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?

@Fev11 exactly, I am dumbfounded at how confused some people seem to be about very basic, self explanatory, downright obvious advice. I heard a similar conversation at work yesterday, people talking about fever and how do they know it's an actual fever. What is a new persistent cough. Honestly.

@Wtfdoipick a cough that continues through the day rather than a couple of times due to clearing your throat or an irritant.
If you say that you have 'a cough' rather than you coughed a couple of times. Then its a continuous cough.

The guidelines really aren’t going to work are they - some people refuse to put themselves out if it is going to cause disruption to their own lives....

My child was vomiting in the night but dont worry they’re just teething so can go to nursery today and dont need to stay at home for 48 hours.

I had diarrhoea for the whole of yesterday but dont worry, it was just something I ate and will go into work today as it’s definitely not a virus that I will spread.

Now it’s - I’ve got a persistent cough but dont worry, it’s definitely not the Coronavirus, it’s just a cold. I’m not a doctor and I haven’t been tested but I KNOW it’s just a cold.

I’m not talking about people who have medical conditions such as asthma - this must be very difficult. I am talking about people who will get new coughs and/or temperatures who will suddenly turn into medical professionals and be able to self-diagnose a cold - impressive...

But the guidance isn't clear, my daughter has a runny nose, during the night the mucus will drop onto her throat and cause her to cough a couple of times. Do I isolate or not, she's no temperature and I don't have a clue what a continuous cough actually means

I’m already sick of being stared at because of my cough! I had a chest infection a few weeks ago, I am completely well in myself but have a residual cough that GP says could last weeks and weeks. Definitely not a new cough and I’m not self isolating-I feel like I need a badge

@Rumnraisin I know, the selfishness astounds me. I have a new cough, I have to stay at home until Wednesday. It sucks, it really does but the advice is clear!

But the guidance isn't clear, my daughter has a runny nose, during the night the mucus will drop onto her throat and cause her to cough a couple of times. Do I isolate or not, she's no temperature and I don't have a clue what a continuous cough actually means

If she coughs a couple of time's at night only then it's obviously not a continuous cough!

I am not finding the guidelines at all clear. My DH has been up a lot in the night going to the loo. He says he also has a temperature. He thinks he has a UTI (but he has never had one before). I have nothing with which to take his temperature to check how high it is. No cough. He has called in sick but I suspect he does not think he should self isolate. He will be adamant about this and I am not sure how strenuous I need to be with him. It is all very confusing.

The guidelines really aren’t going to work are they - some people refuse to put themselves out if it is going to cause disruption to their own lives....

I work in a school and i'm expecting many coughing children to turn up today. Just like we get children who tell us they've been sick, have diarrhea, temperatures and show various other signs of illness on an almost daily occurrence.

I think fever is very different to a high temperature. With the former you get shivering and are visibly unwell. With the latter you are just a bit warmer than normal.

@Apolloanddaphne if he has a temperature then he has to self isolate.
If he can tell he has a temperature (his skin feels very hot and or he feels shivery) then it's very likely it's over 37.8 so there's no need to test it anyway.

Did anyone actually watch the press conference?

Why do so many people think they know better than the health professionals?

FGS. Stay at home!

Yes you should stay at home as per the new advice.

However the government are absolute idiots, there is no way that everyone is going to follow this advice, you can’t even get everyone to follow the advice on norovirus. It’s going to be difficult to persuade everyone to start doing this when you’re usually expected to carry on with a cough etc. People who are self employed or only get SSP could struggle for money. And if teachers and hospital staff follow this advice they’ll be massively understaffed.

Don’t forget that so many people are symptomless, but they don’t even recommend WFH where possible. Which would reduce the spread in workplaces and public transport. Such an easy thing to do.

And with this, oh just stay at home, we won’t even bother testing you.
How on earth are they meant to know when we have reached “the right time that The Science tells us we do things” ? They will have no idea how many people have Coronavirus and how many just have a plain old cough, so how can hospitals prepare? Presumably it will carry on spreading until suddenly huge numbers of people are seriously ill and needing hospital treatment, and the hospitals won’t be able to cope.

