Do I really need to stay home?

[batmancave]

Me and ds have a cough which i believe is from a cold. We've both had runny noses and no temperature.

Does he really need to stay off school and do I really need to stay off work?

It's cough OR a fever.

@pussgirl it’s a new cough that’s not normal for you with or without fever.

ShootEmUpSarsaparilla but it will often stop for 7 or 10 days and start up again. Which is then the threshold for a new cough, but I know it’s not any different from the cough caused by my lung condition.
And people have started giving me dirty looks in the street and actively avoiding me, it’s disgusting how terribly we treat our ill

At times like these isn't it better to stay home? Why would you risk those around you by possibly exposing others?

Cough with fever over 37.8C means self isolation for 7 days. The advice was one, the other or both.

Not everyone with a cold has a cough or fever. There is nothing about isolating for a runny nose or sore throat.
But a cough, or a fever, the (new) advice is clear.

I wouldn’t want to work with someone who was coughing, whether it was from a cold or not.

The next few months are going to be disruptive and frustrating for most of us. We just need to deal with it the best we can and err on the side of caution.
You might think it's ' just a cold' but you don't know 100%

Where is the 37.8 degrees coming from? I thought a fever in adults was 38 or above?

The only way we're going to enforce this is if the general public have zero tolerance for people out in public coughing, or I guess looking feverish though that is harder to define.

So much misinformation and irresponsibility around over such an important issue- incredible.

NHS says :
Stay at home for 7 days if you have either :

a high temperature
a new, continuous cough
Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.

You do not need to contact 111 to tell them you're staying at home.

Read our advice about staying at home.

Here's the link:

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

Sorry yes cough or fever or both - my mistake

I’m pregnant and about to have my anomaly scan in a couple of weeks. I’m seriously worried that if I have a cold I will have to self isolate, not go to my anomaly scan, and anything that might crop up on that scan wouldn’t be seen until after the optimum time.

Frankly getting coronavirus or just a cold, I really need to not get sick in any way right now. So please listen to the new advice and stay home to prevent the spread of coughs and colds as well as coronavirus.

Prof Chris Whitty said that 'fever' can be just you feeling like you have a fever, or you feeling your forehead, but he said as a kind if aside that the definition of a fever is 37.8C or higher.

But you DON'T have to have measured your own and fit tbhis narrow definition.

It amazes me how such simple guidance causes confusion amongst certain people.
I can see why they are not bringing in more complicated measures yet!

Fever is higher than 37.0C

High fever is 37.8C or higher

Absolutely you need to stay at home. That is the current health advice. It may be coronavirus, it may not. We all need to remember the consequences of this thing can be deadly for some groups. Not to mention the strain on the NHS which means that doctors and nurses will be tied up dealing with coronavirus cases; in the meantime, this will have a knock on effect on not only routine services, but those coming into hospital with heart attacks, strokes, accidents etc.

I think under the circumstances, given that there is so much conflicting info about what is and isn’t a symptom of Coronavirus, I’d say if you don’t feel quite right for any reason then it’s sensible to self isolate.

Feeling your own forehead is not helpful as your own hands are also hot if you have a fever.

Comparing your own forehead to someone else's is more useful, but you'd have to be close to them to do that...

I was on a bus t'other day. Two Italian ladies got on chatting avidly, the elder (in her 70s would guess) started really hoarse coughing which continued intermittently for the entirety of the time I remained on the bus. She not only positioned herself in a 'cluster' of people (rather than heading upstairs where it was empty) but seemed unbothered by how her cough may have been perceived.

FFS yes you both need to stay at home.

I'd be very pissed off if someone with those symptoms came to my work or DD school.

Be responsible.
I hope it is just a cold for both of you but don't take that gamble with other people's lives.
You may both be okay, others may not.

Id love to know what IS a CONTINUOUS cough tbh.
But I suspect it’s not the same than a simple cough so coughing a few times a day isn’t a continuous cough.

This is the massive issue I have. A runny one is NOT seen as a symptoms of CV. Nor is sneezing.

Nor is a cough that has been there for a while (eg people who got the bad virus/cold I’ve christmas and are still coughing like DH)
In that situation, how in earth do you know? (And just as importantly, How are people around you going to know?)

What actually is a continuous cough? I've been trying to find a definition of it.

I can see many many situation where people will be judged (and verbally abused) for a cough they can’t do anything about because they always have it..... :( so many conditions that can cause a CHRONIC cough

**“ I despair- why are some people so stupid and selfish?

Follow the bloody guidance- it is very clear and simple.”**

This, in spades

I also think that in the UK we've been indoctrinated to 'carry on regardless...'. It is quite difficult to override the habits of a lifetime in terms of suddenly giving into mild illness even if it is for the benefit of the good and the great.