Children and COVID19

[godhelpusall]

I'm interested in experiences of children with C19. My kids have both had it and it has lasted weeks and (particularly for DD) has been really awful. I keep seeing articles etc about how children don't get it badly but the cynical part of me wonders whether this supports a back to work agenda. I'd be interested to find out any experiences of children having it- it can't only be mine who have been ill for 6 weeks?

And for those that say children don't spread it, neighbours 4 year old was first to show symptoms in his family and then 7 days later everyone else.

I think the figures for hospitalised (total) and current and icu cases for children should be shown rather than just a focus on deaths.
Same with adults really.
Personally i dont really want to end up hospitalised even if i dont happen to die.
mH and BJ dont really look very well.
The cases in younger age groups are now starting to exceed the 60-69 group because they are testing KW.

unless you had a positive test then you can't be sure you've had it !

Whilst true, the problem is people aren’t being tested so if you say ‘unless you’ve tested positive you haven’t had it’ is, well, not true.
Equally, some people will think they’ve had it when they haven’t, but reading the symptoms many posters describe and knowing that tests aren’t being done, it would be foolish to make a blanket statement of your haven’t tested positive - you haven’t had it!’

We weren’t tested but had classic symptoms. We were glued to bed for a couple weeks. Kids unwell for a day. We also gave it (assuming it was in fact it) to one of their friends. He was also mildly under the weather for a couple days tops. None of us found it the worst illness we’ve had.

unless you have a positive test you cant be sure you've had it

If you are sick long enough, with enough of the weird and wonderful symptoms, then yes, actually, you can.

I'm sorry to everyone whose DC have been ill.

If both parents also had it, please can I ask how you managed looking after the children? I have a 3 year old and an EBF newborn and that's my biggest fear!

There was a lot of potential cases in local schools just before they shut. Approximately 1/2 of the secondary were off with suspicious symptoms. The ones I know all matched the covid 19 ones.
Nothing confirmed as no one was testing.
Our area has been one of the highest in the country for diagnosed though so it wouldn’t be unexpected.

@Stringervest my neighbours managed by tag teaming and neither were terribly ill. Wont say it was a nice week for them but it was doable.

With us, I was pretty sick but dh had a very mild case.

You should know that there is provision in place if both parents get too sick to stay at home. I know one person this happened - she and her dh were hospitalized and the children were taken onto a special nhs ward/unit. Kids weren't very ill but had symptoms. Wont say it was a pleasant experience for any of them but they all survived and are now back home.

I have a friend whose family have definitely had it (parent a healthcare worker who tested positive). Her children (aged 13 and 11 I think) both had it. Friend described one child as having had mild symptoms, so by implication she did not regard other child's symptoms as "mild". Onset of symptoms recent, so too early to know whether any longer term issues.

I agree that when people have had "classic" symptoms including complete loss of taste smell, it is ridiculous to take the, "You don't know you've had it if you haven't been tested" line.

@Porcupineinwaiting that sounds hard, particularly for the people who were both hospitalised and had to be separated from their children. That must have been very scary for the children. But, as you say, at least they all recovered.

Yes and the symptoms whilst being many and varied are nothing like a classic cold. And besides, it's Occams Razor. We are in the middle of a pandemic of a highly contagious virus with these symptoms. If I have these symptoms, the most likely answer is I have this virus.

Son 15 complained of terrible arm aches, thought he'd broken his arm! Slight rash on feet nothing else!

Son 6 had weird on off symptoms for a couple of weeks before school closed
Sore legs, glands up behind knees, sore throat, glassy eyes, night terrors, no temp!
Dry cough at night and in the morning,
1 week later unable to walk for more than 5 minutes with out crying resting! He can normally run round the local woods no prob.

All kids fine now

Me: no temp slight cough 4 days, chest x ray clear, but I have had terrible rash on chest/ribs, itchy, leg cramps, stomach problems, nausea, weird headaches, and now have racing heart, chest pain and ear pains... sharp ones
Always gets worse at 5pm and in the morning

Getting an antibody test via work next week

Weren't tested but my five year old was quite unwell just as lockdown started. Cough, strange blisters on back of her legs that looked exactly like chickenpox but never scabbed over just disappeared one day. She kept saying she 'felt like she needed to sigh' and seemed a little breathless at rest. I became ill with similar symptoms (but worse than hers) just as she was getting better. I still feel breathless and increased heart rate occasionally and this was in March. If it was covid she absolutely passed it on to me

I don't know if my DD 14 has had it but it's the only thing I can think of. She was ill and in bed for nearly a week, temp but no real fever and no cough but feeling really dizzy. She perked up for a couple of days around day 10-12 but then relapsed and we are currently on day 45 😢

Main symptoms are fatigue, headache, dizziness. She gets up for a couple of hours on an evening to come down, eat her tea and watch TV with us but is otherwise in her room.

