Symptoms in kids/young teens

[chocolatesaltyballs22]

Sorry if this has been asked a million times! If you have young teens who tested positive, what symptoms did they have?

My 13 yo stepson has a cough and sore throat. One of his friends tested positive last week. He has no other symptoms. I think we should get him tested, husband thinks I'm being a touch paranoid (but he has just gone out to buy a thermometer, although we don't think he's got a temp).

I'm super paranoid at the moment as my mum is having chemotherapy.

Hope this helps. Although the official line is still to test for one of three main symptoms. I would test for the cough and contact with a friend who is positive if it was me. Hope he's okay

Thanks that's helpful. He doesn't have a temperature. Aarghh, what to do!

Hope he's ok too xx

I wouldn't test if it was a sore throat followed by a cough. It's a continuous cough without a cause that's a concern.

I’d test because of the friend. Otherwise, on those symptoms, I don’t think I would.

So the friend had no symptoms in school, it was the weekend when he started having symptoms and then had a positive test. School haven't told anyone else in the year group to isolate. SS only saw him for a few minutes, not close.

I think if it wasn't for the friend I'd be less worried.

You’re supposed to get a test for a cough....

I’m not really seeing how that’s ambiguous tbh.

He should be tested. He's having symptoms and he had a direct contact with a known case - those are both valid reasons to test.

I agree he needs to be tested. Now to persuade his parents...

Yes he definitely needs a test and you need to self isolate if you have been with him as he is symptomatic. If there has been a positive result from a school pupil the school should definitely be closing his ‘bubble’.

Yes I would get a test. That's sensible and what the country is being told to do. And that's aside from positive case.

This is from the xocid symptom app:

"With children heading back to school this week it is important that parents and teachers are aware of all the symptoms that children might present with to make the right decision when it comes to sending them back to the classroom. The research highlighted that children display a different range of symptoms compared to the overall adult population. The top five symptoms in school aged children who test positive for COVID are; fatigue (55%) headache (53%), fever (49%), sore throat (38%) and loss of appetite (35%). This was different compared to the App’s data on adults; fatigue (87%), headache (72%), loss of smell (60%), persistent cough (54%) and sore throat (49%). In addition to this, research from the app has also found that one in six (15%) children who test positive for COVID also present with an unusual skin rash"

I'd get a test. My 13 yr old is waiting for results. He has continuous cough, mild temp and feels wiped out. I am just getting a cough..

Of course he should get a test - he has a cough, by which I presume you mean he has had 3 or more episodes of coughing in the last 24 hours, or has coughed a lot for an hour. On that basis alone, he is required to isolate for 10 days or get a negative test result. Also, he has a sore throat, which is a more common symptom of covid 19 in his age group than a continuous cough, anyway. Most importantly, in addition to these mild symptoms, his friend has a confirmed case - I presume he is a friend who has also been socialising in school with your stepson, not just a friend who hasn’t been anywhere near him?

In my update I said:

So the friend had no symptoms in school, it was the weekend when he started having symptoms and then had a positive test. School haven't told anyone else in the year group to isolate. SS only saw him for a few minutes, not close.

I agree he should be tested. But he's due back at his mum's in half an hour so we have to persuade her.

I would test, his friend has had a positive test. 😊

If there has been a positive result from a school pupil the school should definitely be closing his ‘bubble’.

This is not the case. Schools should be identifying close contacts and advising them to isolate. Not closing whole bubbles because of one case.

@chocolatesaltyballs22 - since people are thought to be contagious 2 days before they get symptoms, I don’t think it relevant that he didn’t feel ill until the weekend if he was in school on the Thursday and Friday!

@madderose This is not the case. Schools should be identifying close contacts and advising them to isolate. Not closing whole bubbles because of one case.

I guess this depends on the schools policy then. The schools in our trust are closing the whole bubble if a child tests positive. Seems sensible with primary schools as the bubbles are the classes. Bit more complicated with secondary schools especially when pupils aren’t always taught in the same groups.

His mum is being funny about it! Guess he's staying there then...

Just to add, his school have been monumentally crap about it. They wouldn't even confirm what year group the kid was in.

It's also massively disruptive for secondary schools to close whole bubbles. A bubble could include 200 to 300 students!

@chocolatesaltyballs22 - that’s because they are more worried about breaching the Data Protection Act than satisfying parental curiosity. They will be following advice from the authorities on who has to be informed so that they can isolate, as the school are not medical experts.

That's fair enough I guess, but it's a bit more than parental curiosity. You'd want to know if your child had been in contact with another child with covid. And you have to trust the school to make that judgement. The control freak in me doesn't like that!

@Todaythiscouldbe

I wouldn't test if it was a sore throat followed by a cough. It's a continuous cough without a cause that's a concern.

Why? Sore throat is a more common symptom than a cough in children The testing criteria is a cough, not only a cough.