Back to school and nursery on monday- both kids have caught a cold

[Dazzband]

Hi all,
Myself and both of my kids have caught a cold since yesterday, sore throat, coughing, and runny noses- no temperature. DD starts back at school on Monday, she should be we enough to go but have the tail end of cold symptoms, coughing and runny nose. Should I keep her off untill symptoms have completely gone? I'm guessing the school would probably send her home, Im not sure though

“I’ll lose my job if I take time off for every cold”. If you’re sending them in with a cough and no test and spreading it to teachers then they’ll have to test and potentially the school close. Are you happy to cause other people to lose their jobs (even aside from risk of it being covid)?

And really who is going to sack anyone for following government guidelines? The tribunals would be endless.

If instead of posting you had gone for a test you’d likely have had the all clear before Monday anyway.

I’m starting to think these threads about colds/coughs and schools are a wind up now.

dd1 has a cold, no cough or temp so she'll be going to school. I've had the same thing no cough or temp so I've been to work.

If either of us had any of the main symptoms we would be self isolating and getting a test, doesn't matter if I think it's a cold or not. I would be in more trouble at work for ignoring the guidelines than for taking time off when needed.

It’s just painful.
Is it really that hard to grasp??

Ive reported bol and jaffa for misinformation.
The nhs and gov guidance is clear.
sI family and test for any of 3 main symptoms.
It is not - dont worry if you have phlegmy cough,
it is not - dont worry if you have a runny nose.
You still need to SI for both thse situations.
Scotland are just trying to slow down people testing with 0 symptoms or just runny nose or headaches.
The more you pass round coughing bugs the more people have to be off testing. We will run out of tests.

And tbh you posts make me pretty PO we have been saying how disruptive testing especially kids for every cough (temp etc) is going to be.
I even had a thread about how many times kids would need testing. Yes the gov plans are ridiculous as colds will spread and that is why masks are needed too. As most people cant be on off work like this. And once 1 dc gets it you test then another gets it then you get it.

Drs actually diagnose Covid even with a negative result sometimes. If a person has certain symptoms they are treated as a COVID patient. They also use chest x rays.

Then go to the doctor and request a chest x-ray

A doctot will NOT diagnose a patient with regular cold symptoms - they would need clear Covid symptoms.

Why are people being so difficult about this?

@Ethelfleda

It’s just painful. Is it really that hard to grasp??

This. It's just constant bloody moaning, arguing and obstruction.

It's so simple.

Please don’t send your child to school based on symptoms clearing. Other parents are trusting parents will follow guidance.
A cough is one of top items to get tested and many carry the virus with minor symptoms - do the test and serve your role in the community as a whole or isolate whole family for 14 days without a test. I’ve done a test mid summer for my youngest at nursery when she had a fever no higher than 38 for one day - easy to assume it was just kiddy germs - which is was - but wouldn’t loved with my self if it hadn’t been and I’d caused it to spread to all nursery, teachers and their families. I’m now awaiting people I was with this week who are being tested before I leave house this weekend as they’ve been in touch with others who have tested positive. It’s easy to assume things are nothing and in prior years yes that’s what it would be but just test and know that for sure in the current climate... stay safe

Does anyone know how long a negative test is valid for? This is where the “test, isolate” message will get confused. I often have a cough for most of November and December if it’s a damp winter. I would of course test and isolate when it started but how long should I wait before another test when it continues? Would once a week be enough? I’m sure lots of people have children in that position...

Someone on another thread tested positive and they had just a very sore throat. No other symptoms I don't think. Their temp didn't get above 36.1. They had no idea they had it and felt better by the time they got their result!

@Morred

Does anyone know how long a negative test is valid for? This is where the “test, isolate” message will get confused. I often have a cough for most of November and December if it’s a damp winter. I would of course test and isolate when it started but how long should I wait before another test when it continues? Would once a week be enough? I’m sure lots of people have children in that position...

It’s a “new cough” - if the cough continues after your negative test you don’t need to be retested, but if you get better then develop a new cough/get a temperature you need to test again.

DC1 tested last week had snotty nose, coughed a bit first thing, negative test. Is still coughing first thing and cough appears to have disappeared until the next morning. There's definitely a not Covid snotty cold around!

