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.

@MadameMinimes

A cough that is the same amount that you normally cough in a day is not “new” and does not need a test. If you normally cough 3-4 times per day then coughing 3-4 times in a day does not warrant a test. If you are coughing more than normal or have episodes of coughing 3 or more times in a day when you don’t normally cough, then you test.

Yes, this makes perfect sense! Why can't you write NHS guidance?

OP- I don’t understand how what you are saying can be at all controversial. You aren’t saying anything that the government guidance isn’t. The rules are clear. People making up their own rules about only self-isolating and testing if you have a dry cough, or only if they have a cough without a runny nose, or only if they have a cough and a temperature, or not testing children regardless of their symptoms because all of the symptoms in children with covid are actually caused by other illnesses they have and not the Covid, are muddying the waters and confusing what is actually very straightforward.

@lifesalongsong I will type out coughing episode in order to be accurate - better?

OP- I don’t understand how what you are saying can be at all controversial. You aren’t saying anything that the government guidance isn’t. The rules are clear. People making up their own rules about only self-isolating and testing if you have a dry cough, or only if they have a cough without a runny nose, or only if they have a cough and a temperature, or not testing children regardless of their symptoms because all of the symptoms in children with covid are actually caused by other illnesses they have and not the Covid, are muddying the waters and confusing what is actually very straightforward*
This ^

I ALWAYS get a cough with a cold. My daughter caught a cold from school this week. She didn’t have a cough. She gave me the cold. I now have a cough. I’ve not had a test and I won’t because it’s just A COLD.

OP- I don’t understand how what you are saying can be at all controversial. You aren’t saying anything that the government guidance isn’t. The rules are clear. People making up their own rules about only self-isolating and testing if you have a dry cough, or only if they have a cough without a runny nose, or only if they have a cough and a temperature, or not testing children regardless of their symptoms because all of the symptoms in children with covid are actually caused by other illnesses they have and not the Covid, are muddying the waters and confusing what is actually very straightforward

This ^

I keep bold failing apologies

@Osirus how do you know that?

I think people just don’t want to follow the guidance and are creating all sorts of reasons to justify it to themselves.

Ha fucking ha.

Needed a test so I could send DS back to school. (I know it's a cold - his nose could run for Britain in the Olympics. But he ticks the "continuous cough" box).

No tests in my town. No DIY tests available. Nearest test centre with any tests 200 mile round trip, in Wales. No test slots available for the next week. By which stage he will have notched up the 10 days since symptoms appeared and I'll be allowed to send him back to school anyway.

In the mean time - no medical evidence = unauthorised absence. Another one of these and I get a fine from the LEA, whoop de doo.

The system is fucking broke (in fact I don't think it was ever put together in the first place). Boris and his merry men couldn't find their arses with both hands and a fucking map.

(If you are getting the impression, OP, that I'm fucking incandescently angry about this, then you'd be right).

Tell me about it. Just been on a zoom call with my mum who is clearly coughing. She blithely informs me she's had it all week but she's fine, it's probably not Covid and she doesn't want to "take a test away from someone who needs it."

She's 78 and was shielding ffs!

@NotAnActualSheep that is the actual guidance?

Drinking cold with runny nose last week. No raised temperature, no loss of taste (until the runny nose got too much) and no cough.

No test required according to the NHS website.

Have a post viral cough but not getting tested for that.

@CaraDuneRedux you have my full sympathy. Situations like your where people are genuinely trying to follow the rules but can’t are beyond ridiculous. We need more tests and a more flexible approach to absences at the moment.

@Whiskyinajar yes that’s fine if you don’t have Covid symptoms you don’t need to test. My objection is to those who have cold AND Covid symptoms not testing.

All of the 6 positive cases at my school have been people who had a runny nose first and then developed a cough a couple of days later. Typical common cold symptoms but all positive for Covid.

People are just making things up. If you have a new and persistent cough, you get a test. You don't say "well it's the same kind of cough I get with a cold so I won't bother" or "I also have a runny nose so I'm not testing" (fyi my friend is in Canada and they tell you to self isolate and test with a runny nose as it IS a possible symptom).

It seems like people just don't want to go through the hassle.

@annie987 same for DS and his mates.

It seems like people just don't want to go through the hassle agree

This thread has really shocked me. No wonder we are in with the situation we are in when there are so many people finding any excuse not to count their cough as new and persistent. I really didn't think it was that hard to follow
Although I shouldn't be surprised when other threads on here show that people are confused about counting to 6.

@Mybrowneyedgal
It’s depressing isn’t it.

This thread is depressing, no wonder its spreading like wildfire, people are so selfish, how can people tell the difference between a Coronavirus Cough and a cough you get with a cold when medical professionals can't? Plenty people have got tested positive with what they thought were "cold symptoms". If you can't get a test you isolate, its not rocket science!

I despair

This is the exact reason why self referral for diagnostics is a terrible idea. Because the ‘worried well’ swamp the testing capacity. By your definition millions would have to be tested every week throughout winter, for coughs that are probably just caused by a cold.

Is it ethical to be subjecting children to invasive nasal and throat swabs, mostly unnecessarily? The positivity rate recently was less than 1%!

You’ve asked if YABU and yet have, with strong conformational bias, ignored most of the information you’ve been given. In favour of those who agree with you.

What’s the point of asking at all, other than to assert your unrealistic expectations of what people should do or indeed the capacity of testing.

I had a cough on Thursday evening not a bad one but it was knew. Woke up coughing on Friday morning booked a test there and then. 3 kids off school Friday and missing sporting activities at present. DH missed work Fri and today. I couldn't go to work with a cough on Friday so I think I did the right thing still got a bit of a tickly cough today. If the results were quicker more people would get a test but it's so disruptive to any one to have to wait for thr results fingers crossed it comes back negative and we can carry on our lives

How did you get a cough without one of the three main symptoms?

They had a cough. That IS a main symptom. I'm genuinely not seeing what's difficult about this. Any new regular cough should mean you get a test.

I do think that you have a point OP. It is not fair to put it on parents ‘to decide’ whether it is a cough and cold - this should be completely clear on the guidelines for testing. In fact why don’t they do a very short but clear set of questions when you go to book the test?

In Ireland it goes through the GPs and children with runny noses and coughs are sent for Covid19 tests. In Germany I am not sure, don’t quote me but I think there are more stringent criteria but again, a cough or temperature would go through a GP to decide, if someone had a clear high temperature and dry persistent cough they could book a test without a GP.

It is the system in England that is confusing, and a ‘new persistent cough’ is listed as any cough, even if it occurs with a runny nose, that occurs more than 3x a day.