UK obsession with 3 Symptoms

[SLAW70s]

Anyone else utterly infuriated by the UK’s obsession with fever, cough and loss of taste/smell.

I believe that this may be contributing significantly to the failure of many to isolate and test when needed.

Compare UK / NHS guidance to CDC guidance (sorry can’t do a link):
*Watch for symptoms

People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. People with these symptoms may have COVID-19:

Fever or chills
Cough
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Fatigue
Muscle or body aches
Headache
New loss of taste or smell
Sore throat
Congestion or runny nose
Nausea or vomiting
Diarrhea
This list does not include all possible symptoms. CDC will continue to update this list as we learn more about COVID-19*

Anyone care to summarise/ link to symptom lists from other countries? ( With translation if needed!)

What do others think?

You’re annoyed about the wrong thing here. The problem is the under supply of tests. There aren’t enough to test the real numbers of those with the virus, which is why there is a focus on those three symptoms. They are the most common (and presumably those with a cough are the most likely to spread given they will be hurtling viral droplets into the air) so they are essentially given priority in testing. If the number of tests we had available was commensurate with the prevalence of the virus we could just test anyone with any potential symptom.

*cardibach

PennyCrayon85
I have a runny nose and a sore throat this weekend. I feel crap. No Covid symptoms though. My (highly anxious) friend is going off her nut at me because she feels I should have a test. I just 🤷🏻‍♀️
Those are Covid symptoms according to other countries though - the OP gives the CDC list, and I dint think anyone would say America has overreacted...
You couldn’t get a test here with those symptoms. You could elsewhere. That’s kind of the point.*

This!!
So interesting to read your responses - I think cardibach’s response to penny sums up my point entirely.

Obviously I’m not advocating a test for every headache! A bit of common sense is needed.

It’s our attitude that runny noses are proof that It’s not Covid that worries me the most.

And by the way, my dd has just tested positive with mainly cold symptoms so I speak from experience. According to some of you lot, she didn’t warrant even getting a test!

I think the research shows that headache or fatigue on their own are not highly indicative of Covid but that a very large proportion have at least one of these along with at least one of the main 3 symptoms . So if you have a cough with a headache and/ or fatigue you are more likely to have Covid than if you just have a cough

Mumma Giles,Please read my update and tell me if you still think I’m worried about the wrong thing.

I agree OP, we need to expand the list of symptoms. But the testing capacity still isnt up to scratch, so they can't risk it.

One thing that worries me is the misconception of it being a dry cough only, and no snotty nose. I've heard people say "Oh well it can't be COVID because I'm snotty" That's fair enough, but if you already have a productive cough, or a snotty nose for other reasons, if you get COVID it isn't going to suddenly dry up. You would have COVID and a productive cough and snotty nose.

I don’t for the record necessarily disagree that the list should be expanded. But it’s all very well making statements like that without any plan as to this could be managed practically

But Penny it’s actually dangerous to limit information to the public as it amounts to misinformation. During the height of the pandemic numbers of the public were not generally tested at all but a list of symptoms was still issued. You make it sound like keeping symptom list nice and short so that it reflects testing capacity would be a sound policy !!

*members not numbers

The statistics for my area show that 2585 people have been tested for covid19 in the last seven days and that 56 people tested positive (a 2.2% positivity rate).

There are many viruses about this time of year that cause similar symptoms.

@PennyCrayon85

I trust the scientists on this one.

They have to have a threshold somewhere. They aren’t going to be able to test everyone with those wide-ranging symptoms, that’s not realistic.

They do in other countries, though. My friend in Canada sent me this much more lengthy list of symptoms that they test for there. She was tested immediately and received results within 24 hours.

www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/testing

I trust Professor Whitty's advice.

Apologies that is an increase of five cases in the last seven days making a 2.2% positivity rate in the last seven days.

The BJ government is obsessed with things in 3s since success of the whole "Take Back Control" slogan during the Brexit campaign. It's why BJ's election slogan was Get Brexit Done and why all the government Covid guidance comes with a 3 word headline (Hands/Face/Space anyone?). They don't think the public has the mental capacity to handle anything with more than 3 points.

If I had to isolate for two weeks every time I had a headache, I would never be at work. Either that or asking for a test every week or so......

But where does it stop?

Do you list a symptom that only 1% of people have? Or only list the symptoms that over 80% have?

I agree OP. Other countries, eg Germany and many others, do test for these wider symptoms.

I’m in Germany and my kids dr wouldn’t test them when they had a cough and a cold because they didn’t have a fever so they didn’t meet the criteria for a test. So not true at least for my region in Germany.

The issue is lack of testing capacity.

The UK currently can't test everyone with the 3 main symptoms. So there is no point expanding the list of symptoms until the test system can cope with it.

Based on your list DS and DH should both be having a test. DS coughs frequently anyway because he has asthma and his cough is currently worse because he had a cold (yes, maybe it was Covid and not just a cold ...) a couple of weeks' back and colds always make his cough worse. DH has a migraine. He is prone to them. of course I'm not 100% confident that neither have Covid, but in a situation where testing capacity is limited, I am confident enough that these are just "normal" symptoms for them.

@SherryPalmer oh OK, I gather the regions do differ on some things. But at least it went through a trained professional!

I half agree OP.

It’s true that covid symptoms are much wider than the big three, but most people with symptoms will have one of them.

The worrying thing imo is all the misinformation about symptoms that was spread online and from TV when it became clear our testing capacity was limited. Then you get lots of people refusing to isolate/test because they have “cold symptoms” and a doctor who was on GMTV or a radio phone in said if you have a runny nose your cough isn’t covid.
Or endless sharing of incorrect “differences between colds/flu/covid” graphics on social media so you get people saying their kid only had a fever for a day or they have a mild/wet cough so it doesn’t count.

Even when people do have one of the three main symptoms they aren’t isolating or testing

I think it's dangerous that we only acknowledge three symptoms OP. I get that the testing system here can't cope even with those three symptoms, but it's almost like the government pretends the other symptoms don't exist! We have one of the narrowest list of symptoms to test for in the world. Covid also often presents differently in children. I wish testing had been sufficient to get more of a handle on this - it feels like such a lot of lives and the economy are going to suffer as a result.

The three symptoms would work better if people genuinely isolated with just one. But they don’t.

They say oh it’s a cough or fever with a cold or sore throat so I’m fine etc. Even some head teachers follow this thinking and allow children in with one symptom because they “know” it’s not Covid. Oh really? Best get a job triaging down the testing centre then!

85% of people who test positive have one of those three symptoms. The other 15% have none or various others, so it is obvious that those three symptoms will be the main focus. Unless you can test everyone, which we can't, and nor can any other country, then you have to focus on the majority symptoms.

it should be easy to get a test. The money needs to be poured into this so we can get back to a working economy. If you think youre poorly it should be easy to test.
If its not easy to test, then ffs stop going on about asymptomatic transmission or atypical symptoms. Its a headfuck.
It may be a poor use of resources to test for cold symptoms, but its also pretty shit for eveyrone to have to isolate for 14 days too. Someone pays

The country would grind to a halt within a week if we were testing for every single headache or sore throat, and including things like fatigue (that are completely unmeasurable) is not feasible as people would have completely different levels as to what counted. I imagine we'd require at least 10million tests per day if we were testing for every sore throat or headache and many businesses would be permanently closed as regular headaches and sore throats are inevitable.

The Zoe app of over 4 million people have also been pointing out for ages that there are far more symptoms.