" so end up coughing from all the snot/post nasal drips.

DD1 has been the same since she was tiny and has an inhaler as every cold ends up with a cough so bad that she vomits.

DD2 also gets very chesty/coughy around October. She had croup about 3 weeks ago and after battling with the GP for an hour on the phone, I got her steroids and she was back to her normal self within 2 hours.

I wish the sodding HCPs at my father's medical centre would remember there are things other than covid and not to be sidetracked by a cough.

My father has COPD and MND. His lungs are shot to pieces and he has a cough constantly, sometimes the infections get really bad and he needs more/different antibiotics so has to visit the medical centre. One of the triage nurses refuses to see him without a PCR test confirming he doesn't have covid despite his visits being pretty regular because of his lungs.

I understand being cautious but for fucks sake have some common sense! None of the other HCPs at the medical centre do this, but as she's one of only 2 triage nurses she makes gaining access to a GP really difficult and stressful. It's not like MND is shit enough, we have to deal with tick box nurses with no compassion or common sense too! rant over

I have NOTCOVID at the moment, DD had it last week. It is nasty. GP was convinced DD has covid. We have all had covid and it was quite different. However this bug is nasty. Day 5 and I'm still in bed, coughing more with this than when I had actual covid and flowing no signs of improvement. Done PCR because, well, you have to but fully expecting negative result.

Last time I was this sick was when I had swine flu, that was BAD.

So YABU I feel like shit, doesn't matter what's causing it

Yanbu it's a total ballache. My 3yo has a toddler temperature and I've had to get PCR etc. Awaiting result. Not the first time. Done 3 now since 2020. All negative. The ons says 90 odd percent of pop have antibodies so what r we doing?!

I'm the opposite OP! My DC had headaches / coughs and I assumed it was a normal bug until they tested positive!

@blackcurrantjam

Yanbu it's a total ballache. My 3yo has a toddler temperature and I've had to get PCR etc. Awaiting result. Not the first time. Done 3 now since 2020. All negative. The ons says 90 odd percent of pop have antibodies so what r we doing?!

Everyone I know seems to have it at the moment, kids, teens , friends who have been double jabbed and really poorly with it,one friend has long covid. Antibodies don't last long anyway.

DD has her usual chesty asthma cough, GP said to do PCR before she will see her for the antibiotics and steroids we know she’ll need.

It reminds me a bit of when this first all kicked off and mumsnet was flooded with people saying how they’d been the most ill ever with terrible symptoms just like covid back in nov/Dec 2019 jan/feb 2020 and how sure they were that it must have been covid
because what else could it possibly have been…..

Even the GP doesn't seem to think what I've got isn't covid. Has asked me to do a repeat PCR before they'll see me.

When will we start treating covid like flu, I wonder? Lets face it, at some point all the vulnerable people will have either had it or died from it (sorry for being flippant). When will life get back to how it was (will it ever?)

When will life get back to how it was (will it ever?) too many people have suffered for it to go back how it was now. It will take generations for the world to heal

@callmeadoctor

When will we start treating covid like flu, I wonder? Lets face it, at some point all the vulnerable people will have either had it or died from it (sorry for being flippant). When will life get back to how it was (will it ever?)

When it behaves like flu maybe because it doesn't at the moment so it's ridiculous to compare the two.

**I'm not calling you ridiculous, sorry if it reads like that.

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor

**I'm not calling you ridiculous, sorry if it reads like that.

What would we compare Covid to, out of interest?

@callmeadoctor

What would we compare Covid to, out of interest?

I don't know, what else can knock you sideways ,make you lose your taste and smell and potentially kill you? I know someone who is battling with Long Covid and it's hell on earth and they haven't been able to work for a year, I have friends who have been really really poorly with it despite being jabbed. My son had it and got away relatively mildly but has only just got his taste back after 8 weeks and immediately got a non Covid bug that he can't shake off as his immune system is buggered. I had flu really badly 2 years ago, in bed for a week and half and a good 6 weeks before I had full energy back but no lasting side effects. People died of flu they always have but tended only to be vulnerable people. This just seems fair game for anyone.

Sorry that was a lengthy post