AIBU to say if you have a cough get a test

[ShouldWeChangeTheBulb]

I’m getting increasing pissed off with people online and IRL about not getting tested because ‘it’s just a cold’ or it’s ‘obviously not Covid’. FWIW I don’t get annoyed if someone visits family even though their not supposed to in their area. I think it’s inhuman not to have social contact so I can understand that but for god sake if you actually have symptoms lockdown straight away and get tested. I know it’s a pain in the arse but not wanting to do something is not a good reason for not doing it.
For context we are currently locked down as DS has it (he caught if from his teacher). When I tell people his symptoms I’ve lost count of how many people say ‘my dd has those symptoms but she had a runny nose last week so it’s just a cold’. You cannot tell if it’s Covid or not, the symptoms can be the same as any other illness.

A cough with a cold is a new persistent cough if you are having coughing episodes more than three times per day or a coughing episode that results in you coughing a lot for more than an hour and you didn’t have that same pattern of coughing a few days ago.
The guidance seems clear enough to me.
The advice from the paediatricians is that children can go to school if they are well enough and have cold symptoms that do not include a new persistent cough. If you have a new persistent cough, or a fever, or a change in taste and smell you are meant to SI and test regardless of whether you also have a runny nose. It’s that simple.

Why would people not want to? It’s more a case of not wanting to take testing capacity from people who do need it.

A friend is a GP and her child needed a test. 3 days to wait for a test, 2 days for the results so our town was short of a GP for a full week. If people only tested when they needed to, there would be more availability.

Anecdotal. Your DS does not represent the entire population of Covid patients past and current.

As other have said, it is impossible for everyone with a new cough to get tested.

This is why there is testing shortages
A dry persistent new cough = test
Fought with mucus, occasional cough, asthmatic cough etc= no test

You've made up your own guidelines! Do you suggest people follow your guidelines, or those on the NHS website?

@ShouldWeChangeTheBulb

You can’t tell the difference between a cold with a cough and Covid the symptoms can be the same.

Stop being ridiculous. I'm streaming with cold right now. No noticeable temperature, loads of snot , eyes streaming and of course a little cough from the snot. Plus I have allergies to dust which make me cough occasionally. No loss of taste, no chest pains, no tummy problems.

2 doors down have a kid with Covid and the cough is so noticeable. A very dry non stop bark. Sounds so painful.

People like you, testing at the slightest sign, are the reason why there aren't any tests available.

To be fair if we are not testing people with a runny nose then we dont know if theres an association.

Any new cough needs testing or isolation. Its really not that fucking difficult, persistant basically just means not a one off. If you choke that is not a persistent cough. If you have coughed multiple times in one day and you werent coughing last week you have a new cough

If its not a new cough, you have copd or asthma or something then obviously you dont need a test.

But if you have a new cough you need a fucking test. The problem is if people are going 'oh its only a cold' and not isolating they are spreading it, you need everyone with covid to isolate to stop the spread.

Tbh if you have all 3 of the main symptoms you dont really need a test you just need to isolate.

If only 50% of the population weren’t of below average intelligence, eh?

@Feminist10101 no one is saying get tested if you cough once.
Continuous in the government guidance is three coughing ‘episodes’ in a day.

From the NHS website:

The main symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are:
a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
a new, continuous cough – this means 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)
a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

My ds (10 next week) had a cough after hai first week back at school. It was a soft cough, but he had a runny nose, didn’t have a fever or loss of taste or any of the other symptoms. A cough on its own isn’t enough to keep a child off school and I’m not about to put my ds though the discomfort of a test just for this. Most kids haven’t been in school for six months, so haven’t been around other kids (and their germs) so it’s likely that their immune systems won’t be as robust and therefore they’ll be more susceptible to coming down with coughs colds bugs and god knows what else.

An episode is not 1 cough. Or 2 coughs.

My DA has it. He does not have a dry cough. The cough isn’t the same for everyone.

*DS

YABU. People are capable of following their own risk assessments, TYVM. Especially when internet strangers giving imperious directions, however well-meaning, are making up The Rules as they go along.

An episode is not a single cough but a few coughs in a row.

@zenasfuck presumably you isolated so it doesnt really matter you didnt get the test

I have just had a positive covid result no temp small cough smell ok. Feels like I just have a cold (runny nose)

@ShouldWeChangeTheBulb

It’s pretty easy to tell the difference between a continuous dry cough and one caused by post nasal drip etc Dry cough is not part of the triggering symptoms In England. It’s just a cough. DS had a slight productive cough and a runny nose and was positive.

For all anyone can say he had a cold and at the same time asymptomatic Covid there's no logical extrapolation from one individual circumstance

As other have said, it is impossible for everyone with a new cough to get tested.

So people with a symptom on the official list should not get tested?

If this is your attitude then you're part of the problem. The only way to get the government to increase capacity is for people to book tests when they have a symptom on the list. If we start making up our own guidelines then we'll have no true idea of how the virus is spreading until ITU is full again, and then it's far too late.

@MarieIVanArkleStinks what rules am I making up? I’m asking people to follow the rules the government have laid out.

I think a lot of people are very keen to justify that their cough isn't a "new, continuous cough" (coughing a lot for more than an hour, 3 or more "coughing episodes" in 24 hours, or coughing more than usual if you normally have a cough) which is fair enough. It's a pain to isolate the household and test (losing money/employment/ school time), especially when tests are so rare, take ages to come back at the moment and it is likely to be a cold anyway. And it is tricky to work out what a "coughing episode" is... Not helped by the government accusing the "worried well" of taking up tests.

But I agree OP. Even "cold coughs" should be tested if they meet the criteria. Even if with a runny nose and so on, and similar to what happens every time you get a cold...it's still "new" this time. Yes, there are asymptomatic and presymptomatic people who may not be tested, but surely symptomatic people would be more infectious so we really don't want that in the community. We don't stand a chance of getting on top of this with cough-blindness.

Similarly, though, the whole "glaring at people with a cough" needs to stop. We should just trust that anyone coughing has a "not new and not worse" cough which is much easier to self identify.

@EmmaGellerGreen tbh it would have been a hell of a lot more catestrophic if the GPs child had had covid and the GP had passed it onto their vunerable patients

@zenasfuck wow if you are not locked down you are unbelievably selfish

It's alright saying get a test but I don't know anyone who has actually been able to get one, including the ones who were badly ill.

@DishRanAwayWithTheSpoon yes I'm isolating so no issue but my point was it's not as simple as saying 'get a test' when there aren't any available