What exactly is a "new persistent cough"?

[sluj]

The definition of a persistent cough is one you have had for a while and won't go away. If that's the case, how can it be a "new" cough?
I'm expecting some confusion at work tomorrow about who should self isolate on this basis

Any new cough or new fever = at least 7 days off, although it really should be 14.

Surely you don’t need this explaining to you?

If your child has a fever or a cough they need to stay home. Yes it's a pain, but it'll be much more of a pain if they close all schools and nurseries.

The problem is that schools and nurseries will struggle to stay open if any staff member with a cough or fever or with dependents who have cough or fever have to stay home for seven days.

The government needs to pull its finger out about clear and unambiguous guidance. At the moment there is too much contradictory information flying about the media and no clear place to go. Public Health England or NHS 111? I visited both pages and neither of them were particularly helpful.

Ds has a throat infection!

And us general public don't stand a chance of knowing what to do as the advice from 111 is different to the protocol at the GP surgery.

A lot of people here saying it's not difficult or accusing those of us asking questions of being deliberately obtuse and beligerant. I've just had a massive dressing down from my boss because I chose to follow the guidelines and self-isolate. She had a completely different interpretation of the guidelines and does not believe that my cough is "new" because I've had it since sunday. This is the problem- the guidelines are vague and open to interpretation and lits of us are so sure we understand them perfectly that we are getting upset at those who have interpreted differently. This includes folk who think it is is clear that their cough is not coronavirus-related and can therefore carry on as usual, and those who think the former group absolutely need to self-isolate

FWIW, I have decided to continue self-isolating over the weekend and go back to work on monday. That will be 8 days after my cough started but only 5 days at home in total because it didn't seem bad enough/no fever to stop me going about my business. I'm still convinced my cough has nothing to do with the virus but following the guidelines anyway. There is, however, a need for clarity so that all employees, employers, parents etc are clear on what to do. The numerous threads on this and on social media show that the current guidelines are not clear enough.

@TakeYourCanvasBags your boss is an idiot and you should self-isolate for the remainder of the 7 days since the start of your cough

@GiveHerHellFromUs - completely agree about boss and I am absolutely planning to self-isolate for the remainder of time- plus an extra day to be sure. It still remains the case though that the guidelines are not clear enough to be effective.

My husband has had an on off cough for a couple of weeks , no other symptom , so slightly confused what to do

@TakeYourCanvasBags I think a lot of people want to be told when to self isolate rather than using common sense. I think if people prioritise health over money we'd be fine. Obviously it's not that easy though.

A colleague told me today there was no point her self-isolating because she'd already had the cough for 3 days.
I asked her what about the people you're going to come across in the next 4 days?
People are just stupid.

@pelirocco123 he doesn't need to self isolate because it's been longer than 7 days and isn't continuous

Pelorocco - similar to me - I've had my cough for 10 days. Because I don't have a temperature and its been longer than 10 days I don't have to self isolate.