Children's symptoms would you test or just self isolate?

[SistemaAddict]

Ds is 5 and complaining of stomach pain, feeling sick and has a slightly raised temperature. He looks unwell and is not himself at all. Having had a test myself a few weeks back I'd hate to inflict that on him. Dd1 was feeling unwell last night with nausea and a headache and is still fast asleep. I've had a mild sore throat on and off and my asthma isn't too great again. Would you test or just isolate?

I would test personally.

Personally I'd rather test than self isolate for 2 weeks! Also if he is positive, do you not need to track and trace who he has been near?!

He's not been near anyone except the milkman who was chatting at our door trying to get us to sign up but was still at least 1.5m away.
I'll order tests.

Why not test yourself at least?

No-one here has any of the symptoms. Why are people testing when they feel unwell with literally anything?! Do they or you have a cough? Is the temp over 38? Loss of senses? We can’t be testing every time a child feels sick, has a headache or under the weather 🤯 other illnesses do still exist. We are full of cold in my house at the mo but hadn’t even considered testing as we have none of the specified symptoms. I even asked nursery if they wanted us to test our elder daughter but they said no if she didn’t display the NHS guideline symptoms .. which she doesn’t. She’s just extremely snotty & sneezy. I kept her off nursery as she was clearly under the weather Mon/Tues but she’s back in today as much brighter & full of beans again!

I'd get a test personally and isolate while he's poorly.

Tests ordered. I'm ecv and would rather know one way or the other.

DD5 developed symptoms Wed PM. I was lucky enough to have her tested Thurs AM. It wasn't pleasant for her but I'd rather rule it out so I could let school know and see if we all needed to self isolate, better to know. Negative results today thankfully.

I’d do both :)

What’s the temperature? 37.8 and over and you are definitely meant to get a test.

Just do the nose swab on both nostrils, I ended up doing that with DD after many failed attempts and it came back negative, so must have got a sufficient sample that way.

I would test. We had to when DS age 2 had a fever a couple of weeks ago. The whole family got tested - if we would have had to self isolate we would have missed our (self catered UK based holiday)!

@Frlrlrubert

Just do the nose swab on both nostrils, I ended up doing that with DD after many failed attempts and it came back negative, so must have got a sufficient sample that way.

It can come back negative if you've not done a sufficient swab I think, sorry.

WE should be testing as much as possible, so v glad you a re getting a test. You can order tests for the whole household at once by the way, assuming your personal test wasn't very recent. It's much better to know - or at least, to have a good idea. (nothing is 100%) Testing and tracing is the only way we are going to keep on top of this bastard thing, much better than letting it sneak round undetected and land us with local lockdowns!

@Theimpossiblegirl

So what the hell is 'inconclusive' for then?

The guy at the test centre told me to do it that way, he didn't say anything about risking a false negative.

I was also told inconclusive would show up if nostril test wasnt done right, rather than a negative

At the risk of sounding flippant, I really wouldn't worry much. You know your child.
If they are unwell, you can tell, and would then seek medical advice accordingly. Tests are not the be all and end all.

Testing isn't about just my child though is it?Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. Her result came back negative, so she went back to nursery with a bit of a cough and a snotty nose (though fine in herself, no temp).

Testing is about all the other children, and staff who she's now been in contact with.

Why are they letting us swab ourselves and our children knowing we could do it wrong and then end up with a false negative and be wandering around spreading it?

The way this has been handled is a complete farce, so I honestly don't know why I'm surprised.

Glad you've ordered tests, I think it's the right thing to do. Hope you all feel better soon.

It's so hard but people should test. We are a family of six. Five of us got Covid and no one had a cough, one had a low grade fever 37.7 Kids just had sore throats for a few days. Everyone had different symptoms.