What is an 'episode of coughing'?

[Rae36]

Ds age 8 had a cough last week, had coughing fits several times in the day. Duly went for a test and was negative.

Ds age 12 coughed this morning in the car on the way to the park. Literally went "cough cough" and that was it. Didn't cough at all as we walked round the park and had tea and a cake in the cafe. Coughed again in the car on the way home about 11.30am. Same thing, 2 coughs and that was it. Haven't heard him since and he's been in the same room as me pretty much the whole time.

Scottish Government advice is 3 episodes of coughing in 24 hours needs a test. Does ds's two coughs count as an episode? Or do you have to cough a bit more than that.

I think 2 isolated coughs are not an episode. Dh disagrees.

He's now on hold to NHS to get advice on if these coughs count. Been on hold for 40 minutes now.

It's going to be a long winter.

DD (3) has a cold and has an occasional cough, just 1 or 2 coughs at a time every few hours. Is this test-worthy? I don't know if it would be taking one unnecessarily or if it would be irresponsible not to

@GaraMedouar @jblue2018

Runny nose, feeling fine, of course go in. Bit more than that but a single mum on a zero hour contract, sure.

But if you're saying both of your children are going in with "stinking colds" then yes it's selfish. Plenty of kids (and teachers) will end up coughing with colds, will end up off and waiting for tests. Not to mention the extra concern for families of kids more vulnerable to covid every time they know someone's had to go off for a test.
Even before covid we would have had far fewer illnesses around if people had just kept kids home for an extra day while they were at their most snotty and contagious. With covid around and so many people still WFH or not working at all, far fewer of us have an excuse.

My 2 pence. I think the guidelines are misleading, and I would just go on the basis, is it noticeably more than normal and does it have no obvious other cause.

Adults average 2/3 colds a year, children up to 12 a year. We are coming into cold season soon and this will see people rushing for tests. I’m a bit under the weather at the moment with swollen glands, tiredness etc but no cough, no temp and no loss of smell or taste so no test for me.

I've had a sniffly cold. A couple of times a day I'd get a Delores Umbridge type moment of a bit of nasal drip tickling behind my tonsil. A bit of "hem, hem" blow my nose and have a drink, sorted.

I hadn't been in any indoor high-risk environments. I delayed the food shop for a few more days as that was getting due. My neighbourhood is still low risk. It really did not seem proportionate to add to the strain on the testing system.

@VoyageInTheDark

DD (3) has a cold and has an occasional cough, just 1 or 2 coughs at a time every few hours. Is this test-worthy? I don't know if it would be taking one unnecessarily or if it would be irresponsible not to

Hi. No i dont think you need a test. A new continuous cough is defined by the NHS as coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)

@safariboot

My 2 pence. I think the guidelines are misleading, and I would just go on the basis, is it noticeably more than normal and does it have no obvious other cause.

Totally agree with you. I've been wishing for ages thst the govt would expand on the symptoms needed for a test. Just saying a temperature or a continuous cough is not enough.

@OverTheRubicon
I do get what you’re saying however - if nurseries and schools are saying ‘send them
in’ with colds (which the vast majority are) then work places are going to run out of sympathy with parents missing work to look after children with colds when they don’t need to. I’m on a temp contract which I really want to be extended so need to make a good impression , people who are working in places where redundancies are happening will likely feel the same. Colds are not a valid reason to have time off in most employers minds. And as for the teachers - all the nursery teachers have the cold too! It’s unavoidable at this time of year unfortunately. Which is why the OP’s query is an important one - people need to be able to decipher between a mild mucus ‘coldy’ cough and the COVID cough.

I do wonder about the effect on our immune systems of all this isolation, especially for young children. Don’t they need to be exposed to infections in order for their immune systems to develop normally?

I started taking DD to baby groups when she was six months old. Within six weeks, she’d had two colds and a tummy bug. I mentioned this to the Health Visitor, and her reaction was “Good!”

I agree the term “episode of coughing” is meaningless. How close together do two coughs have to be to count as a single episode? And if we all have to self-isolate every time someone in the household has a cold, this winter is going to be astonishingly unproductive.

I rang the school this morning and said DD had a snotty cold. The lady said that if she had a new or continuous cough she had to self isolate or get a test - I checked our school’s website and it clearly says the Covid symptoms are a new continuous cough not a new or continuous cough - and those are two very different things. The other symptoms are high temp and loss of smell. I did phone back and said DD has no Covid symptoms therefore as per website, and she certainly doesn’t have a continuous cough She’s absolutely fine - just a bit snotty, with the odd sneeze or mucous type ‘cold’ cough. So she will be back in school tomorrow.

@Torvean32 Yes I've read the guidelines but do a few coughs in a row not count as an episode? If someone had asked me pre-covid what was wrong with DD I'd have said she had a snotty nose and a bit of a cough so she is coughing 'noticeably more than normal' as someone said upthread.

But no tests available when I tried all day yesterday anyway so I think we will have to self isolate as a (probably unnecessary) precaution

I have just had quite a long conversation with someone on 111 about this. Ds has a cold and is coughing occasionally. I don't think it's continuous but wanted to make sure. She agreed with me that the whole situation is a bit rubbish at the moment and advised that we should be getting a test ideally for any kind of cold and flu symptoms!!! Bonkers which is why the system cannot cope. She said a continuous cough means coughing at least 4/5 times each hour. Yet another interpretation...