AFAIK, the government still can’t even be bothered to take people’s temperatures at airports, even though this can identify more than half the people who have Coronavirus.

All those saying the guidelines are clear...if you had a child with the symptoms of a cold (stuffy/runny nose, sore throat, generally feeling a bit rubbish) BUT no fever or persistent cough, would you self isolate?

@IToldYouIWasFreaky no because the advice is continuous cough or temperature NOT a snotty nose.

Though generally on mumsnet, speculation and misinformation posted by internet randomers passes the time, in this case it could sadly end up costing people's lives by undermining government advice.

Please act responsibly, and base your judgments on the Chief Medical Officer's edict rather than people who fancy passing the time on the internet.

Read the NHS page not mumsnet.

The many posters who have been so vociferously supportive of a better society, working together and supporting the vulnerable over the last few Brexit/ election years now have a huge opportunity to directly influence the lives and futures (or lack of future) of others.

Take it!!

All those saying the guidelines are clear...if you had a child with the symptoms of a cold (stuffy/runny nose, sore throat, generally feeling a bit rubbish) BUT no fever or persistent cough, would you self isolate?

Well, no, because the guidelines clearly state to self-isolate if you have a temperature of over 37.8 degrees and/or a continuous cough.

It doesn't say anything about isolating if you have a blocked nose or sore throat. It's really not that complicated!

@ihaveaquestionplease I've just had a chat with my DH. He says he has no temperature now and was really just quite warm in the night. This is normal for him he often has to get up in the night due to overheating. He is phoning the GP to go over the UTI symptoms he has. He has been dealing with CV for weeks through his work. He knows what the advice is.

That's really the definition of clear. The NHS website asks two simple question - do you have a continuous cough, do you have a fever.
If they wanted people to stay at home on account of other symptoms, they would have told us that.

@Apolloanddaphne you're the one that said he told you he had a temperature 🤷🏼‍♀️

I am dumbfounded at how confused some people seem to be about very basic, self explanatory, downright obvious advice

Not sure it is that basic really. What's a continuous cough? And originally they said the cough was a dry one, so if someone is coughing up phlegm it's something else. They also said sneezing isn't a symptom.

It would actually be much clearer if they said any cough which you know isn't down to asthma or hay fever or some other pre-existing condition. and any cold symptoms at all. The current advice still requires some sort of assessment to be done, and people don't have the knowledge to do that.

And although I think you know if you have a temperature, you can't get thermometers where I live. I am going into town this morning for other things, so will have another look.

@ihaveaquestionplease You're absolutely right. I did say he had a temperature. That's what he told me earlier this morning and what I knew when I first posted. I've had a chat with him since and he now says he was merely a bit warm. Sorry for the confusion!

Go to work your employer will send you home immediately. I have been sending people home since it started and we have been working remotely since the beginning of the week

Italy is charging people with symptoms who refuse to self isolate with potentially trying to cause malicious murder and a weighty possible 21 year sentence.

That's how bad the situation is. Err on the side of caution. Why do people always think the rules dont apply to them or they are/should be exempt.

For those of you with time on your hands here's a fairly easy-to-read summary of the course of the diseases in hospitalised patients in China:

www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30566-3/fulltext

The government advice is NOT for these kind of patients- it is for the many many who will only get mild disease, but if they don't self-isolate will pass it on to others will WILL end up on these paths ....

Make no mistake, this is extremely serious - some extraordinary measures are being put in place behind behind the scenes.

I will leave it there but PLEASE FOLLOW EXPERT EPIDEMIOLOGICAL ADVICE from Chris Witty here:

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

Do NOT listen to randomers on the internet- even well-meaning GPs/ nurses/ consultants are NOT epidemiologists/ virologists- they have no experience of pandemic.