Would you test for lack of smell due to blocked nose?

[cherrytreeblossom]

I have a run of the mill head cold.

No temperature or cough.

Very bunged up and therefore cant smell anything.

I read that coronavirus loss of smell is quite different to that.

I work in a school so want to be responsible but also dont want my whole households work and life to grind to a halt unnecessarily.

Is it irresponsible to think, i cant smell because Im full of snot?

I think I'll stick to my science as delivered by scientists, not Toby Young and his mates

Just joining to say that my loss of smell for Covid was total. Even super stinky Zoflora concentrated Linen Fresh disinfectant (which I'd only just bought because people were disinfecting everything) smelled of nothing at all. Nor did coffee, onions etc etc. My taste went completely as well.

I've had an impaired sense of smell because of bad colds, but nothing like that.

I can't smell zoflora at all ! Just tried

I have bought some decongestant spray and will steam for a while then decide

I'm off work anyway tomorrow so don't need to decide tonight

@cherrytreeblossom

I can't smell zoflora at all ! Just tried

I have bought some decongestant spray and will steam for a while then decide

I'm off work anyway tomorrow so don't need to decide tonight

Let us know how you get on op! Good on you for taking it seriously even though it might be a cold. Hopefully the decongestant helps!

Sounds like a good plan OP. Even when I am completely bunged up with a cold I can still smell zoflora!

I'm not in the UK. Where I am, anyone can have a test, and anyone with any symptom is told to test. I think you should test as there is a huge array of presentations for COVID and it is so rampant in the uk.

And just to add, a work colleague was sent home and told to test and not come back until a negative as he was sniffing. There is currently hardly any community transmission, daily numbers are mostly returned travellers in quarantine. I think this attitude is why.

Looking at it simply, if you have a loss of smell you have to get a test. It might be due to your cold or it might not. It would be better to err on the side of caution than to potentially infect people.

[quote hamstersarse]This article is a good summary and explanation of the issues around the PCR test

Fundamentally, the govt are refusing to publish the False Positive Rate. We have had various ministers give different estimates. Hancock quoted 1% and said ‘that’s nothing’ but he doesn’t seem to understand how much of a disaster it is to have a FPR of 1%. Explained in the article. It’s not just that 1 in a 100 get a FP, it works out much more than that.

Dominic Raab when talking about why they didn’t to tests at airport said “because they are too unreliable with a 7% FPR”

It’s a very serious problem that needs to have transparency. Prof. Carl Hennegan is worth a look up on this

lockdownsceptics.org/radical-uncertainty-and-government-innumeracy/[/quote]
This figure only applies to testing at airports, and actually has nothing to do with the base accuracy of PCR tests.

The 93% figure is based on modelling by Public Health England that actually assumes the tests are 100% accurate - it’s just maths that gives you this result.

• Take 100,000 people who are all flying to the UK on the same day (doesn’t matter where from) and have all definitely been infected by coronavirus at some point in the 14 days before the flight.

• Each of those people will have an incubation period between around 3 and 15 days - at which point the infection is detectable by test

• Around 60,000 of those people will not fly to the UK as they will reach the end of the incubation period and so show symptoms and/or have a positive test at some point before the flight

• Now, of the remaining ~40,000 people who hadn’t reached the end of the incubation period ahead of the flight, how many will reach it during the course of the flight rather than in the next two weeks. Given average length of flights, the answer is ~2,800 - about 7%. These are the people who will test positive at the airport.

• Remember - the other 93% (about 37,000 people in this model) would test negative and be allowed into the UK without having to quarantine. We know they are definitely infected but they are still incubating the virus so it won’t cause a positive test.

Raab confused matters by talking incorrectly about false positives.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/909382/s0544-phe-double-testing-travellers-170620-sage-42.pdf

My dd put off testing as she was convinced she had a cold. It was covid. Get a test.

Dd tested positive 10 days ago. I woke up snotty sneezing and loss of smell and taste. Currently eating ginger biscuits which I cant actually taste but theres a definite tang and a sweet feeling. Felt different to dds pringles which had a salty feel. I'm assuming I have a cold as I have none of the other symptoms.

If you steam yourself and try decongestants and still cant smell anything at all then I'd get tested. It's quite rare to be so bunged up that not even a whiff of ulbas oil (or whatever) cant get through.

@Rowgtfc72 wtf would you think you have a cold when you're in the house with a positive case of cv and have symptoms

The loss of smell and taste related to Covid isn't to do with being binged up. You just literally lose all taste and smell. Took a month for mine to come back too.

@Rowgtfc72 are you for real? Get a test FFS. Can I also ask that people stop banging on about wasting tests? A waste of a test is when you have NO symptoms. Zero, zilch, nada but you think you will pop the whole family to the test centre 'just in case' because your sons year group got sent home.

@mintyfreshh not necessarily. I had a weakened sense of smell and foul taste in my mouth, streaming nose and covid. The classic loss of smell/taste w COVID doesnt involve a bunged up nose, it's true, but there are variants.

@Porcupineinwaiting because at some point we have to be sensible about this and realise sometimes it is just a cold.
By Sunday we will have been shut in this house for 14 days. I've served my time. We did as we were asked and got dd tested simply because I'd hate to spread covid. We dont have the same symptons. Yes, I appreciate symptoms are different. And I have a snotty , sneezy cold. I've had a few of them in my time.

If be tempted to get a bowl of hot water and steam for a while then see if a strong menthol smell or such like can get through at all. If not do a test then because better safe than sorry. It's a rare blocked nose that can't be slightly cleared briefly by a good steaming so worth a try

I don’t think you would be unreasonable to have a test. Although it feels just like a cold, you do have one of the three symptoms.

I have just taken DD for a test as there’s been two positive cases at her nursery, and she started with a night cough a couple of days ago. Not unusual for her to have a cough at night, but she can’t tell me if she can’t taste things.

If you have tomorrow off you can probably book a test tonight for the next day. We were told 24-48 hours for results.

You've been shut in the house self isolating with someone with coronavirus yet you've caught - a cold? Ok then.

@Porcupineinwaiting

You've been shut in the house self isolating with someone with coronavirus yet you've caught - a cold? Ok then.

Yes, who exactly do you think you caught the cold from @Rowgtfc72? Rather than the infectious disease in the house with you?

@Rowgtfc72 if you had tested and it was positive you may have had to isolate for less time (or longer) so to say you have served your time is ridiculous.

I chose not to test, although I haven't left the house since Tuesday.

The cold has pretty much gone but I've still got no smell and I'm feeling exhausted

Is day 9 too late to test ?

Ask 111.

@cherrytreeblossom possibly. You might still get a positive (some people shed virus for weeks) but a no wouldnt mean it wasnt coronavirus.

Tbf you sound like you're describing a pretty standard case of mild COVID to me.