Child1 has non covid virus, if others get same symptoms do we need to test them too?

[Carolinerx]

My oldest son (6.5) had a headache and sore throat after school Thursday. Thursday night/Fri he had a fever so we kept him and his two brothers (4 & 2) at home. Thankfully we were able to (eventually and 30 minutes away) book a drive thru test. Result came back tonight negative. He's much improved but still a bit warmer than normal.

What I can't figure out is what to do if the other boys get the same symptoms. It'd be a dead cert that they had the same (non covid) virus, but I'm still unsure if that means I should still isolate again/get them tested to be on the safe side (for everyone else)? What would you do?

Thanks

I expect you are meant to test each person with symptoms.
We have had the same
Dc1 - negstive
sore throat
Runny nose
Temp
Cough
Dc2
Slight runny nose
Moderate cough more so at night.
Me
Sore throat so far..I

We havent tested dc2 or me as it is most likely the same virus. And dc2 symptoms are borderline anyway.
But they arent going back to school for at least dc2 10days now as im now concerned about how non covid secure the school is.
I want them at school but this is ridiculous..
I also think i would be wasting a test. However dc2 is at school and with many people from European countries so who knows maybe hers is covid? But anyway it would have come from school so circulating there. And she wasnt in the 48h before symptoms while at school.

I wouldn’t. But if I was in a hot spot I might.

Yes they should be tested if they develop any of the 3 listed covid symptoms.

The false negative rate is very high so I would test anyone with any of the 3 symptoms.

(If it we’re easier to get a test then yes btw) but it was hard enough to organise one for my son, which I did. And I know it’s just a cold. Half the school has it, my son tends to cough. We had Covid (confirmed) in March.

Yes, test everyone with the symptoms and treat them all individually. It’s possible your first child had a false negative or that another caught covid instead of a different virus (or has both).

I agree, it’s very likely they have the same thing (assuming they have the same symptoms) but our bodies often react differently so they might not all get covid symptoms with another virus. It’s frustrating for you but need to be on the safe side.

@glitterynails I didn't know this! What is the false negative rate? Do you have a link. If it is indeed very high, shouldn't we be doing confirmatory second tests?!

About 30%.so cases are at least a third higher even without people not bothering to test or not getting a test.

We did the right thing and isolated / tested for a cold (snotty, sneezing, sore throat, brief temperature and then post viral cough).

I think we’re going to ‘up the bar’ in future. Not going to isolate and get tests for viruses that start with the classic cold symptoms (runny nose, sneezing, head cold type stuff). Otherwise, with the testing availability worsening, I might as well tell my year 11 that he has bucklease chance of getting the grades he should, as his attendance will be patchy at best. He can’t keep isolating for 14 days perfectly well, while GCSE’s in 8 months are full steam ahead (and limited / no remote provision).

If all my kids were younger and had time to catch up, then I’d be more receptive to repeated isolation. But when you have a year 11/13 you are pretty much throwing their futures under the bus. Which is hard to do, on the off chance that you might have the virus.

@upthewolves
Google throws up some links to news articles as well as research papers. Hunt and Harding both mentioned false negative rates at a committee hearing a while back too.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/25/doctors-condemn-secrecy-over-false-negative-covid-19-tests

Furthermore medics I know report that it can be hard for the public do the test correctly - especially on children and especially when it is a parent rather than medical professional administering the test so that’s likely to result in false negatives too?

The result isn’t actually negative. It’s “not detected”.

One camp are saying ‘there’s thousands of false positives’. The covid/lockdown skeptics. It feeds their opinion. The terrified of covid camp will tell you ‘there’s thousands of false negatives’. Both camps will back it up with ‘evidence‘.

Take it all with a pinch of salt. We cannot go about life assuming every test is negative or we may as well not bother & just stay indoors.

A family member came to stay with us recently. They came down with a stinker of a cold & cough. Got a test, negative. My DD came down with the cold 48 hours later. We hadn’t seen anyone else in that time. She had a minor cough, not persistent. We didn’t put her through a test. It was the same cold.

@Bol87
There are false positives too but at a much lower rate.

Thanks everyone x

Both school and the doctor's surgery agreed that all 3 children needed testing each as they had symptoms despite them starting only a day apart.

Until all 3 had been tested, even though 1st child was better, they couldn't come out of isolation as no guarantee the other two hadn't caught Covid elsewhere and then potentially infected child 1 after her test.