However there have been positive tests in the neighbouring school with minimal symptoms - I'm going with the check temperature, hope DC tells me if taste changes approach, not going to isolate/test again for the classic tag end of cold morning cough though, and school are fine with that!

DS was awake most of the night with a heavy cold. Temp low and no cough. Only 2 days back at school and he gets a cold! So how come kids are getting ill if there's measures in place to stop bugs spreading?!

@BooseysMom

DS was awake most of the night with a heavy cold. Temp low and no cough. Only 2 days back at school and he gets a cold! So how come kids are getting ill if there's measures in place to stop bugs spreading?!

No doubt they'll be more non Covid bugs flying around, but this highlights the importance of not assuming normal cold symptoms to be harmless. Once Covid enters a bubble, it will spread effectively within that bubble. School cannot police how people live their lives, so we can only hope for minimal disruption.

Are people honestly saying to get tested because they have a COLD?!

No. People are saying they will get tested if they have a new cough.

I have been back at school for a few days. I have a bit of a sore throat today. I won't get tested as I have no Covid symptoms. The sore throat will be part and particle of returning to the work place after several months and moving with many people, plus probably the shock to the system of it all!!

However, I would hope that anyone at my school who does have one of the three symptoms - including a new cough - will follow the guidelines and stay homes

I'm clinically vulnerable (and therefore could become quite ill or develop complications if I were to contract Covid) but have to work in close contact with almost 300 children and adults each week, with no social distancing and no protection, bar hand washing. So I'd rather our pupils did follow the guidelines, just incase.

Unfortunately it is quite possible to have Covid with little see you soon proms, and we know that children may well have different types of symptoms than adults and the main 'big three.'

DS was awake most of the night with a heavy cold. Temp low and no cough. Only 2 days back at school and he gets a cold! So how come kids are getting ill if there's measures in place to stop bugs spreading?!

Because it's impossible to maintain most of those measures in a school.
There will be little to no social distancing.
The rooms may well only havea little ventilation as often windows don't open fully, or may even be painted shut.
Bubbles are often many many people; even primary schools often have to have year group bubbles to make the school day actually work, not just classes of 30.
Often children, especially small ones, find it hard to follow rigorous hand hygiene and don't always use the 'catch it, kill it, bin it' routine either.

@jaffacakesareabiscuit

Are people honestly saying to get tested because they have a COLD?! As far as I was aware, a dry cough and temperature are the main symptoms....not a runny nose/productive cough, obvious cold symptoms?

I currently have a cold thanks to my son bringing it home from nursery. Snotty nose, occasional phlegmy cough, no temp, congestion. I haven't been tested and there has been no suggestion that I should. It's not Covid, it's a common cold exactly like every other cold I have ever had in my life.

Well then I hope you and your son are off work/nursery then.

It's possible to have both a cold and covid at once. This would change the nature of the cough. Hence not specifying what type of cough on the NHS website.

Any school allowing children to attend with a new cough and no negative test is breaking government guidelines and needs to be reported to PHE. It's only "pragmatic" until there is an outbreak and the whole school is closed for weeks.

You can't assume you're covid free because you have cold symptoms too because you can have BOTH!

Except schools are not allowed to ask for proof of testing. So we have nothing other than the parents word and as you can see on this thread that could be problematic.

Which we predicted

Between the
I dont think its covid its a cold
The - i cant afford to
The- i dont want to test my dc
The- i think the rules are xyz (as some have changed)
The -asymptomatic ones
The intentional
The lack of tests
People not driving.
The kids who come down ill suddenly
The parents who are taking their kids to everything
The people giving false info
The people who dont answer cold calls
The ones who wont quarantine

What could possibly go wrong.
And determination by gov that kids/families cannot protect themselves from all the idiots and it's those people that will be fined. You literally could not make it up

People blame the government's incompetence for things which is partly true, but also others stupidity as demonstrated by this thread.

Continuous new cough warrants testing.

And determination by gov that kids/families cannot protect themselves from all the idiots and it's those people that will be fined. You literally could not make it up

This, I'm so flipping frustrated my child might have to sit next to a child with a parent like the ones on this thread who can't or won't follow guidance.

If we could just follow distancing at least it'd be a little bit more like Darwinism.

CDC symptoms checker for kids - they often have different symptoms with diarrhoea a common presentation:
www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/symptom-screening.html