My LO returned to nursery last week (1 day) at the weekend LO has come down with heavy cold/coughing/fever

[Jedimastermama]

This morning she is still coughing a little but no fever. Spoke to nursery and they want LO tested before she returns. I have a test that I sent off for myself before Christmas but didn’t use as I didn’t need to in the end.

It may just be a normal cold and I understand it’s their Policies. They mentioned they had to send children home last week due to coughing.
Can I use testing kit I already have? Or do I need to request new kit?
Thanks
(Sorry if message all over the place, was up with other LO whose teething)

You need one that’s registered in her name. For a really quick result, can you get to a drive in test site? I recently had one for my ds and results were back in six hours.

Postal will take too long. Go to a drive through.

Thank you for your speedy replies, I don’t drive unfortunately. So it will have to be a walk-through centre.
Yes, I did think that the home kit was registered in my name so I would have needed to register and request one for LO.

I am surprised that it has taken you so long to sort out a test for your child. If they had symptoms at the weekend then you should have sorted it out then. Why would you wait so long?

@rainbowunicorn
She came down with a cold, a runny nose, sneezing and temperature which went quite quickly. The cough which isn’t continuous, it’s a dry cough which you would get after a cold.
She coughed a little this morning on waking but there has been no further coughing since. She up and playing.

A temperature along with the other symptoms she had at the weekend should have been enough for you to have her tested. That has been the standard guidance for a year now. A temperature alone warrants a test. I hope that you at least isolated at home with her from the start of symptoms.

Dont be so judgemental @rainbowunicorn - my 11 month old have a fever last weekend & I didn’t immediately rush & get her tested. They aren’t pleasant for children & kids get random temps all the time. My gut mum instinct was it wasn’t covid as she had no other symptoms. She also had a streaming cold & refused to eat. I rang my GP on Monday morning & they advised me not to put her through a test before they had seen her. Their actual words were ‘a random spike in temp that comes down within 30-60 minutes does not imply infection, rather a child’s body having a moment of not regulating its temp very well for some reason. A continued temp for several hours may be’.

I had to bring her into their ‘red zone’.. she had a pretty shocking case of tonsillitis, her poor throat was covered. No covid test needed. My GP

Other illness exists. OP, you are right to get her tested if she’s now coughing as well. Our local walk through is fab with kids. They have chocolates for them 😁 results in 12 hours as well the last couple times I’ve been!

My 5 year old daughter and I came down with the same, we tested negative but this cold has floored the pair of us so I'm not sending her back to school until tomorrow.

The rule for over a year now has been to isolate if you have a temperature. I hope everyone in your household has been isolating. Luckily now we have testing and the results are back with in 12 hours at the moment.

Me and DD both have awful colds. Not covid. Colds. Everyone has September immune systems at the moment.

OP as the parent of a child in nursery you (and the other adults in your household who don't get employer tests) should be doing twice weekly lateral flow tests anyway.
www.gov.uk/guidance/rapid-lateral-flow-testing-for-households-and-bubbles-of-school-pupils-and-staff

You can find a test centre on here - find-covid-19-rapid-test-sites.maps.test-and-trace.nhs.uk/ where you can just go and pick them up. Just state how many adults are in your household/bubble otherwise you can get a postal kit - www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests

@RosieLemonade

Me and DD both have awful colds. Not covid. Colds. Everyone has September immune systems at the moment.

That's exactly what the parents in my dc2's class said when they sent their sneezing child in. 3 positive tests the next week among the kids, more amongst the parents - all the positive kids had runny noses.

I'm a bit sick of the 'cold not covid' stuff when it's really hard to tell in kids, and most places are doing same day test results.

There is an awful cold bug going round at the moment. My 4 year old brought it back from nursery (and subsequently had a negative covid test) and now I am suffering. Got an inner and outer ear infection, an horrific dry, tickly cough, completely blocked sinuses and had an on and off temperature. 3 x covid tests ( part of a trial) have all been negative so it really is just a cold type bug but it has floored me completely.

Parr for the course I am afraid!

We lasted a week before my middle child got a cough.

Thankfully there was a very quick turnaround for the home test (ordered Sat morning, came and was taken and sent off Sunday and result 4pm Monday). She was negative so all of mine are now back!

Thank you @HolmeH
Home testing kit ordered. Should arrive tomorrow.
LO a lot brighter today.
Thanks for all your replies, they’ve been helpful.