Woken up with a sore throat but not one of the main symptoms

[Mogtheforgetfulmum]

I'm a secondary teacher. We have had several positive cases, I only posted a couple of days ago that we weren't being told when students in our classes had tested positive. I've woken up this morning with a very noticeable sore throat which hurts when I swallow. You can also hear my chest sounds bad when I take a deep breath. I'm surprised to see that on the nhs app a sore throat isn't one of the 3 main symptoms, but the WHO states that 'The virus can cause a range of symptoms, from ranging from mild illness to pneumonia. Symptoms of the disease are fever, cough, sore throat and headaches'.

Basically my question is should I be ringing school, setting cover and isolating?? We are already so understaffed I don't want to look like a time waster. I'm also totally perplexed as to how I even managed to get a 'sore throat' in the first place. I've been wearing a mask in the corridors and sanitising my hands constantly.

Did ONS say that? Wow. So 90% of positives have no symptoms, or some other symptom. I had read the other day 85% did have at least one.

Anyway, putting that aside, it's also worth remembering 90% of people who get tested, with or without symptoms, are negative. Sore throats and chestiness are so common at this time of year. Heating has gone on, dust circulates, mushrooms are out, it's getting colder.

Poppingnostopping
The test and trace criteria is there to limit numbers because of capacity issues, not because most people have one of those symptoms- they don't. A study showed yesterday that nearly 90% of positive people didn't have one of the three symptoms on the day they tested and 75% never had them. Many were either asymptomatic or just had other symptoms such as a headache.

I so agree with this!!

OP, as a fellow teacher who believes they’ve recohad a false negative alongside my DC testing positive, I’d now just follow my instincts and get a test with symptoms like yours. But I’d invent a fever so that I wasn’t subjected to a bollocking / interrogation by the (HT who has no choice but to follow their risk assessment based on three limited symptoms ).

I had a Covid test last Wednesday as I had a hospital procedure on the following Saturday.

The day before the Covid test I came down with an awful sore throat, bright red on the left hand side, marvellous timing I thought. Test was negative and procedure went ahead as planned.

Recently had- not recohad!

think about it,
a cold normally starts with a sore throat.

covid 19 is a corona virus, which is what a cold is isnt it?

anyway, regardless, op if you feel too ill to work, then dont.

I've just had a sore throat. Only lasted a day. I went to work and all's well. I'm sure you're fine to go in.

I hope you have stayed home.

I read a report yesterday(I'll try & find it again) showing that many of the people being tested showed other signs first before 'the big 3' sire thrust/headache were right at the top. Unsurprisingly we are one if the very few countries only testing for 'the three'.

Book a test, don't go into school.

Masks help to protect others, not yourself and it's help to protect, not completely protect.

Stay home, protect your colleagues, the kids & their families.

Take care of yourself 🌷

@ImAncient

Dhs first symptom was really sore throat so much so GP thought tonsillitis. No other symptoms. I’m vulnerable so we paid for Dh to be tested & it was positive. Cough & temperature followed a 3 days later.

Hope your DH is on the mend?!

This is showing as a very strong trend now. The other symptoms showing first. Very few people with symptoms don't develop one if the 'top 3' symptoms, which is why they were chosen, but they're rarely the first symptoms- we need to look at what prompts a test, which would be easier to do if they hadn't fucked up the testing situation 🙇🏻‍♀️

We are currently awaiting test results.

We started with awful sore throats, severe headache, then felt like we had been hit by a bus with aches and pains (ZOE invited us for a test and recommended for those in the house so ordered them), now the persistent cough has now started, mild breathlessness for me, (I'm asthmatic). All but dd2 who is 5 and had a mild cold are suffering - she was the first to get the 'cold'). I would be concerned knowing about your colleagues sick child so would stay home. I hope you feel better soon and it turns out to be 'just' a sore throat

A friend of mine has just tested positive (nhs worker) her first symptoms were a mild sore throat and headache, a couple of days later she started with diarrhoea. No other symptoms

But they're not going to give you a test without one of the big 3. If everyone stayed off work and got tests any time they felt a bit ropey, the country would grind to a halt. There's a reason they're not testing for a sore throat.

sore throats are a worry

I wouldn't isolate for a sore throat but I’d stay at home if I was ill. It’s Friday, if it’s just a sore throat it’ll probably be gone by Monday.

Thank you MJMG he’s slowly getting better. It worries me that people are saying not to test for a sore throat. If we had done the same we wouldn’t have isolated the first few days as we’d have just thought sore throat/tonsillitis. Imagine how many more people we could have infected. This is why it’s rife. They aren’t testing properly. Luckily I had the presence of mind to insist the rest of us isolate & that he takes a test.

Sore throats may be a COVID symptom, but it's far more likely to be a normal sore throat that will then turn into a normal cold.

Stay at home if you feel unwell, get a test if you develop on of the three symptoms that you are required to have in order to get a test.

It is one of the main symptoms, just not according to the NHS. I would stay home, get a test if you can, but otherwise stay home until symptom-free.

I hope you've stayed at home and booked a test. We might get somewhere if people take it seriously.

No country is testing for a sore throat or a headache in the absence of other symptoms whatever some on here might like to believe. The vast majority of sore throats and headaches are nothing to do with Covid and if we tested everybody that had one of them we would be testing literally millions of people a day and thousands would be getting tested several times a week.

StatisticalSense what you're saying isn't really true because many other countries are handlung testing completely differently, and certainly not as a 3 symptom tick box exercise.

In Germany sudden onset shortness of breath is a key symptom, but there is no 3 or 4 symptom shortlist - if you have any flu like symptoms including mild ones you are instucted to phone your GP for advice on whether you need a test, or failing that/ out of hours 116117, which is the equivalent of the UK non emergency number.

We have enough GPs for them to be easily reachable and able to advise individual people. Your GP issues a test number over the phone if they decide that your individual symptoms and circumstances require a test. We also have the Corona-warn App and go for tests if that alerts us, plus certain emplyers do their own frequent testing (throughout the social care and healthcare sectors).

Other countries don't have tick lists to compare to the NHS one. Its a false comparison.

www.zusammengegencorona.de/informieren/die-nationale-teststrategie/

www.116117.de/de/coronavirus.php

DD was tested in Finland for a sore throat and headache

@Chippydippy that has been EXACTLY the same for us

Thank you so much for all of the replies and advice.

I stayed at home (our whole house is isolating just in case) so have been grappling a 2 year old all day but managed to get a test for this evening. I'm glad I stayed at home because it's developed into a slight cough and my chest feels quite tight/heavy. I spoke to a friend who had covid in March and they said their very first symptom was actually a sore throat.

I'm in school with over 300 students a week in an area where numbers have risen rapidly in the last week (currently in local lockdown) so I'll be surprised if it's not covid to be honest. Earlier this week I overheard several Y7's discussing the sleepovers they were going to be having this weekend (!)

I'm just hoping the test results come back quickly and I know what I'm dealing with. We have lost loved ones so it's also a bit hard dealing with the fear/psychological element...Trying not to let my mind run away with me or catastrophise.

I hope you feel better soon.

I'm a teacher, my teaching assistant tested positive last week, class sent home.
I had a tickly throat and sniffles this week, nothing major, I feel fine but booked a test for piece of mind. I got my positive result last night.