I've been tested as had similar but much milder symptoms, came back negative but that's not surprising after 35 days since first symptoms...

We are waiting for an appointment at the paediatric dept, just in case there is something else going on rather than just a virus / covid. Feel so sad for her and so helpless

@FjorGynAndHotWater

That's exactly how I was with breathlessness (but Im 37 so more likely than your DD to be unwell) The dizziness and fatigue were horrendous and I had heart palpitations all day for two weeks. I still get the breathlessness and dizziness now and again and this was in March. I wasn't tested but pretty convinced it was covid. I do hope she feels better soon

Forgot to add 6 yr old had a terrible rash on his hands for two days and so did many of his class mates and reception year too..... on the day schools closed

My DD(5) seemed to be the first in our household - she was coughing with a 39.5 fever for 4-5 days then better for another few days then a return of fever and coughing in the second week. Her breathing rate was ok but she got very prominent veins and she complained of tummy pain and headache. The fever settled again but she said she had tummy pain and headache on and off for another two weeks. Wouldn’t have put it down to covid except that I then got it (wonder if her coughing directly in my face affected this?!) - fever, diarrhoea, tight chest, shortness of breath. Week 2 was by far the worst but still have erratic heart rate, chest pain, shortness of breath and fatigue after 7 weeks. I haven’t had a test but have had a chest X-ray which showed infection still in my lungs after 6 weeks so very likely covid.

DD1(7) had a low grade fever for 2 days and a slight cough and DH had a headache and cough with slight shortness of breath for about 4 days.

Hugely variable but yes, my feeling is kids get it and spread it and it can make them just as ill but the severe cases are less frequent.

I get irrationally angry when people say children can’t get it, or only get it mildly as we’re now in week 7 of ds (10) being ill.

He started with a fever and a cough. His fever was in the 39s for 5 days, and the cough was horrible - he barely slept as he was coughing all night, and it was just as bad during the day. Hardly any appetite.

A few days after the fever went, he got an itchy rash - red skin with mosquito bite type blisters - on his arms, legs and face, that lasted just over a day. He still had a bad cough. Eventually the cough eased up, and he was left with a sore throat. This was after 3 weeks.

He then got a cold sore type rash on his lips, and spots across his cheeks. This lasted a couple of weeks, and he was still tired and not eating as much as usual.

This eventually cleared up, and he just had a sore throat on and off. Then last night his voice was really husky again, and we noticed that a lymph gland on one side of his neck was really hard and raised.

Doesn’t sound like a regular flu or cold, and he honestly never usually gets ill. He’s really sporty and active and usually things like stomach bugs affect him for a day, max, and I can’t remember the last time he was off school for more than a day.

If schools weren’t closed he would have been off for close to a month, as he still had no energy at that point, and still can’t manage a full meal, 7 weeks on.

Gp and a&e doctor both said (over the phone) that it was very likely coronavirus, but not to bring him in to hospital unless he was struggling to breathe.

We have been offered a test, but our nearest drive through centre is a 100 mile round trip, and we can apply for a home test but I can’t imagine they’re that reliable being administered on a grumpy child by their not-medical-professional mum!

Well done if you’ve managed to make it through that saga!

Psychomatic symptoms exist...

Psychomatic? Do you mean psychosomatic?

What part of my ds’s symptoms sound psychosomatic?

No idea if we had it but we were all ill at the same time and my husband had been commuting and working with a confirmed case. I just had a very sore throat and a slight cough, dh is asthmatic and was very wheezy and had a cough, both children had bad coughs at night and runny noses but seemed absolutely fine apart from that. We may have had colds though, really impossible to tell.

@UtterlyPerfectCartoonGiraffe I'm so sorry about that- your poor DS. It's awful isn't it, I felt like that about DD - it just goes on and on. And the lack of medical support is desperate.

@UtterlyPerfectCartoonGiraffe - my daughter had the blisters and cold sores as well

DS (14) has COVID toes. No other symptoms at all. Not a very odd bruise like rash on several toes. He hasn’t worn shoes more than once or twice since lockdown started so it’s not from rubbing shoes.