"new" cough OR fever - this is not hard

[BlingLoving]

Honestly, for once the advice is actually pretty clear. If you have a new persistent cough and/or a fever, stay home. I am really struggling at the people on SM, here etc who are asking, "I've woken up with a cough but I feel fine, the advice is so confusing, does this mean I should self isolate."

I honestly worry that such simple instructions are hard for people and assume we'll see it all spreading so much more quickly as people keep themselves home for a runny nose but don't bother with a mild cough.

LBC this morning has that health guy on this morning that did the announcement with boris yesterday (sorry no idea of his name) and he clarified the cough needs to be within the last day so not a week ago or a month ago but within the last day and continuous. So constantly coughing.

See this is clear information it says what it means, I don't think it was this clear yesterday.

If in doubt stay home. Pretty obvious really. It's only for 7 days.

Who’s to say the cough you’ve had for a week isn’t Corona?

I agree that people who already have a persistent cough won't notice a new persistent cough. I know several children who have had really bad persistent dry coughs recently. Their parents won't notice if they catch CV and will most likely pass it on.

If it is @halcyondays then you wont be contagious anymore so self isolating now is pointless. That's why it needs to be new

The problem is that the media are portraying the virus as a very serious illness which makes people seriously ill and/or kills them. As a result many people who should self isolate won’t, because they “just” have a cough. We urgently need more balanced reporting rather than sensationalist headlines.

I've had a cough since half term. I'm not going to notice if I get a new one, but I'm sure getting dirty looked on the school run this morning...

Actually I have woken up with a cough this morning because I have a scratchy throat and a slightly runny nose BUT I also have itchy eyes which tells me that hay fever season is under way for me. Not sure how I'm going to convince everyone that I see that my coughs and sneezes aren't corona...

@BullshitVivienne spot on. Why not use the specific board for this?

P.S. my son is a bit under the weather today. I ran his temperature first thing. 37 degrees - normal.
Tested again before the school run 37.7. On that basis I should isolate him for a week, despite the fact he has no other symptoms and he is now back to ‘normal’ temp with no treatment?

How many times do you self isolate though. If you are self isolating because you have a cough but you actually have a cold then what about in 2 weeks when you get something else? People have to carry on with life which I think is what they were saying yesterday

In other European countries they are very clear that any symptoms of a mild cold, including fever, sneezing, sore throat coughing, runny/ blocked nose etc. Are cause for at least 7 days isolation plus 24 hours after all symptoms gone. People are testing positive with mild cold like symptoms. So they go for the safe side.

Come on following a simple instruction has been a problem for bloody years... we called it the 48hour rule.

I don’t get how they expect people to self isolate properly when they can’t keep little Jimmy off for two days after he paints the walls like the exorcist.

Calling people stupid with capital letters and exclamation marks is insulting and rude . Some people might have difficulty understanding that doesn't make anybody "stupid"

My DH started with a cough on Wednesday night. He feels ok but will work from home and I am using my a different bathroom/ sleeping in a different room to be on the safe side. No point us both having it at the same time.

I've had a tickly cough during the night for a few weeks. Put it down to pregnancy & mouth breathing but today it hasn't stopped and I'm still coughing so I'm self isolating.

Simple as that.

There's a difference between continuous and continual :-

Continual means repeated but with breaks in between; chronic. Example: The continual problem of our car's not starting forced us to sell it. Continuous means without interruption in an unbroken stream of time or space.
data.grammarbook.com › blog
Continual vs. Continuous - Grammar and Punctuation - Grammar Blog

I dont think the advice is clear enough for everyone to understand. A lot of people won't understand what continuous means. They may think if they avoid elderly or ill people there is no issue.
There is lots of research about public health information. The message needs to be incredibly clear. You might think people should understand the message as it is, but many simply won't.
So wash your hands is very clear information.
Would have been better to say - if you have a fever or cough stay home as you probably have coronavirus. Very clear. Yes will means some staying home when they don't need to, but it is easily understood.

I might have a degree in English so ordinarily understand these things clearly. But I also have anxiety to make me doubt myself.

I think anxiety and long news items waiting on the latest from Boris is frying peoples brains alongside social media posts no wonder people are confused and frightened.

Cold symptoms are NOT CV symptoms, people need to stop being so hysterical. If you have a runny nose, sore throat and chesty cough you have a cold. Pointless ‘self isolating’.

But that is asking people to assess what a chesty cough is.

NHS website has a symptom checker generated overnight.

Use it, people.

111.nhs.uk/covid-19?fbclid=IwAR1wtfXh1-Ido-2388VXGbHRQ2x6QW-mfG8tweUndEI_k4-9gPiEl2M2VtQ

The symptom checker does not explain what a continuous cough means.

It doesn't explain what a cough is, either.